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Umihotaru – Highway rest stop in the middle of the sea

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Umihotaru (海ほたる) is a highway rest stop in the middle of the sea between Tokyo Bay and Chiba prefecture and what makes it unique is that you need to travel through a tunnel underneath the sea and it rises again to the surface at Umihotaru and you can stop to take in the view.

The world’s most unusual parking lot

Umihotaru was built in 1997 on an artificial island designed to structurally support the transitional point of the underground tunnel from Kanagawa and the bridge from Chiba. The tunnel section has been highly praised for its advanced engineering .
The Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, or Trans-Tokyo Bay Expressway as it was originally known, was first surveyed in 1966. Its purpose was to reduce the travel time between the two industrial regions, Kawasaki(Kanagawa) in the east and Kisarazu(Chiba) in the west.
It’s basically a toll highway consisting of two 10km-long underwater tunnels through the Kawasaki waters, one 5km-long bridge over Chiba waters, and two man-made islands in between. Umihotaru offers a huge parking area and a ventilation tower called The Tower of Wind (Kaze no to).

One of the world’s largest marine construction projects

After approximately 20 years of surveys and 10 years of construction, the Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line Expressway opened to traffic on Dec. 18, 1997.
From design to execution, its construction represented a convergence of state-of-the-art technologies and know-how of the time. Many new technologies and construction methods were developed and implemented, and its construction was also referred to as the “Apollo project of civil engineering.” Engineers had to overcome a vast variety of challenges, ranging from the soft soil of the sea floor to natural conditions such as wind, tide, and earthquakes, as well as marine traffic and environmental conservation in Tokyo Bay.

The boring wheel used to dig the undersea tunnel

The boring wheel used to dig the undersea tunnel is one of those must see things at Umi Hotaru. It took 31 years to study the possibility to build a road connection in the middle of the Tokyo Bay and build the Aqualine, which opened to traffic in December 1997 after 8 years of construction. The total cost reached… 1.44 trillion yens (11 billion dollars)! The best NON PERFORMING ASSET in Japan. I was impressed by this 14m cutter face, which was used to make a tunnel under the sea.

Quick Facts

The rest stop has a unique parking structure that houses five floors of restaurants, shops, and observation decks

Umihotaru generates electricity from the near-constant winds blowing across the Tokyo Bay

How to Get There

Umihotaru can be reached from either side of Tokyo Bay (Kawasaki or Kisarazu).There are buses that go to the island departing from Kawasaki and Kisarazu stations. Make sure that you check the schedule before planning your trip.
If you are driving from Tokyo, Yokohama , or Kawasaki , connect to the Aqua-Line by the Bayshore Route or National Route 409 at both the Kawasaki Ukishima junction and Ukishima interchange. From the Chiba or Kisarazu area, the Aqua-Line connects to the Aqua Renraku Expressway and National Route 409 at the Kisarazu Kaneda interchange.

Omoide Yokocho Shinjuku

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LOCATED NEAR THE BUSIEST TRAIN STATION IN THE WORLD, a tiny alley of around 60 small bars and restaurants linked by a narrow street just wide enough for two to pass stands in a stark contrast to its crowded neighbor.

Omoide Yokocho (“Memory Lane”) is a maze of narrow alleys, located just north of Shinjuku Station more commonly known as “Piss Alley” in English. It has become another one of Tokyo’s slightly off-beat tourist attractions.The buildings are old and mostly run down, the food stalls very traditional, the visiting crowd multilingual. At dinner time, when it gets most crowded here, tired Tokyo office workers relax with a beer and a few sticks of yakitori chicken at the food stalls, sitting next to excited tourists chattering loudly in Chinese, Cantonese, English or Korean.

This is one of the most iconic places to experience old-world Tokyo atmosphere.Dining at Memory Lane is not for everyone. If you like perfectly clean and quiet restaurants, formal, polite service, and non-smoking establishments, you’ll be out of luck here. This is where you come to experience izakaya dining at its most raucous and informal. This is an evening or nighttime experience; forget about coming here for lunch. Squeeze yourself into a tiny, smoky, counter seating-only bar with years of accumulated soot and grease on its walls. Order a beer and some grilled meat skewers, and talk to the folks next to you. It’ll be a night to remember.

