Relaxing Mascot Dolls

In the last part of November, I took the photo on Shijo-O-hashi bridge.  The sunset were coming and the cloud reflected the color of the orange sun.


When you look at the right side of the photo, you will find colored leaves. It was deep red. So the season of colored leaves was just in middle.



By the way, do you know her? Actually this is her. She is a so called relaxing mascot doll. Looks nice, right?


Of course, she is very popular.


She cant't move quickly and her hands are just to wave. But, nice.

When you come to the city, Kyoto, or other prefectures, you will find them they're not all cute. Some of them look like monsters.

You can check them all in the following URL.
Japan relaxing mascot grand prize

Yeah, strange, yet NICE!

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Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
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How was Halloween in your town?

Halloween is a very popular event, isn't it? When I went down a street in Kyoto, I found the monster & gate for a pub. That name is "ZAZA Pub" which is famous for foreign people's meeting place.



It looks so scarring to me! So I didn't go in. Yet, it's really fascinating. If I wear a monster costume, it's good. Anyway I didn't this time! 




I passed the pub. And I turn my head behind. Wow, in front the entrance a Super Man is standing. Nice red boots.

Halloween is getting familiar to us, Japanese. Kyoto also has some events. I found so many monsters on 31st of October! Yeah, now it's middle of November. But, I'd like to report about Halloween!

Middle of November, Kyoto is really popular for colored leaves! You can enjoy the red and yellow leaves everywhere!!

Coypu in Japanese River

Here's Kamo-gawa Riv. in Kyoto. It's famous and popular for the beautiful scenery and a good place to run or walk, though the photo is not really nice to let you know about it.



I found something like a brawn ball.



Wow, it's a coypu.



It's stretching.



And personal grooming.



Looking around.



And grooming again.



We, human beings, never understand its feeling, but it was doing something with a small wooden stick.



It went away by swimming. Cool.

They were from oversee. And Japanese government regards them as an invasive foreign specie. 

Well, it happens very frequently in Japan. How about your country? 
It's cute. Yeah, that's my feeling. If it disturbs the ecological system of the river, it must be a problem. Can we get along each other? 

Let's see. We're all selfish. When we recognize it, we, perhaps, can know so many things.

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Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
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Centrair, an Airport in Nagoya

This is an airport in Japan.
The name is Chubu Centrair International Airport.
This locates in Nagoya.
Nagoya is not so far from Kyoto.
From this airport to Kyoto it takes about 90 minutes by train and Shinkansen.


I flew from this airport to Europe one months ago.


This airport opened in 2005 so this is quite new.
This stands on an artificial island on the sea.


There are lots of restaurants in this airport.
Most of the restaurants serve typical cuisines of Nagoya.
Nagoya has a unique food culture and many sightseers  come to Nagoya to enjoy Nagoyan cuisines from all over Japan.


This airport also has a public bath.


If you have a chance, it would be a good memory of Japan to eat Nagoyan food and take a bath here.

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Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Drinking a Lot, Enjoy a Lot

When you are blown by the cold winds of October, why don't you drink some cans of beer. Yeah, it's a good way to make your body warm. And of course, you can be more friendly and outgoing to everybody.




But, it's maybe too much... When I went up to the common room of our hostel, almost all guests in the room were drunken. They are really high in spirits. I said "This room is by 1:00". And they went out to bar or izakaya.

Sure. It looks very fun. And everybody knows the fun of drinking and travel. In your travel, meeting friends, you would go out for sight seeing spots and at night for drinking together.

Good! Enjoy them! And please don't forget bringing your valuables, though Japan is a safe country.

Making an English menu is difficult

I have been making an English menu of the Japanese Izakaya.
Izakaya is like an English pub, where they serve snacks and food to accompany your drinks.
When i make an English menu of it, there is one thing that it is difficult to explain.
That is O-toshi(お通し）.
Do you know O-toshi?
O-toshi is a small appetizer and servered to every customer when you have aseat. Serving O-toshi is a tradition in Japanese Izakaya.
It is like cover charge.
I think you might not understand this system. Because there is no kind of this system in your country.
But if you go to Japanese Izakaya, you'd better remember this system. Also if you know that, you will avoid the problem caused by this system.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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The Japanese comedy show

Have you ever seen the Japanese comedy show before?

