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Narita International Airport

Narita International Airport 成田国際空港

Tokyo Narita Airport (Photo by: Terence Ong, Wikimedia Commons)

About

Despite it being 66km east from the center of Tokyo, in Chiba Prefecture, Narita International Airport is the primary international airport serving Tokyo and the areas surrounding it. In recent years, Haneda Airport has been allocated more space for international flights, but the amount of traffic is still small compared to that of Narita International … Read the rest

Kiyosumi Garden

Kiyosumi Garden 清澄庭園

About Kiyosumi Garden(Kiyosumi Teien) is a traditional Japanese garden located on the east side of Tokyo. The garden was constructed by the founder of Mitsubishi, Iwasaki Yotaro  and opened as “Fukagawa Shinbokuen” during the Meiji era. It was used as a place for guests and a place of recreation for the employees of Iwasaki’s businesses. Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the east side of the … Read the rest

Tokyo National Museum

Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館 Honkan of the Tokyo National Museum.

Tokyo National Museum (Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan) The Tokyo National Museum holds the largest collection of Japanese art in the world and is currently comprised of four main galleries in four buildings. The museum holds over 100,000 artefacts that are periodically rotated to be displayed. The museum originates in 1872, when an exhibition was held at the Taiseiden Hall of Yushima … Read the rest

Wasabi

Wasabi わさび

About

Wasabi fields in Izu, Shizuoka. (Public Domain)

Wasabi is a plant originating from Japan and is well-known condiment often served with sashimi, sushi, and soba noodles. The “root” or stem of the wasabi plant is finely ground into a paste to make this condiment. However, the leaves are edible as well and are eaten boiled, pickled in soy sauce, or fried as tempura. The Japanese tubular wasabi … Read the rest

Yojijukugo

Yojijukugo 四字熟語

What is Yojijukugo?

Yojijukugo

A yojijukugo is a Japanese expression comprised of 4 Kanji characters. Many yojijukugo are non-idiomatic but when used, the term “Yojijukugo” often refers to the ones that are idomatic. Many of the idiomatic yojijukugo have their origin from Chinese literature or from Buddhist teachings, while others are purely Japanese in origin.

Non-idiomatic Yojijukugo

Example of a non-idiomatic yojijukugo – Kenko-shindan

An example of a … Read the rest

Ginza Mitsukoshi

Ginza Mitsukoshi 三越銀座店

Mitsukoshi department store in Ginza.

About

This department store chain may be the oldest in the world, dating back to its founding in 1673 as “Echigoya”. The Ginza store was opened in 1930 and was the place where McDonald’s opened their first store in Japan in 1971(later closed). The 11th and 12th floors are full of restaurants while the B2 and B3 floors offer a wide … Read the rest

Tokyoblaze’s List of Yojijukugo

Yojijukugo List 四字熟語一覧

What’s listed?

There are a countless number of yojijukugo. There’s a dictionary specializing in yojijukugo which has around 4000 entries, so there’s at least 4000 existing yojijukugo. Here, we’ve picked some of the idomatic yojijukugo we like that are used relatively frequently.

Yojijukugo List

Kanji Romaji Description Aibetsu-riku Suffering from parting with loved ones. One of the eight sufferings in Buddhism. Anshin-ritsumei Enlightenment. To have a stable… Read the rest

Sony Building

Sony Building ソニービルディング

About

The Sony Building

This is a must-go for all the tech-savvy people who plan to visit Ginza. Inside are showrooms for all the latest products from Sony including stunning ultra-high-definition TVs, the newest smart phones, and PlayStations. It is also a showplace for Sony’s latest inventions; you may find something interesting.

The building also houses several shops and restaurants, including a pub on the ground floor.… Read the rest

Shibuya

Shibuya 渋谷

Shibuya at night. To the right is Q-Front with the Starbucks Coffee on the second floor.

About

A city constantly changing and bustling with people, Shibuya is one of the best representations of the megalopolis that is Tokyo.

Shibuya is a popular spot for young women as it is the place where you can get the latest clothes, whether it be from Forever 21, H&M, ZARA, UNI … Read the rest

Showa Kinen Park

Showa Kinen Park 昭和記念公園

About

Showa Kinen Park is a government-operated park located in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The park features vast lawns and greenery, opposite of the crowded and urban image of Tokyo.

The grounds that are now Showa Kinen Park used to be an air base belonging to the Japanese military. After WWII, the US military occupied the air base and surrounding areas. The grounds were eventually returned to … Read the rest

Roppongi Hills

Roppongi Hills 六本木ヒルズ

About

The 54-story Mori Tower is the 5th tallest building in Tokyo. Louise Bourgeois’s “Maman Spider”

Completed in 2003, Roppongi Hills started out as an urban redevelopment complex and has come to be one of the most popular attractions in the Roppongi area. Inside the complex are high-rise apartments, a theatre, hundreds of shops, Grand Hyatt Tokyo, and the headquarters of TV Asahi. The centerpiece of the … Read the rest

Beer and Happoshu – What’s The Difference?

Beer and Happoshu ビールと発泡酒

Asahi Super Dry, the best-selling beer in Japan. It is a brand of nama-biiru(draft beer).

About

Beer was introduced to Japan in the late 1800s when American brewer William Copeland set up Japan’s first brewery in Yokohama. The brewery eventually became Kirin, now a major brewery in Japan, in 1907, with the help of investments from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu and Meidi-Ya. Today, there are four … Read the rest

Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku Gyoen 新宿御苑

The English landscape garden of Shinjuku Gyoen

About

Roses

Chrysanthemums

Shinjuku Gyoen is a large public park in Tokyo featuring many landscapes including an English landscape garden, French formal garden, and a traditional Japanese garden. Inside is also a large greenhouse, reconstructed in 2012, that houses approximately 2700 species of plants from around the world.

The park is a popular spot for hanami(cherry blossom watching) with … Read the rest

Omotesando Hills

Omotesando Hills 表参道ヒルズ

Omotesando Hills

About

Inside the building.

Omotesando Hills is a shopping mall designed by the famed and self-taught architect, Ando Tadao. The building incorporates a unique design, where customers are able to reach the top just by walking on a path that spirals upwards.

The mall was opened in 2005 and has some 130 shops. That includes Ben & Jerry’s which opened their first shop in … Read the rest


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