English name:
Shinjuku Omoide Yokocho (old school restaurant lane)

Japanese name:
新宿西口思い出横丁

English address:
1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0023

Japanese address:
〒160-0023 東京都新宿区西新宿1-2

Opening hours:
Varies by shop

Admission:
free

Nearest Transport:
Train: 1-minute walk from the west exit of Shinjuku Station.

Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama

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The Cup Noodles Museum (also known as the 安藤百福発明記念館, Andō Momofuku Hatsumei Kinenkan) is a fun and interactive museum in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai District that shows the history of instant ramen noodles using a combination of whimsical exhibits and hands on workshops. It was opened by the Nissin Food company, whose founder invented instant ramen noodles in 1958 as a fast and convenient food. It is the second cup noodles museum to open in Japan; the first is the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka.

If you love instant ramen and want to learn much, much more about the ubiquitous snack and its inventor, Momofuku Ando, you’ve come to the right place. Walk around inside a replica of the original shed where Ando first created instant ramen back in 1958. Stroll through the “Instant Ramen History Cube” to follow the evolution of flavors and packaging in the intervening decades. Draw inspiration from, or simply be mystified by, the museum’s “Creative Thinking Box.”

Make your own Custom-made Cup Noodles

The highlight for most visitors seems to be the My Cup Noodles Factory, where you assemble and take home your own custom-made package of noodles. First, buy an empty styrofoam cup (Y300), which you can personalize with your own package design using magic markers. Select a flavor of powdered broth (your choice of four) and four freeze-dried toppings (out of twelve options), then watch as the whole thing is vacuum-packed, sealed, and presented in a balloon-like inflated plastic carrier.

The museum also has the Cup noodles Park (400 yen) children’s playground, which is modeled after a factory where kids play noodles being made and shipped out; and the entertaining Noodles Bazaar, which is a food court designed to look like an Asian night market complete with the sounds of hawkers and traffic. Eight different noodle dishes and canned drinks from around the world are served there, and small portions allow you to sample a variety of flavors at 300 yen per dish.

Aoshima : The Cat Island

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Aoshima (青島), also known as Cat Island (猫の島, Neko no shima), is a sleepy island in Ehime Prefecture just one mile long and is better known by its nickname, “Cat Island.” With feline residents outnumbering the human population. For every 16 residents, there are more than 100 cats.

How To Get There

To get to the island, visitors can take a regular boat twice a day from Nagahama Port, about a minute’s walk from JR Iyo Nagahama Station, which basically gives priority to islanders. The island is small and not a tourist destination, so there are no guest houses, stores, or vending machines.Visitors should bring their own food and drink, and take all their garbage home with them.
ADDRESS : 269 Nagahamachō Aoshima, Ōzu-shi, Ehime-ken 799-3470, Japan

BY TRAIN
Nagahama Port is just a few minutes’ walk from JR Iyo-Nagahama station. It’s advisable to check the weather conditions before you leave, as ferries may be canceled if the weather is bad.

BY BOAT
Ferries run to Aoshima twice a day from Nagahama Port, at 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The journey takes about 30 minutes and a round trip costs ¥1,360. Ferries run back to the mainland at 8:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. There is no overnight accommodation on the island so make sure you don’t miss the boat home!

What’s Christmas Like in Japan?

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Each December, Christmas is celebrated by people in countries all over the world, and Japan is no exception! While it isn’t a national holiday in Japan, since only about 1 percent of the whole population in Japan is Christian, it’s still felt throughout the country.Many of the Christmas customs seen in western countries can also be found in Japan, but often reimagined in a different way than you may expect.

If you are visiting before the New Year in Japan, you will find many things traditionally associated with Christmas: decorations, Christmas markets, and magnificent lights. You can also discover a few unique Japanese traditions with numerous charms that can and should be appreciated in their own right.

Japan Christmas Cake

The Japanese Christmas cake or “kurisumasu keki” is sold on practically every street corner in Japan. This dessert is light and spongy with whipped cream filling and frosting, topped with perfectly cut deep red strawberries.

This beloved, and delicious, Christmas treat, very popular for birthdays too, is also seen as a symbol of prosperity

KFC: Japan’s biggest Christmas meal

Every Christmas, an estimated 3.6 million Japanese families get their holiday meal from none other than Kentucky Fried Chicken. Somehow this tradition is one of the most sacred and one that really embodies the Japanese Christmas spirit.