 I went to see the famous comedy show called "Yoshimoto Shinkigeki(吉本新喜劇）" few days ago.
Actually, i am a big fan of this comedy show. Because i have been watching this show on TV since i was child.
I still remember that i switched on TV to see this show as soon as i came back home from school and really looked forward to it.

Why i really like this show is i don't have to think anything.
Just laughing and it takes my mind off the worries of everyday life.

There is a place you can see this show around our guest house.
It's called "Gion Kagetsu(祇園花月）" and takes only 5 mins walk from here.
I think you can enjoy this show even if you don't understand Japanese.

Let's try to see the Japanese comedy if you come to Japan!!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Curry and Udon Noodle, the Taste is GREAT!

When I go in the local Udon restaurant, there're just 2 people in chairs. And in the kitchen Udon masters, just I guess so, I don't know the taste yet, are working in steam. 

One person is reading something and sometimes watching TV show. And another person is just eating Udon looking at the kitchen. They don't look boring. Just enjoying relaxing time of their lives.

Udon comes. Yeah, of course, it's not normal Udon. Udon is normally white noodle in thin brown soup cooked with fish as the ingredient. 

The noodle is Udon. The white is a little bit colored by the yellow. Yellow color makes me happy. Because it's curry. So the Udon is curry and Udon.

Is it strange? No, No, Japan is such kind of country, in which everybody wants make everything mixed together. Curry and Udon., it means India and Japan. Bread and sweet bean paste called Anko, it means western countries and Japan. We love foreign countries and accept the culture. 

Don't you try? Why not:)

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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The damage caused by the typhoon

I wrote an article of typhoon few days ago.

http://hostelkyoto.blogspot.jp/2013/09/the-typhoon-swept-in-japan.html

I went to the same place(Kamo river) next day and took a photo.

Can you see that a small bridge is broken and there are many mud and branches by the river?
It's terrible, isn't it?
There are still some signs of damage caused by the typhoon like this.
The subway called "Tozai line(東西線）" is still stopping.
Because some station is covered with water. It has been 3 days. So many people have to take a bus instead of that.

In Japan, we have so many disaster like a typhoon or earthquake.
But we can't change the place.
So we have to accept these things and prepare for minimizing damage.

I hope the affected areas will be recover soon and everyone will be smile again!!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
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Yaeyama Islands④(八重山)

After Hateruma island,I went to the Iriomote island. 

                                                This is　harbor in Iriomote. 

This is beach that is located beside the harbor. They are very close. But sea color is so different. Is it caused by only depth? Could you teach me reason, If you know about this. 

 Iriomote has good and cheap peach. Price is 200~300yen(2~3 dollar). 

And there are some activities. I took a play of river. This activities jump from rock.

 And you can take waterfall shower. And I took a　caving. Cave is so deep , tite and dark. These activities are very hard. But I love it. Would you like to try!?

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Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
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The typhoon swept in Japan

The typhoon swept the Kansai area through this morning from last night.
In the 3 prefectures of Shiga(滋賀） i live, Kyoto(京都）,Fukui(福井）, a special heavy rain warning had been issued this morning.
It was record breaking heavy rain.
I was going to work by train today. But the train i usually take was not running. So i had to come to work by car.
The below photo i took on my way was Kamo river(鴨川）.

Normally you can walk alongside of the river.
But the river overflew and i couldn't see the path.
Also the local residents who live near the river were warned to evacuate the area.

Now this big and powerful typhoon is moving northward and the sky in Kyoto is fine weather.

I hope the area have been flooded will recover early and everyone will be safe.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
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Yaeyama Islands③(八重山)

I stayed Hateruma island. It's located in southernmost. There are many cool places. 

This is a Nishihama beach. This beaches water is so clean. There are some fish and reef. 

This is an old Hateruma airport. This aiport is so small. I think, this one smaller than community center. 

This is southernmost post office. 

