What is less known about Japan, is that the country is also a wine producer. History of wine making in Japan started in the 19th century in the Yamanashi Prefecture, where grape growing began 1,000 years ago. Its consumption has long been strictly local but things are changing and as the country has decided to open its gastronomy to the world, this is not anymore just about the sake, wagyu beef or sushi, but also the viticulture!
This is the Koshu grape, an indigenous variety to which connoisseurs have turned for inspiration, but now high-quality wines are produced all over Japan.
Below is a list of vineyards and wineries you can visit for a tasting.
When your think about traveling to Japan, what directly comes to mind: visits of temples, shrines or onsens. Despite more than 30,000 km of coastline, beaches are rare in Japan, but the country offers beautiful beaches, little known to tourists, a magical combination of white sand, blue sky and turquoise water. We made a selection of some of the most beautiful beaches in Japan.
Smart home, smart business, IoT (Internet of Things) technology and now smart hotel.
and factory Co. Ltd and BIJ Inc. from Tokyo, will open early August a smart hostel “& AND HOSTEL” in Fukuoka City, known as the “Knowledge-Creating City” or “Startup City”.
In order to promote the understanding support for this project, they started to conduct a crowdfunding on “Makuake“.
Under the companies cooperation, the rooms and dining cafe will offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services, like Check-in/check-out of course, air conditioning management, tourist information, In-room automation and control or smart lighting control.
The hotel will be situated 2-minutes walk from the Nakasu-Kawabata Station on the Hakozaki line.
The dormitory room will be at ¥2.800, when the double room ¥8.000 and finally the IoT Room ¥9.500.
At My Japan Guide, we love train and Japan is a “train Empire”. Following our article about the beautiful Setsugekka train in Niigata, here is some of the new restaurant concept-trains in which you will watch breathtaking scenery while enjoying fabulous food.
Tohoku Emotion, JR East
It runs on the JR Hachinohe Line, between Hachinohe Station in Aomori Prefecture and Kuji Station in Iwate Prefecture alongside the Sanriku Coast, in which you will discover and experience “New Tohoku” through design, foods, arts and scenery.
Prices are different for each travel plan, to choose between the “Lunch course” ¥7.200 and “Dessert buffet” ¥4.100.
The schedule for this train changes monthly, so please check in advance.
Fifty-Two Seats of Happiness, Seibu Railway
This sightseeing train started on April 17th this year and runs between stations in Tokyo and Saitama prefecture. As mentioned in the name,it can accommodate up to 52 passengers toward Chichibu, from Tokyo’s Seibu Ikebukuro and Shinjuku station.The coaches are decorated with seasonal scenes on their outside and you will enjoy the mountainous Chichibu region served with serve Japanese, Chinese and Western style cuisine.
This train runs on Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays only and price varies between ¥10.000 and ¥15.000
GENBI Shinkansen, JR East
GENBI (meaning Contemporary Beauty) Shinkansen made its debut on April 29 as “the world’s fastest art experience” on the Joetsu Shinkansen between Echigo Yuzawa and Niigata Stations in Niigata Prefecture. Seven of cars are decorated both inside and outside with artwork and used as art exhibition spaces, with painters, sculptors, and visual creators: Nao Matsumoto, Yusuke Komuta, Kentaro Kobuke, paramodel, Naoki Ishikawa, Haruka Kojin and Brian Alfred. One of the car has been converted into a café featuring local Niigata specialties, like the Uonuma City’s vanilla cake or the Sado Island’s cream cheese lemon cake.
The service is every Saturday and Sunday through June 26, with a new schedule from July onward to be determined. Price is about ¥10.000.
The Fuji Rock Festival, Japan’s biggest outdoor music festivals is held every year in the mountains of northern Japan at Naeba Ski Resort on the last weekend in July (July 22 – 24).
Every summer this gigantic musical event whose success never fails despite the emergence of many competing festivals in Japan attracts 150,000 people for three days and three nights.
The festival, with an eclectic lineup attracts both young crowd and some in their forties and fifties. It was created by an event promoter, Masahiro Hidaka, inspired by the British festival Glastonbury.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline the 20th-anniversary edition of Fuji Rock alongside more than 150 international and local artists performing over seven main stages, such as Beck, Sigur Ros, Courtney Barnett, Ben Harper… and DJs like Groove Patrol, Ken Ishii.
Tickets are already on sale Fuji Rock Festival
There are plenty of ways to access the festival and get accommodation there, but we can help you to do so. Contact us.
From the end of May and throughout June is the firefly season in Japan. Watching the fireflies or genji-botaru (ゲ ン ジ ボ タ ル, laciola) is a Japanese tradition you probably do not know, but it is one of the characteristics of Japanese summers. It can be a little difficult to see wild fireflies in central Tokyo, but many places with lush vegetation creates a perfect environment for the reproduction of its delicate insects and allow you to enjoy the beautiful sights of these scintillating points at night.
Note that it is extremely important to be calm when approaching the fireflies, and do not use flash during photo shoots.
Here is a list of our recommendations, where you can enjoy the fireflies in Tokyo, as in “Grave of the Fireflies” (火垂るの墓, Hotaru no haka?) Japanese animated film from Isao Takahata of Ghibli. Most of the websites are in Japanese, please contact us to book.
On April 23, 2016 the newly designed, silver vermilion Setsugekka (雪月花, lit. “Snow, Moon, Flowers”) train started its operation on weekend and holidays in Niigata Precture, on a day tour back and forth between the Jōetsumyōkō Station and Itoigawa Station.
The journey is approximately 3 hours, sitting in spacious chair, with superb view of the Sea of Japan from the nation’s largest train panoramic window and watching the majestic mountains of Myoko referred to as Echigo Fuji.
Meals on the train are prepared by Michelin two-star rated French cuisine chef Ryuta Iizuka. Chef-owner of Restaurant Ryuzu, using local ingredients.
Jōetsumyōkō Station departure including the meal “snow course” is 14,800 yen and the “Hana course” is 6,000 yen.
Contact us if you are interested about the journey.
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