If you are a woman, do you like natural stone accessories? I do! On that note, in Japan, there is a traditional, uniquely shaped ornament called magatama that has been found since ancient times. Magatama are curved, comma-shaped beads that appeared in prehistoric Japan from the Final Jōmon period through the Kofun period, approximately 100 BCE to the 6th century CE. The beads, also described as "jewels", were made of primitive stone and earthen materials in the early period,

Yakushiji Temple is one of the oldest temples in Japan dedicated to the Yakushi (Healing) Buddha. The bronze Buddhist statues in this temple are masterpieces and sooooooo beautiful !!! Thinking of the difficulties of keeping thing the same as long as about 1300 years, we are so fortunate that we can still appreciate the original statues from ancient times. The original temple was located in Fujiwara-kyo (present Kashihara City), a former capital before Heijokyo Palace in N

Gungendo (群言堂） Gungendo is a lifestyle and clothing company based in the town of Omori, located at the foot of the world heritage site of Iwami Ginzan Silver Mines. I had a chance to visit there with my mother in Shimane prefecture after visiting Izumo Grand Shrine. Can you believe that town has as small as 400 people? But their mission and philosophy are such, they have expanded their shops in many places in Japan. https://gungendo.com/

I happened to had the experience to take a limited train with many images from KAIYUKAN (a big Aquarium in Osaka) . It is limited until next April. The train is full of words of the sea and signs of life scattered in various places. "This collaboration project was born out of our desire to make passengers feel the beauty of the ocean and the wonder of living things during their daily routine. The car is decorated throughout with colorful sea anemone motifs, petite messages

The Heart Sutra copying. It took me about 1 hour and a half or so to finish all with full concentration for each stroke！ Good practice of mindfulness. I used a special brush pen with Indian ink. As I squeeze, the ink in the holding part comes down to the brush. You can try such Sutra copying at many temples in Japan. (Usually, without a picture of a Buddhist statue ) 般若心経の写経。 かなり久しぶり。。。 実は、６歳の甥っ子が、なんとこれを １日に２枚仕上げたそうなんですっ。 証拠もありで。。。　びっくりぃいいい。 本人は、明らかにハードルが高そうなことに 挑戦して、集中して

Asuka village and the rice fields before the harvest always visually remembered with bright red spider lily, "Higanbana" in full bloom. This village once was the most ancient capital city of Japan more than 1400 years ago during Asuka period. (That's before Nara period). The rural landscape where electric wires do not block the sky is so refreshing. If you drive from the neighboring city of Kashihara, you'll find out soon enough 💓 'Oh, now I'm in the Asuka!' Here, the bea

Big and gorgeously decorated "Shaved ice" have become a big boom in Nara.🍨🍧 Things seem little too much for me, some are too pricy (more than 1,000 yen per bowl) , or you have to wait so long. Thanks to COVID-19, this summer, I took advantage and tried some of the famous ones. To give you some picture of the best examples, One of the best shaved ice shops in Nara is "Hosekibako. (宝石箱）, literally means, "Jewelry Box". You can enter the shop as long as there is a seat avail

Today there are about 1300 deer walking freely within Nara Park, eating grass, falling leaves, nuts, etc. They are considered as divine animals and have been protected as messengers of the Kasuga Shrine since ancient times when the shrine was founded in the 8th century during the Nara period. The park itself is made up of about 1650 acres and, as you might imagine well fertilized by the deer!! It has been estimated that the deer produce about 300 tons of fertilizer each year

I took this video in June but forgot to upload it.

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This is my first video with my smart phone. I wanted to share with you all what I saw during my morning bike stroll near my place in Nara city. It used to be said that when you were in Nara in the early morning, you would meet more deer than people. This has become an old legacy due to busy tourism, however during irregular situation of COVID-19, that is so true.... for limited timing. What do you think? The atmosphere is so fresh and clean, but full of spirit and life! S

When watch foreign movies, especially at theaters, I usually make sure to see them with original versions with subtitles, not dubbed ones. But "Frozen II", a Disney's 3D computer animation musical fantasy, I happened to see it in Japanese with my friend, and it turned out to be an eye-opening experience. I really enjoyed the Japanese version very much! Moved by my own language...maybe more than in English. I could follow the characters feelings and emotions smoothly withou

Well, first of all, I am not a particular fan of any figure skaters before. But when I saw Yusuru Hanyu's Gold medal winning performance in France during the Olympic game back in 2014, I knew he was a very special one. He really got a talent and what more, a strong and beautiful spirit... He became the first Asian male figure skaters who won the Olympic Gold medal. During the time, his hometown Sendai was still badly suffering from the huge damage caused by the notorious

This year's cherry blossom ("sakura" in Japanese ) forecast has been released by JMC (Japan Meteorological Company). The warmer the autumn and winter seasons, the earlier the sakura blooms next spring. https://n-kishou.com/corp/news-contents/sakura/?lang=en 言語を選択すれば、日本語でも見られます。 "On February 6, 2020, JMC released its 3rd forecast of the dates when cherry blossoms will start to flower (kaika) and reach full bloom (mankai). JMC has estimated the flowering and full bloom dates