Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

What's summer for you?
Summer = beach !?
I recommend some nice beaches in Japan today :)

If you have enough time and money, Okinawa is definitely the best to visit!

Okinawa is southen islands about 1,600 km away from Tokyo.
Especially, the small islands are great to relax, and the coral reef are amazing!!

The flight from Tokyo to Okinawa (main island) takes 2.5 hours, and costs about 33,000 yen (one way). Okinawa has many cheap hostels, budget hotels, and of cource gorgeous hotels as well ;)

OKINAWA >> http://www.okinawa-information.com/content/okinawa-beach-guide

If you have time, but not enough money to fly, I recommend Izu area which is the closest paradise from Tokyo!
Izu is a peninsula, and there're many beautiful beaches in the south part of it.
You can enjoy variety of marine sports such as diving, surfing, fishing, sea kayaking and so on.

If you take express trains, takes 2.5 hours from Tokyo, and costs about 7,000 yen (one way).
If you take local trains, takes 3.5 hours, and costs only 4,000 yen.

Izu is also known for hot spa.
Swim in the lovely beach, have sea food BBQ, and take hot spa! It would make you so much refreshed :)

IZU >> http://www.izu-kankou.or.jp/en/index.html

If you want to go for 1 day trip to lay down, or feel the sea breeze, Shonan beach would be nice.

It's just 1 hour ride on the train from Tokyo, and costs about 1,000 yen to get there. Near Kamakura, and nice to explore the city too.
Many cool beach houses are recently built in summer only, and they're having parties during the holiday =)
Yuigahama beach houses >> http://yuigahama.shonan-clip.jp/shops (sorry, only in Japanese)

Everyone, don't work too hard!
It's time for beaches ;D

Do you know "Kit Kat"?

In Japanese, "Kit Kat" is pronounced "kitto katto".
Because it sounds similar to "kitto katsu", which means something like "You will surely win", it became a custom for parents to buy "Kit Kat" as good luck charm before an important test at school.

Now there are a lot of different flavors. Some of which are only sold for a limited time:

Do you know the Toushouguu in Nikkou? The shrine is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is also entombed there.
The place is so breathtaking that you can not describe it. I took a lot of photos and videos, but it is impossible to even remotely catch the atmosphere.

To get to the actual tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu (which is - typically Japanese - kept very minimalistic), you first have to go through a huge temple complex with beautiful buildings and huge courtyards and climb endless stairs.

You also go through several torii and gates - you can imagine how sacred the place is.

Did you know that the three wise monkeys come from there too?

Nikkou is also very popular among our guests:

Feel free to ask at our front desk if you plan to go to Nikkou and need help.

The Japanese anthem, 君が代 (Kimi ga yo) has the oldest (9th century) lyrics,
It was written to praise the Emperor system of Japan.
And also it is the one of the world's shortest national anthems.

The lyrics of Kimi ga yo:

Kimi ga yo wa / Chiyo ni yachiyo ni / Sazare ishi no /
Iwao to nari te / Koke no musu made.

English translation:

May the reign of the Emperor/ continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations
and for the eternity / that it takes for small pebbles /to grow into a great rock
/and become covered with moss.

Let's listen with melody.
http://www.lyrics5.com/videos.html?vid=-L4C4b0RitY

By the way, do you know the world's oldest national anthem
though the words of the Japanese national anthem (not the music)
date back to the 9 th century?

The answer is...

Holland!
Their national anthem music was made in 1572.
The melody of Japanese anthem was added in the late 19th century.
Holland's national anthem, ''Het Wilhelmus'''s Wilhelmus is Germany actually.
Does anyone know why Germany is appeared on the Holland's national anthem???

So tomorrow, you should focus on listening both Japan & Holland's national anthem.

Even though Holland has the oldest national anthem music,
we have 2 world's record (oldest & shortest lyrics).
That means, we already beat you up! lol

Well, our hope is that we can get a draw.

Go go Japan!!

Have you experienced to get on jam-packed train?
Jam-packed train can be described as percentage.
100% You can have a seat, hang on a strap, or grab on to a handhold.
150% You can still read newspaper or books.
200% People are very close to each other for a long time. Awkward. Pervert cases happen sometimes. Men should be careful about their hands. You had better avoid standing behind women not to be misunderstood.
250% Feel extremely tight. If you are short women like me, you can barely breathe even your bodies are likely to rise with surrounded by taller people. Even if you are tall enough, looking at each other very closely for minutes is embarrassing.