The demand is so high that people start placing their orders for the special Christmas menu six weeks in advance. And the wait in line on Christmas day is so long that it takes hours for people to get their meal.

A Holiday for Lovers?

In Japan, Christmas Eve tends to be a holiday for couples, along the same lines as Valentine’s Day. Young couples often exchange gifts and book dinners at romantic restaurants. If you want to dine out, be sure to make reservations early since many places book up.

Christmas Illuminations

Since people in major cities tend to live in small apartments, individual Christmas decorations and Christmas trees are rare. Not to worry, however! Most larger cities have stunning public illuminations to get you in the festive spirit.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

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Located about 7km west of downtown Kyoto, Arashiyama is one of Tokyo’s most popular sightseeing districts.The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is one of Japan’s most incredible sights.The thick green bamboo stalks seem to continue endlessly in every direction and there’s a strange quality to the light at this famous bamboo grove, which has become one of Kyoto’s must-visit sights.

Beautiful but often crowded

It’s most atmospheric on the approach to Ōkōchi Sansō villa and you’ll be unable to resist trying to take a few photos, but you might be disappointed with the results: photos just can’t capture the magic of the place.

The grove runs from outside the north gate of Tenryū-ji to just below Ōkōchi Sansō, on the western edge of Kyoto. The Arashiyama bamboo grove is open 24/7 and admission is free. Visit early in the morning or on a week day to avoid crowds.

Sometimes it may not seem what you expect :

There are websites that show more realistic depictions of Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. And photos posted on travel review sites may be a good way to temper travel expectations.
However, those may not necessarily be accurate either.

Editing can more closely show what the photographer saw in real life, particularly for landscape photography.Anyone who has struggled to take a good shot of a sunset or rainbow knows the camera doesn’t always capture the full extent of nature’s beauty. But Visiting the bamboo forest worths your money.

Miyagi Zao Fox Village : Kitsune Mura 蔵王キツネ村

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Miyagi Zao Fox Village, also known as Kitsune Mura(蔵王キツネ村), is a tourist attraction and not a sanctuary for foxes in Shiroishi, Miyagi, Japan where visitors can feed and interact with foxes. Zao Fox Village is one of the best places in Japan to go and see foxes. The foxes freely roam a preserve which visitors can enter. Japan is cute animal sanctuary central and what could possibly be cuter than a fox village? In the picturesque mountains of Miyagi prefecture you can watch, feed and take adorable pictures with six different breeds of Japanese foxes.


The village’s main exhibit is an open area where foxes roam around and visitors can enter to interact with and feed them, although attempting to pet or hand-feed the foxes is not advised as they may bite. There are over 100 foxes, including typical red and arctic foxes, foxes with uncommon coat colors, such as silver and platinum foxes, and red-arctic fox hybrids

Zao Fox Village

One hour drive from Sendai, Zao Fox Village is Japan’s largest fox-themed zoo. More than 100 foxes live free-range in a garden surrounded by nature, and you can watch foxes without a fence in between . In addition, there are a lot of small animals such as rabbits and goats.

Hours9:00-17:00 (winter season 16:00)
ClosedNone
AdmissionAdmission: Adults (13 plus) 1000 yen/ Children (12 and under) Free
URLhttp://zao-fox-village.com/
TEL0224-24-8812
Address11-3 Kawarago, Fukuoka-yatsumiya Shiroishi City, Miyagi Prefecture

The Japanese Snow Monkeys : Monkey Onsen

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The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), also known as the snow monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species that is native to Japan. They are colloquially referred to as “snow monkeys” because some live in areas where snow covers the ground for months each year – no other non-human primate is more northern-living, nor lives in a colder climate. Individuals have brownish grey fur, pinkish-red faces, and short tails.

In Japan, the species is known as Nihonzaru (ニホンザル, a combination of Nihon 日本 “Japan” + saru 猿 “monkey”) to distinguish it from other primates, but the Japanese macaque is very familiar in Japan, so when Japanese people simply say saru, they usually have in mind the Japanese macaque.

The only place in the world where monkeys bathe in hot springs.

