Curious Customs: Tips for Visiting Japan, Part 2

Advantages: A great adventure
Disadvantages: Leave that handkerchief at home!

...and shops were filled with similar gaudy tat, sorry, I mean festive merchandise, to our own. However, Christmas Day is nothing special in Japan, just an ordinary working day. December 23rd happens to be a public holiday as it is the Emperor's birthday but it is Christmas Eve that is special. December 24th is considered to be a magical and romantic day for couples, when they will go out for a special dinner and exchange gifts, often of the kawaii (cute) variety, such as cuddly toys. Parents will buy their children Christmas gifts too. None of this has any religious connotation and Jesus Christ is probably interchangeable with Father Christmas in the eyes of many Japanese people, as witnessed by the story of the Tokyo department store whose Christmas decorations proudly featured a centrepiece of Santa Claus on the cross. **Giving and Receiving...

Mitsudan 22.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Customs (Japan)

Konnichiwa! Tips for Visiting Japan Part 3

Advantages: Successful communication feels like an achievement
Disadvantages: It pays to invest some time and effort

... <10> Communication Welcome to the third and final part of my top ten tips for visitors to Japan. Having looked last time at the potential pitfalls for gaijin (foreigners) in blowing their noses and taking a bath amongst other hazards, this time I'm dealing with the biggest minefield of the lot - the all-important business of communication. So here is tip number 10. The Devil's Language? The brick wall up against which most foreign visitors come in Japan when trying to communicate is of course the Japanese language itself. It's said that in the sixteenth century the missionary St Francis Xavier, on discovering the difficulty westerners had in deciphering a single word spoken or written by the Japanese people, concluded that Japanese had been devised by the devil to prevent Christian missionaries from doing their good...

Mitsudan 25.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

Japan delivered to your door

Advantages: All things Japanese for the discerning British shopper
Disadvantages: In store labelling/signage isn't the best

...*Japan is now apparently in the centre of London!* Japan Centre is a series of businesses based in London Piccadilly, with the stated aim of having Japan 'delivered to your door'. It's an absolutely wonderful idea for a diverse range of people: from someone looking to take their first tentative steps towards trying sushi, or for crazed Japanophiles who can't cope without a weekly supply of edamame, sake and good quality sushi rice. All under one roof you can find a retail store, a popular website for ordering Japanese goods, a restaurant, sushi classes, Japanese recipes (in English), a user forum and a bilingual recruitment agency. Much as I love Japanese cuisine I can't speak more than ten words of Japanese, so this review will focus on the retail and online stores and some of the added extras offered on their site (www...

edinburgher 14.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Japan Centre

Kyoto, the OLD capital of Japan.

Advantages: Cheap area, gorgeous attractions and temples, good for short visits!
Disadvantages: Limited activity so best for -5 day visits.

...I visited Japan at the end of this July, and have only just returned. I must say it was the holiday of a lifetime. Flights cost £900 each via British Airways. We visited Kyoto for 3 days. We got there via Shinkansen from Tokyo, and stayed at the New Miyako hotel, just over the road from Kyoto station. Kyoto was absolutely gorgeous and very easy to navigate around. You can get just about anywhere you want to from Kyoto Station. There are buses, subway trains etc. 220 yen is all you need for a bus ride to anywhere along the Kyoto bus lines. That works out at around £1. You just hop on the bus and pay when you get off. We visited Toei movie land which was a bit of a dissapointment. www.eigamura30.com. Looking at brochures we expected amazing movie scenes etc but it left a lot to be desired. A lot of it was shut off, and most...

Jellypigs 18.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Kyoto (Japan)

Holiday !

Advantages: Nice sweet film, romantic comedy
Disadvantages: Not the best romantic comedy I have seen, some may find it too sickly sweet!

...where she discovers Amanda. They decide to take a break from their troubles and get away from the men in their lives so house swap for a couple of weeks over the Christmas period. Amanda swaps her luxurious modern house in California for Iris?s quaint little cottage in the English countryside. Iris soon makes friends with Arthur a retired screen writer and sets about trying to help him. Her love interest comes in the form of Miles (Jack Black) a film composer who works with Amanda?s ex. Amanda meanwhile meets Graham (Jude Law) who is Iris handsome brother and has an eye for the ladies. Will it be a holiday romance or will both these women find love when they least expect or want it? ***** My Thoughts ***** Having missed this at the cinema I was very keen to rent it to watch, certainly keener than my husband who did agree...