If you would like to experience the most terrible one, I would say you should get on the JR Keihin Tohoku line from Ueno station to Okachimachi station around 8 am. You can experience 225% of crowdness. Why don’t you get on the train to explore the suffer from a crowd of humans?

People say Narita Airport smells soy sauce.
Do you agree with it or smell something others?

Everytime I get back to Japan from the other countries, I remember it smelt Nori↓.

Does your airport have any smell?

In Japan, we have variety of soy sauce and some people are using it according to what they eat.
For example, this is for rice with raw egg.
&
Soooooo yummy:)

Also, we have soy sauce for...
Ice-cream
Grilled fish
Rice cake
Cabbage
Curry
and may be more!

Which one are you interested in the most?

Kirin Challenge Cup 2009 is held on 10th of October.
Japan face Scotland in Yokohama.

We have these scotish guests with national costume on today☆
I asked to take a picture together while check-in;)

Then, the other guests also started taking pictures with them.
They are now, very popular here!

We are friends!!......so far:P

It might be difficult for you to remenber our prime minister as we change a lot.
After Mr.Koizumi cabinet(2001-2006), it have changed 4 times.
On 16th of September, Mr Yukio Hatoyama became our new prime minister.
I don't know how long he will work for us but his wife,
Miyuki Hatoyama is unique and worth to know;)
I hope she would play an important role not only for international community
but for peace and development .

It is said that she had abducted by aliens....:P

It used to be a lot easier to buy a prepaid mobile phone in Japan.
As they now require some other registration cards than your passport, today it is not quite realistic for visitors to buy a phone in Japan.

We cannot guarantee that you can use your mobile phone from your country since we don't use GSM phone system in Japan.

We recommend you RENT one, not to buy one if you stay in Japan as a visitor for less than 3 months.

The rental fees vary, depending on the period of length, but it wouldn't be more expensive than 7,000 yen for a month.
We provide you with more information at the front desk.

It was a sudden news.

The author of the nationally (and internationally) popular manga "Crayon Shin-chan" was found dead last week.
He went to climb a mountain and apparently fell off a cliff when he tried to take a photo.

Have you watched the manga? It's been one of the most popular manga in Japan since we were little kids.

Japan lost a great creator.

I was surprised to hear this music from a TV commercial.

This is a TV commercial of QP Mayonnaise (our local brand of mayonnaise).
It is very rare to hear Mexican music from TV hear. I wonder who sings this.

Another version.

Look at the calendars of April and May.

Every year, from the end of April to the beginning of May, we have a special period of holidays.

April 29th is the Day of Showa (the birthday of our late Emperor).
May 3rd is Constitution Day.
May 4th is Greenery Day (I don't know what Greeney means...)
May 5th is Children's Day

We have these four national holidyas within a week during this period, which we call "Golden Week."

This year, because Constitution Day falls on Sunday, we get May 6th off, as well.

Look at the calendars very well.
If you successfully get April 27th, 28th, 30th and May 1st off, you will get a vacation of 12 days!
Wow! Wow!

If you are even better at negotiating with your boss and get May 7th and 8th off, your vacation would be 16 days!!! That is a real "Golden Week."

But this could happen only if you are woking for a company which doesn't work on Saturdays and Sundays. Never happens to us because.... we are Sakura Hostel♪

Do you have this kind of special holiday weeks in your countries, too??

When I was watching TV a few days ago, I heard some unfamilier words from it.
Such as JC, JK, Oke-ru...
Are they Japanese or English? Or some different languages?

Can you guess what they mean?
JK is not John F. Kennedy:P
JC is not Jesus Christ.

JK is Joshi-Kousei!!
Joshi=Girls
Kousei=high school students

Well, then JC means Joshi-Chugakusei.
Chugakusei=Junior high school students

They say, fake school uniforms are very popular among JK(should I put "s" for it?) now.
In Tokyo, there is a school uniform shop called Conomi
and you can find your favorite style.

Of course, they have their own school uniforms but after school.
they change clothes to fake one or just arrange it to their "original" style.