The Jigokudani Yaen-koen (altitude 850 meters) is located in the Valley of Yokoyu River sourced from Shiga-Kogen of the
Joshinetsu-Kogen National Park in northern part of Nagano prefecture. Because of the very steep cliffs and the steam coming off the springs in everywhere, ancient people called this valley ‘Jigokudani (Hell valley)’ .Also it is buried in snow almost one third of the year. Even that kind of severe environment here is a paradise on earth for monkeys to live in.
The troops of wild Japanese macaque (they are popularly known as snow monkeys) inhabit here naturally through the ages. Since the establishment of Jigokudani Yaen-koen in 1964, it has been a worldwide popular place for watching the bathing monkeys in a hot spring and for ecological observation of researchers or photographers, and some of them who visited here have accomplished certain results in the area.

Mount Nokogiriyama

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Mount Nokogiriyama (鋸山) is a 330-meter tall mountain along the western coast of the Boso Peninsula. Spread out along the slopes of the mountain is Nihonji Temple (日本寺), a Soto Zen Buddhist temple, which was commissioned about 1300 years ago, making it one of the oldest places of worship in the Kanto Region. The temple complex is extensive and consists of multiple areas. A network of walking paths connects the areas, and it takes over an hour to explore them all.

Hundred-shaku Kannon (百尺観音, Hyaku-shaku Kannon)

Towards the top of the mountain stands a 30-meter tall Hyaku-Shaku Kannon, depicting the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Carved in 1966 into a stone cliff, it is dedicated to those who died in wars, of sickness or in accidents. The Kannon is also worshiped as a protector of transportation due to its protected location surrounded by rocks.

“View of Hell” (地獄のぞき, Jigoku Nozoki)

At the peak of the mountain are a couple of viewpoints, including the “Jigoku Nozoki” (Hell Lookout), offering views from a rock jutting off of a sheer cliff. From the peak, you can enjoy views of the Boso Peninsula and Tokyo Bay, and see Mount Fuji and the Tokyo Skytree on clear days.

Nihonji Daibutsu (Yakushi Nyorai) (日本寺大仏, Nihon-ji Daibutsu)

There are various entry points into the temple grounds. The regular approach starts at the bottom of the mountain; however, most people enter further up via parking areas or by ropeway as most of the temple’s main attractions are located at higher altitudes. The temple’s main attraction, a 31 meter tall Daibutsu (Big Buddha), stands midway up the mountain. The Daibutsu is a stone statue depicting the Yakushi Buddha which was carved here over three years from 1780.

1,500 Arhat (千五百羅漢, Sen-Gohyaku Rakan)

Lining the walking paths further up the mountain are 1500 statues of Buddhist disciples (rakan), carved out of stone over 20 years by the same master artisan who created the Daibutsu. These smaller statues can be found in various nooks around the mountain, in different poses and positions. Unfortunately, many of them were beheaded during the short anti-Buddhist movement that accompanied the Meiji Restoration, but there are ongoing efforts to repair them.

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)

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Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺, literally “Temple of the Golden Pavilion”), officially named Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, literally “Deer Garden Temple”), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the most popular buildings in Kyoto, attracting many visitors annually. It is designated as a National Special Historic Site, a National Special Landscape and is one of 17 locations making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which are World Heritage Sites.


Kinkakuji is an impressive structure built overlooking a large pond, and is the only building left of Yoshimitsu’s former retirement complex. It has burned down numerous times throughout its history including twice during the Onin War, a civil war that destroyed much of Kyoto; and once again more recently in 1950 when it was set on fire by a fanatic monk. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955.

Kinkakuji was built to echo the extravagant Kitayama culture that developed in the wealthy aristocratic circles of Kyoto during Yoshimitsu’s times. Each floor represents a different style of architecture.

The most fascinating landmark of Japan! Visit the golden temple in Kyoto “Kinkakuji Temple” to witness the history and beauty of Japan.

Kinkakuji Access

Bus #101 or #205 from Kyoto station, #59 from the downtown Shijo Kawaramachi area. The Raku Buses #101 and #102 from Kyoto Station both stop at Kinkakuji. The nearest train station to Kinkakuji is Kitanohakubaicho, the starting point for the Kyofuku Line to Arashiyama.

Kinkakuji Temple
1 Kinkaku-ji-cho, Kita-ku, Kyoto.

Bicycle is a good way to visit Kinkakuji, Ryoanji and Ninnaji temples in western Kyoto.