Are you planning a trip to Japan? Do you have friends in Japan who offered to send you something? Don’t know what to get? Then I hope my “Japanese Items series” will help you!   I think a lot of people have similar problems! I have to admit it is hard as there are so [...]

Today I want to introduce “Maneki neko figures” to you as they’re very popular in Japan. I love cats and it breaks my heart that I haven’t had one ever since moving to Japan. Most apartments don’t allow pets and my current shoebox (= 1 room apartment! ) would be too small anyways. Yet Japan [...]

As we’re approaching the end of the year, it’s time to stock up on items for the new year here in Japan! All around me are dragon items as 2012 is the year of the dragon. Super cute New Year cards, dragon figures and many other dragon related items are available!   My “Year of [...]

Akabeko (赤べこ) is a traditional toy from the Aizu region in Fukushima Prefecture. The toy is made from two pieces of papier-mâché-covered wood, shaped and painted to look like a red cow or ox. One piece represents the cow’s head and neck and the other its body. The head and neck hang from a string [...]

Have you ever heard of Japanese taiko drums? Literally translated taiko (太鼓) means “great (big/fat) drum”. Nowadays taiko performances are quite famous even outside of Japan. “Yamato” is a group of taiko players who performs on stages worldwide. If you ever have a chance, go and check them out! Here’s a short video that I [...]

I bet a lot of you have been to Kyoto or want to go there some day. As you might know Kyoto is famous for its traditional old houses, historical sites, tons of World Heritage tagged temples and shrines and … for geishas, of course. The best place to get an idea of what the [...]

Today I want to introduce another treasure of mine: Figures of all 12 Japanese zodiac animals Actually, the title is not exactly right as those zodiacs have their origin in China, so more accurately we’re talking about the Chinese Zodiac signs. I’m sure most of you have heard of them? There are 12 animal zodiac [...]

You have probably seen a temple and shrine seal book already, but you were not sure what exactly it is? Trust me when I say you’re missing out on something GREAT!   What is a temple and shrine seal book? I think most people outside of Japan don’t know about these temple and shrine seal [...]