What Japanese people do during golden week

In Japan, we observe a big annual holiday called “Golden Week”, and GW 2012 is just around the corner! Four different holidays are concentrated from the end of April (Apr 29 Showa Day/ May 3 Constitution Memorial Day/ May 4 Greenery Day/ May 5 Children’s Day). Many people take days off between these national holidays to get an extended vacation time.

What will Japanese people do during this year’s Golden Week? According to a survey of five hundred people in their 20′s and  30′s, a lot of people prefer to spend their time at home even during the long holiday. 56.6% of people answered “planning to be at home”. I am an indoor type person, and will definitely stay home and watch TV and DVDs on the couch for the whole Golden Week (^^;

Actually, 70.4% of those indoor type people answered that they would watch TV/DVD. Let’s see what kind of programs are popular among them. 1) entertainment/variety program/ 30.4%, 2) foreign TV drama/ 24.6%, 3) Japanese TV drama/ 15.0%, 4) anime/ 14.6%.

I guess there are more indoor type people in Japan than in other countries. In my imagination, foreign people (especially people in Western countries) would rather go somewhere than stay home if they have a big holiday. How about in your country? What would you do, if you had a Golden Week opportunity? 

Source: http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20120420-00000011-inet-inet

Japanese hot spring place: Kinosaki Hot Springs 《Japan》

Japanese hot sprong place:Kinosaki Hot Springs 《Japan》

This has tons of information about hot spring, Japanese yukata, Onsengai and so on.

If you have never seen Japanese hot spring place before this video clip will provide you

various great info for you :)

Japanese hot spring (onsen) Kusatsu onsen

Japanese hot spring (onsen) Kusatsu onsen

how to enjoy Japanese hot spring!

how to enjoy Japanese hot spring!

Next post: Beautiful Japanese hot spring and hot spring places(onsengai)

How to make udon and udon recipe

One of my favorite Japane food udon.

Here is the recipe of Udon from e-how and the video is how to make udon (sanuki)
If you dont know what sanuki udon is see bottom of this post.

Instructions

1. Cook the Udon Noodles

   • 1
     Fill the medium pot with water.
   • 2
     Set the pot on the stove and put the burner on high.
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   • 3
     Bring the water to a rolling boil.
   • 4
     Put the udon noodles in the water and cook them for seven minutes or until tender.
   • 5
     Pour the noodles into a colander and wash them off with warm water.
   • 6
     Put the noodles back into the pot and set it aside.

   Prepare the Soup's Other Ingredients

   • 7
     Wash off the green onion, mushrooms, leeks and spinach in cold water.
   • 8
     Chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
   • 9
     Put a medium-sized frying pan on the stove and set it on high heat.
   • 10
     Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter or margarine in the pan.
   • 11
     Add four eggs to the pan when the butter starts sizzling.
   • 12
     Use the spatula to slice up the eggs into pieces as they cook.
   • 13
     Cook the eggs for two minutes or until golden brown.
   • 14
     Set the pan aside.

   Put the Soup Together

   • 15
     Put the chicken stock in the large pot.
   • 16
     Set it on the hot burner that you used to fry the eggs.
   • 17
     Bring the stock to a rolling boil, then shut off the burner.
   • 18
     Equally divide the udon noodles into the two deep bowls.
   • 19
     Divide the vegetables into even portions and top the noodles with them.
   • 20
     Top the vegetables with the eggs.
   • 21
     Fill the bowls equally with the chicken stock.
   • 22
     Add a few dashes of Nanami Togarashi.
   • 23
     Use salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste.

Read more: How to Make Udon Noodle Soup | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5152277_make-udon-noodle-soup.html#ixzz1t2VSxzGA

Here is the video

Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん) is a noodle soup dish popular in the Kagawa Prefecture,in Japan. particularly for special occasions. The main ingredients are udon (wheat-flour noodles) served al dente in a broth of tuna and kelp.

Sanuki udon are named after the previous name of the Kagawa Prefecture, Sanuki Province.

Form Wiki

Japanese Maiko: what is maiko?

Learn about what Japanese Maiko is.




Maiko is an apprentice geiko. Their jobs consist of performing songs, dances, and playing the shamisen (three-stringed Japanese instrument) for visitors at a feast. Maiko are usually aged 15 to 20 years old and become geiko after learning how to dance (a kind of Japanese traditional dance), play the shamisen, and learning Kyō-kotoba (dialect of Kyoto), regardless of their origins.
Maiko are considered one of the great sights of Japanese tourism, and look very different from fully qualified Geisha. They are at the peak of traditional Japanese femininity. The scarlet-fringed collar of a maiko's kimono hangs very loosely in the back to accentuate the nape of the neck, which is considered a primary erotic area in Japanese sexuality. She wears the same white makeup for her face on her nape, leaving two or sometimes three stripes of bare skin exposed. Her kimono is bright and colorful with an elaborately tied obi hanging down to her ankles. She takes very small steps and wears traditional wooden shoes called okobo which stand nearly ten centimeters high.There are 5 different hairstyles that a maiko wears, that mark the different stages of her apprenticeship. The "Nihongami" hairstyle with "kanzashi" hair-ornamentation strips is most closely associated with maiko,who spend hours each week at the hairdresser and sleep on holed-pillows to preserve the elaborate styling. Maiko can develop a bald spot on their crown caused by rubbing from Kanzashi strips and tugging in hairdressing.

What is Japanese tatami?

Tatami mats are a traditional type of Japanese flooring. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core (though nowadays sometimes the core is composed of compressed wood chip boards or polystyrene foam), with a covering of woven soft rush straw, tatami are made in uniform sizes. Usually, on the long sides, they have edging (heri) of brocade or plain cloth, although some tatami have no edging.

Watch the video

Listen to free enka music: Kaori Mizumori "hitori nagaragawa"

Listen to free enka music:

Singer: Kaori Mizumori
Title: "hitori nagaragawa"

Listen to Japanese Enka: Ichirou Toba

Free! Listen to Japanese Enka!

Singer: Ichiro Toba
Title: gamanbune


鳥羽一郎 - 我慢船 投稿者 sandt5

what is koinobori? Watch beautiful koinobori!!

What is Koinobori?

Koinobori are carp-shaped streamers.  Families with boys fly Koinobori outside from April through early May, in honor of Children’s Day on May 5 which was originally Boys’ Festival.  The carp is believed to be a lucky fish symbolizing success in life so that families with boys fly carp-shaped streamers wishing for good health and growth for their boys.

Watch Koinobori!

This is typical koinobori at home. This video has Koinobori music as BGM.

How to use youtube translation

All about Japanese sushi

Want to know all about Japanese sushi!???

This video clip explain all about Sushi!
If you cannot understand Japanese try to use "cc (youtube translation) at bottom right connor of youtube video clip"
(see more info here)

そうだ 京都行こう Let's go to Kyoto

Let's go to Kyoto

watch sumo video clips

Are you looking for some good Japanese sumo video clips?

watch more
http://oldaysjapan.katoit.com/ENTERTINMENT/whatissumo.html

Contains various pictures of Japanese building/architectures in different places. 

A video clip about Japanese Food (in Japanese).

The video does not contains difficult Japanese words and such so 

even if you are not fluent with Japanese I bet you can enjoy it!

  

 

 This video clip shows beautiful cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan!

Cherry Blossom Viewing in Japan