If you see JK wearing uniforms around Shibuya, it might be a fake one.

Koban (交番) is a small building with uniformed police officers.
They keep watching the community, give people directions and react to the emergencies
that happen in the community.
It shares the same idea with "police box."

You can find one in front of Kaminarimon Gate in Asakusa.
The police officers of this koban always look pretty busy
with many visitors including Japanese and foreigners.

Don't hesitate to ask them for directions when you got lost.
They don't smile a lot and are very kind.
We heard that there is an officer who speaks Thai in this koban.

New American history has just started today!!
Here in Japan, many people watched his first speech as a president on TV.

Do you happen to know we have Obama city in Japan?↓↓

It's in Fukui prefecture, an hour by plane from Tokyo.
Obama city became famous during the presidential election campaign last year.
Some people living there made a support group called
"Group that Supports Barack Obama Voluntarily" and became the news.
You might have heard about it.

I think(hope), President Obama will come to visit Obama city throughout his presidency☆

What is this line for??

This photo was taken after 11:00PM on January 2nd.

This is a line of people of "hatsumode" (the New Year's visit to shrines/temples) waiting to pray at the Sensoji Temple.

For the first three days of each year, we see this long line of people in front of Sensoji Temple.
During the daytime, the line is more than 200m up until Kaminarimon Gate.

Hatsumode is still such an important custom for Japanese people even in this modern time. Why don't you join the line and try the custom with these people?

How long is your New Year's break?
One week? 10 days?
Sakura Hostel never close, though:P

Near the end of the year, Japanese have a party called"Bounenkai".
This party is for looking back on the year and refresh themselves.

So, if you go to bars now, you can see many many people drinking a lot!
"Bounenkai"'s literal translation is a forgetting party.
People drink a lot and try to forget everything they have done this year;)

If you are interested in Japanese culture, Oseibo is one of the things that you should know about.

My Japanese-English discionary translates Oseibo to "year-end gift."
Does it make sense to you? I hope it does.

Usually, you send gifts to those who have important (mostly business) relationships with you. For examle, you send a box of beer to your business partners, boss, teachers or someone who you want to thank a lot.

Do you have such kind of custom in your country?

These are what I had during my trip to Hiroshima★
Just SOME of them, though:P

What are you interested in the most?
I'll let you know the place if you want♪

★Special thanks to Tomoko, Tomoko's family and Reiko;)★

On the second day, I visited Miyajima, one of the most scenic spots in Japan.
You might have heard of it if you are interested in Japan;)

To get to Miyajima island, I took this ferry.
At first, I was afraid of getting sea sick but it took only about 10 mins.

After a short time, I found this famous Torii, shrine gate, built in the sea.

There is also well-known Itsukushima shrine in the island.
It was really solemn and I was touched.

If you go there on weekends, you may see the wedding ceremony.

After looking around that shrine, we climbed Mt. Misen.
First of all, we took this aerial tramway and then, walked to the top.

Because I don't like walking that much, I hesitated to go to the top
but people who passed on the way cheer us up and we could do it!
(It took about 40 mins)

The next time, I want to stay one night there!

I took days off and went to Hiroshima to visit my friend there.
Let me know you about my great days;)

On the first day, I visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum as typical tourists.
I believe you know Hiroshima as an atom-bombed city.


This is the famous Bomb Dome.
It's not a center of explosion but is a symbol of A-bomb.

This is Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and you can see a bomb dome
when you stand in front of it.

Also, there is a musium where you can learn about A-bomb.
Though some of them were looked very scary, we need to know.

My friends are from Hiroshima and when they were in elementary school,
they were told about a peace through A-bomb survivors
but these days, it's getting hard to do so.

If you have a chance to go to Hiroshima, please take a look at these places.

I visited the Lake Kawaguchi (Kawaguchiko) last weekend with one of my best friends from Sakura House☆

Can you see the beautiful mountain behind us? (I know there is too much backlight and it is hard to see it...)
It is Mt. Fuji, and my only purpose of visiting the lake was to see the mountain.

When our guests ask us for a good place to see Mt. Fuji, we usually recommend Kawaguchiko. One reason is the easy acess from Tokyo. There is a highway bus from Shinjuku going direcly to the lake, which only takes 1h 50min. Why don't you go there for a day trip?