AJ26 14.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

Recommended places to visit in Japan

Advantages: Great places to visit, many things to do, new technologies
Disadvantages: some things are pricey especially the latest technologies, jet lag

...I visited Japan last summer with a friend and we spent about a month there. We visited the following cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kyoto. ~Tokyo~ Tokyo is a lot like London. It's made up of a number of very distinct villages - each with their own character and often populated with a variety of characters - some of whom may only come out at night - and are not necessarily vampires! Most of the main areas in Tokyo are stops on the Yamanote Line - Tokyo's equivalent of the Circle Line (only more efficient!). Getting a day ticket to go round this line doesn't turn you into a train spotter. It is an ideal way to get your bearings and it provides a reasonable overview of the City. The streets of Tokyo are laid out in a grid pattern similar to those of New York and other larger cities. At first sight, each street not only looked...

rambo 01.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of General: Japan

The Holiday - a good chick flick

Advantages: Lighthearted, good cast
Disadvantages: Predictable

...The Holiday is a chick flick type film although it is not quite your normal chick flick. It is based around the story of two girls , Amanda, played by Cameron Diaz and Iris played by Kate Winslet. Amanda is a film trailer producer who has just broke up with her boyfriend, she lives in LA. Iris lives in Surrey in a little cottage and is a writer for a paper. She is still in love with her ex boyfriend who she works with and has just found out he is getting engaged. Amanda starts searching on the Internet for some sort of holiday to get away and try and forget what has happened. She stumbles across Iris's cottage on a website and contacts her about coming over to stay. Iris jumps at the chance after all the pain she has been put through. So the two girls decide to swap homes for the holidays. Once swapped Amanda meets Iris's brother...

wendz86 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

the holiday

Advantages: good film for over christmas
Disadvantages: chick flick

...The Holiday- I tried to get to see his at the cinema but i unfortunately missed out. Although after reading the reviews it was a mixed opinion, so as soon as it came out i purchased it so that i could judge for myself and its a great film. With Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz it was an all star cast and a hopeless romantic film a definate chich flick. Its about Iris(Kate Winslet) who is in love with a man who is about to marry another woman and then thee is Amanda (cameron Diaz) who realizes the man she lives with has been unfaithful. The two women meet online at a home swap website and switch homes for the holiday. Iris moves into Amanda's L.A. house in sunny California as Amanda arrives in the snow covered English countryside. Shortly after arriving at their destinations, both women find the last thing...

jo_field26 21.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

The Holiday

Advantages: Nice Christmas Film
Disadvantages: Nothing

...with her boyfriend but finds out he has been cheating on her, she is also heart broken and decides she needs to get away from it all and looks into booking a holiday. While trawling through the internet Amanda finds Iris' house being advertised on a house swap website and they both agree to swap houses over the Christmas period. Their houses could not be more different as Iris lives in a little cottage and Amanda lives in a mansion in Hollywood. This film shows Iris and Amanda on a journey of self discovery, travelling across the Atlantic to unfamiliar places they are able to learn more about them selves without them realising it. Both characters meet new and interesting friends while house swapping and this is where the story really begins. While Amanda feels totally out of her depth being in England living in a cottage and driving...

bagpuss1980 21.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

Easy travel in Japan!

Advantages: easy to use, use as many time as you want during valid day
Disadvantages: limited location to exchange voucher

...Traveling in Japan is quite costly. So having a Japan Rail (JR) Pass is an excellent way for the foreigners to see Japan. However, you want to evaluate your situation before purchasing the JR pass as if you do not use it, there will be about 20% service fee for unused ticket refund or not getting full value for the money. Confusing? It could be... but it is fairly simple. JR pass: (quick overview) 1* pre-purchased Exchange Order (voucher) outside Japan for the foreign travelers on temporary visitor status (include nationals living in foreign country) 2* JR Pass allows you to travel free on any "Japan Railways" trains (but NOT private rail lines) including well famous Bullet Train (Shinkansen - Hikari and Kodama, NOT Nozomi). Also some JR bus systems. 3* 2 types of pass: GREEN and ORDINARY. Green is more costly than Ordinary...

mckey 21.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Japan Rail Pass