This is mill of Okinawa sake. 

This island's sake is very few. So it's not cheap. So it's better to buy in this island. If you buy 100ml sake in another island, It costs 1000yen (about 10 dollar).

You can see good sunset in Nishihama beach. 

And this island has good night sky. 

I left by this fast ship.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Yuru-kyara as the Japanese Culture

Have you ever heard Yuru-kyara?  If so, you are so familiar to the modern Japanese culture. It is sort of culture for younger generations. And also it has something to do with touristic things. 

The guy in the photo above is Yuru-kyara of Kagawa prefecture. Our guest gave the post card to us.

Every prefecture in Japan has Yuru-kyara. And some of them are so strange. The guy is too. Kagawa prefecture is famous for the good taste of Udon noodle. The guy is eating Udon. And his brain is also contains Udon. Yeah, so strange... But at the same time, it's cute, right?

Its name is Udon-Nou, which means Udon and brain. Yeah, so simple.

We love Yuru-kyara. If you take a look of big dolls of Yuru-kyara, please take a photo with them! It should be a good souvenir!  

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Japanese Famous Sweet and Hero

Our guest after the journey from the west of Japan gave us the sweet. It's a sort of race cakes. The race cake called "Kibi-dan-go" has the story about a hero named "Momo-tarou". The guy was born from a big peach and he got friends, a monkey, bird and dog. And he went to an island of ogres. They wiped out the ogres and got treasures.

The sweet is the key to make friend for the hero. He gave the sweet to make friends. 

It's one of the most famous stories in Japan. Every Japanese know it. 

Oh, NO! The sweets was not bribe! He just gave them because he has so many kibi-dan-go!

Giving something to somebody means good. Of course it's a good beginning of the friendship.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Fortune Slip (おみくじ Omikuji)

He is our guest from Germany.

He went to Jishu-jinja Shrine.
This shrine is famous as a shrine of matchmaking.
Actually he went there without knowing this.


He drew a fortune slip (おみくじ omikuji) there.
In the photo he is holding the fortune slip.


However everything is written in Japanese on the fortune slip.
Of course he did not understand it at all.
So he came to ask us to translate the fortune slip.


The result was Kichi (吉)。
Kichi is the second best result, so it means he is lucky.
As for travel, the fortune slip said, "Traveling is highly recommended. You will see lots of delightful things on your travel."


He looked very happy to hear the result.
Especially he is a traveler so he was satisfied with the part about traveling.


We hope that staying at A-yado is one of the delightful things on his travel.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Japan Quiz

This is a scene in the lounge in our hostel.
A woman is holding a card on which Japanese flag is printed.


On the other side of the card quizzes about Japan are printed.
We have these cards in our lounge.

This is one of those cards.
Quizzes are written in Japanese and English.


On this cards there are questions about Japanese animation.
There are lots of genres of questions such as Japanese history or culture.
Some questions are quite difficult even for Japanese.


On this day international guests from Norway, England, Colombia, New Zealand, Sweden and Poland were playing with the cards.
I also joined the quiz competition.
I could answer not a few questions and I preserved my honor as a Japanese.


When you stay at A-yado, please try the quizzes.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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Advice for Tourists or Just to "TALK"

When I walked down a street, I found it. "English Help". What does it mean?

He is the English Helper. He looks very friendly and out going. I asked what was this?

The reply was very simple. According to the board he is helping tourists to give information in English. It's said in Japan there're a few people around you who speak more than 3 words in English. We say, for example, Go and Straight or Dog and Run. 

Yes, we, Japanese, are not good at English. Sometimes we are called by foreigner, and get upset, saying nothing.

BUT, Japan is well known as a polite country. If you're lucky, the person you called to get direction might let you follow her/him. Even though the person don't speak in English, it works. 

I don't want to say anything exaggerated. It depends on the people. I just want to say Japanese are sometimes amazingly helpful!

Oh, but, please do not say something to business people in suits for getting direction to go somewhere. They're so busy for their jobs! That's another aspect of Japan.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in a historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains to everywhere. 
Please contact us by the form, if you'd like to book our hostel.

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