There are many nice restaurants of houtou around the lake.

Houtou is one of the most popular local dishes of the area. It is miso-based soup with udon noodles and lots of vegetables. I tried this restaurant and loved it! We walked 20 min. to the restaurant because we didn't have a car, tired... but it was worth doing that!

Recently, I bought a new TV for a good price.

Well, let's watch some TV dramas on it (because I haven't bought a DVD player yet...)

What are TV dramas like in your countries?

In Japan, a TV drama is usually a series of 10 to 12 episodes
and appears on the TV for 3 months (one episode per week).
If you want to watch this drama, you have to sit in front of the TV
at 9:00PM on every Monday, for example.
One episode is one hour including CMs. "Including CMs" is important.
The actual story in an episode is only about 40+ minutes
and all the rest is commercial messages.

(Popular titles from this year and last year)

You will see the same story novelized and filmized if it is successfull
as a TV drama, and vice versa.
When you have such a popular actor, you will see him
in two different TV dramas at the same time.
He plays a simple elementary school teacher on Saturdays
and a poor farther with 3 kids on Tuesdays, like him ↓↓↓　

Wow, how busy he is.

Yusuke Kamiji (We see him on TV everyday this year.)

You might have had Unagi (eel) in Japan.
It looks weird but you'll like it once you taste:)

Then, how about Dojo(loach)?
It also looks like a snake↓↓

My friend ate this Dojo nabe (dojo pan).

I had this Yanagawa nabe. (loach and egg-boiled-in-pan dish).

At first, I thought it would be smelled fishy but it didn't at all.
Also, not so expensive as Unagi, you should try it when you come;)
Actually, it is one of a local dish here.

Our prime minister has changed again.
From Mr Yasuo Fukuda(the right) to Mr Taro Aso(the left).

After Mr Koizumi, it changed every year.
I hope(?) he would continue more than a year...
How do you think?

As you may know, Beijing has Paralympics right now.
It's not easy to watch the games on TV
but I heard that one Japanese got a Gold medal for wheelchair tennis★

That's him↑↑

Shingo Kunieda has been already ranked 1 and in 2007, he accomplished the grand-slam.
I can't imagine how hard he had practiced but am just happy for him;)

It was my turn to take summer vacation and I just came back to work today.
I went to Otaru and Sapporo which are in Hokkaido.
As it's located in the North of Japan, I thought it was already cold but still hot there.

On the first night, I took a walk along the canal.

I couldn't take pictures well but they were illuminated so beautifully☆
Just walking there made me happy:)

On the second night, I've been to Sapporo.
I visited the standard places such as the clock tower, local market and TV tower.
The place I like the most was here↓↓

This is the Former Hokkaido Government Building.
It looks very cute:)
There are some galleries and information center inside.

On the third day, I walked around Otaru town.
Otaru is famous for glass-working and there are many glass ateliers.

Also, I took natural hot spring every night♪
I want to go there again if I have a chance;D
Is anyone who had been to Hokkaido?

Why don't you go to see our national sport, Sumo?

September Grand Sumo Tournament is starting in a week (14th to 28th of Sep).

What do you know about Sumo?
It's not just a fat people's wrestling:P
They are training so hard at each stables with their master and the other trainees
to be Yokozuna(champion).

Actually, two Yokozuna's right now are from Mongol.
Many sumo players from the other countries are ranked high.
You may found your countryman there:)

Click the picture above for mor information★

One of our guests asked me an interesting question.

"I just want to try how a shinkansen ride is. What is the nearest destination from Tokyo by shinkansen?"

Shinkansen is translated as "bullet train" because it runs fast like a bullet.
I don't know how fast a bullet is, but a shinkansen bullet train sometimes runs at 300 km/r.

The nearest shinkansen destination from Tokyo is probably Shin-yokohama, but it is too close for them to run at 300 km/r... Maybe you should go somewhere like Nagoya and come back to Tokyo if you want to experience their speed.

Last year, I rode shinkansen for the first time in a few years, but I felt asleep just a few minutes after the train left Tokyo. And then the next moment, I was in Kyoto. I will try not to sleep next time.

