Festival for children - traditional event

3 and 5 years old boys
3 and 7 years old girls
Having Chitose ame

November 15th is the day of the Seven-five-three festival in Japan.
This is a traditional Japanese event to celebrate children's growth and pray for their future health and well-being.

On the day of the festival, boys aged three and five, and girls aged three and seven, are taken to a shrine.

3 years old girl
 in lovely kimono

At the shrine, Shinto priests perform a brief purification ceremony.
Many children are dressed in lovely kimono. Boys wear a two-piece boy's kimono, "haori" and "hakama".
After the ceremony, children receive long red and white candy sticks called chitose-ame. "Chitose" means "one thousand years".
The length of the candy sticks represents parents' wishes for their children's longevity.
However, recently fewer and fewer young parents are following this custom and interest in it is gradually declining.

Due to the weekday on Nov 15, many people visit the second Sunday in Nov. (this year, it was today(Nov 14))

Autumn Color in Japan

Ankoku-temple in Toyooka, Hyogo

There are four seasons in Japan. Each season is nice and people enjoy the change of seasons. 

Now is autumn when the weather is nice as well as spring.

We can enjoy the beautiful foliage. Changes in temperature and light affect the color of leaves.

Above photo is the red colored azalea in a famous temple in Toyooka, Hygo Pref. 

The ancient capital of Kyoto has many good spots for viewing autumn leaves, such as Kiyomizu Temple. Some of these spots will be illuminated from mid-October to early December to allow evening viewing of the trees.

Autumn leaves in Kyoto

Light-up in Kyoto 

Rush hours in Japan

Japanese rush hours are very always crowded, especially urban areas.
Trains begin to fill just after 7:00 am and the peak is 8:00-9:00 am. Key train stations and their platforms are filled with people.

Since the trains are so crowded, it is called as "Packed like sardines".

Train staff push people to get into a train

At some stations where there are many commuters, station staff routinely help the passengers get into the train by pushing them through the doors from behind.
The evening rush hour is 17:00-18:30, of which conditions are much better than in the morning.

A foreigner who visited Japan may be surprised to experience the packed train - people are packed in so tightly that they don't even need to hold onto anything. (on the other hand, no danger of falling - because of too packed)

The roads are very crowded, too - especially 8:00 -9:30am. But even after this rush hour, the roads of urban areas are always crowded. Because there are just too many cars for limited roads.

If we need to arrive on time, we will use trains or subway which run very punctual, instead of car or taxi.

Packed like sardines

Tipping in Japan

NO tip is expected at a restaurant 

Different from the practice in western countries, tipping is not customary in Japan. We Japanese don't tip waiters, hotel man or cab drivers etc. These people are paid for just their work; they are proud of doing a good job, and they don't expect any extra from the customers.
But some employees at western-style hotels are used to get tipping from westerners. They don't refuse the tip, BUT they don't expect it. (some hotels originally add a service charge to the bill.)

We may give tips to Japanese staff in special occasions -. If somebody provide something special for us, we tip to show appreciation.

But no tip is expected for standard good services in Japan.

UFO Catcher

UFO Catcher

Prize gotten by UFO Catcher 

In a game center, there are various kinds of games we can play. For example, there are computer games and car-racing games.
One of the popular games is "UFO Catcher"(as above photo). We will pick a prize with a mini crane. The playing fee is about 100-300 yen. The typical prizes are stuffed toys. It is very difficult to get the prize because sensitive operation of the crane is needed. Many people spend about 1000 yen (means 10 times of play) to get a prize. But some trained young people get several prizes at one play - because people are hooked!

100yen shop

100 yen shop

100 yen shops (100 yen = about 1 dollar) are popular in Japan. In most shopping areas, there are 100 yen shops.
Everything in the shop is sold at 100 yen - from stationary, kitchen goods, cosmetics, food and etc.

The quality of some items is not so bad even if it is 100 yen.

As they are very cheap, we tend to buy many items.

  Those items are one of examples - all are 100 yen!

Japanese religion - difference Shinto vs Buddhism

Buddhist Statue

Shinto and Buddhism were mixed and combined a long time ago. People whorshipped gods and Buddha together at temples and shrines.
Shinto and Buddhism were only separated from the Meiji Period (around 1900). The Meiji government protected Shinto as a national religion, but suppressed Buddhism. Shintō was needed in order to unify the country around the Emperor as the process of modernization was undertaken with all possible speed

In 1945(after World War II), the State Shinto was abolished. The State and religions were separated after World War II.

Today both Shinto and Buddhism are important religions in Japan.

Difference between Shinto and Buddhism:

                           Shinto               Buddhism
Worship              Shrine                    Temple
Gate                  Gate (torii)    
Statue               No specific statue    Buddhist statues
Praying style       Clap your hands      just put your hands together

Temple

Shrine - torii (gate)