Did you watch the Olympics opening ceremony?
I heard that it was so beautiful and gorgeous though I fallen asleep...
Actually, there is only an hour time differences between Beijing and Japan,
so we don't have to worry about the lack of sleep.

Yesterday, we had Judo game of women's -48kg.
Our guests and staff watched it together but unfortunately,
Ryoko Tamura who won the gold medal the last time lost this time.
She had already got two gold medals so far and it is amazing that
this was her third time to join the Olympics.

Anyway, I think it's fun to watch this international games with people from all over the world.

Have you ever tried Japanese McDonalds?
If so, do you think it's defferent from the one in your country?

I don't eat them so often but I had Mexican's and America's McDonalds before.
Exept the size, I thought Mexican's were hotter than Japanese one.

I think it's fun to know the difference and then, you can tell your friends.
I miss McFlurry in USA:)

We have two vending machines inside the hostel.
The left one is for alcohol and the right one is for non-alcohol drinks.

↓↓↓In the alcoholic one, the drinks on the top two columns are beer.
(From left to right) Premium MALTS, MALTS and low-malt beer (happo-shu).

The ones on the bottom are chu-hi (shochu-based bevarage).

They are all from SUNTORY.

Try some Japanese beer while in Japan. The legal age of drinking here is 20, by the way.

Such a controversial system of cigarette vending machines has been recently started throughout Japan.

You might have seen many cigarette vending machines on the steet in Japan. We still have them.

But, if the machine says something in Japanese to you next time you try to buy cigarettes from a machine, it is saying "show me your TASPO."

You need your own TASPO card to verify your age when you buy a box of cigarettes from a machine. The goal of the system is to prevent underage smoking, but many people doubt if it will make any difference.

Our oni-chan (Tsuyoshi) smokes but hasn't applied for a TASPO card yet. He has to go to a store to buy cigarrets now altough he used to buy them from the nearest vending machines on the street. I hope it will make him smoke less or quit it.

Do you like Hayao Miyazaki? He is the movie director who made many popular animation films such as "My neighbor Totoro", "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind" and "Luputa: Castle in the Sky."

His brandnew film "Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on the Cliff)" is now in the theater.
The title tune of the movie is so impressive that it sticks in your head. These days, me and Naoto often sing it to ourselves while working.

Listen to it↓↓↓　You can never get the song out of your head.

What's more Japanese summer than fireworks?
From July to September, we have so many fireworks festivals
in many parts of the country almost everyday.

Let's check the schedule from here↓↓
http://blog.realestate-tokyo.com/archives/51213992.html
Actually, it's only for Tokyo an Kanagawa.
If you are going to travel around, it's better to check the schedule before
on their tourist information websites.

Normally, festivals last for more than an hour and
I've seen some foreigners got bored before it's finished.
But each fireworks are very different, so I hope you would enjoy all of them:)

Japan survived third-round elimination in first place last night.
They moved ahead to play in the final one and a drawing for group placements
will be hold on 27th of June.

Ebi-chan got a ticket for the game last night and watched it at the stadium.
Though it was rain, he seemed enjoyed himself there:)

I do hope Japan can go to South Africa in 2010!

It's rainy season right now, we have beautiful days these days.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, it started on the 2nd
and will last for a month and half.

But, please don't hesitate to come to Tokyo.
You may have sunny days like today if you are lucky★
The proper moisture is good for your skin;)

This morning, I felt a big earthquake when I was at the front desk. It wasn't big enough to seriously damage anything in Tokyo. But, as some of you might know, there have been some people dead, missing or injured because of this earthquake in Miyagi, the area where the focus was.

We received a phone call from a parent of one of our guests staying at the hostel now.
Please don't worry. Tokyo is ok. We are far from the center of the earthquake. We are just deeply sorry for the loss. Hope that next week we won't hear negative news like those of this week.

Eirou's mother used to be a Geisha and now,
she owns her Ryoutei( fancy Japanese-style restaurant) and her disciples.

I don't know much about Geisha but if you have seen the movie "Sayuri",
it will help you to imagine it.
Do you have any question about her or geisha?
Eirou is willing to answer for it;)

We went to Tsukiji Fish Market on Monday, and saw wholesale middlemen slaughtering a tuna.
Not only tuna auction, but slautering of the tuna is also fascinating.