This video focuses on people, culture, and industry in the Chugoku District (Hiroshima, Okayama, Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Tottori Prefectures). The region boasts a world famous sporting goods company, superb brush makers, and a jeans manufacturer. The daily life of Japanese around the World Heritage ...
Hadaka Matsuri: The Naked Truth about Okayama's Strangest Festival
Five hundred years ago, priests of Saidaiji Temple in Okayama Prefecture regularly undertook ascetic training around the time of the New Year. When finished, they would receive paper talismans, called Go-o, as proof that they had co...
Okayama Prefecture's most famous festival is its Naked Festival. But for those with a taste for the slightly odd, there is a lesser known festival in Okayama that you should probably consider attending.
Aida-cho is a beautiful little town, set among the green hills of eastern Okayama, one of severa...
Iwaukuni’s most famous local dish goes by a number of names. Called Iwakuni-zushi, oshizushi, and even tonosamazushi (lord's sushi), the dish is well worth seeking out if you visit Kintaikyo. According to locals, Kikkawa Hiroie, builder of the original Iwakuni castle, is said to have ordered his m...
Sankin-kotai was a curious but effective government policy enforced through most of the Edo period. It was both a form of military service and a way to curb possible aggression on the part of the hundreds of local daimyo, or feudal lords, who served the Tokugawa shogunate in the capital of Edo, pr...
The west bank of the Nishiki River, adjacent to the bridge, is thickly planted with thousands of cherry trees and about 200 plum trees. Unsurprisingly, then, this is a popular spot in spring for hanami, the wonderful Japanese custom of gathering beneath blossoming trees with family and friends and...
45 kilometers west of Hiroshima city, visitors to Japan will find Iwakuni city, a town of about 150,000 people at the eastern edge of Yamaguchi prefecture. The modern city center is largely nondescript, looking much like any other Japanese city of this size. Those passing through on one of JR West’s...
Another popular attraction in the Kintaikyo area is ukai, or cormorant fishing. A cormorant, for the uninitiated, is a large diving bird. As early as the 8th century, river fishermen in Japan began training the birds to help catch small freshwater fish. Though the practice has largely died out, it i...
This video looks at both popular foods and subcultures in the Chugoku District (Hiroshima, Okayama, Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Tottori Prefectures). Popular local cuisine from the traditional to the modern are introduced in this video, along with the Daiso 100 yen shop and Maid Cafes.
Portal gui...
One of the loveliest sights in western Japan must surely be Kintaikyo bridge in the city of Iwakuni. Built in five graceful arches over the Nishiki River, the bridge seems to hang in the air like the skipping flight of a swallow. It’s a masterpiece of traditional Japanese carpentry, made without a s...
A wonderful combination of hot spring and beach resort, Kaike Onsen is located in Tottori's Yonago city, next to Shimane and within view of Mt. Daisen. The white beach has been voted one of Japan's hundred best, and the hot springs were discovered in 1890 when a local fisherman found hot water gush...
So named because they were first discovered growing wild by a 13 year old boy near the turn of the last century, Tottori's 20th Century Pears are one of the prefecture's most successful exports. Round and delicately green or golden, the juicy pears are usually served chilled and cut, and are a favo...
Just north of the quaint city of Kurayoshi, visitors will find Lake Togo, with Hawai Onsen on the western shore and Togo Onsen on the east. At Hawai, the hot water gushes from the floor of the lake, and some of the hotels are built to look as though they rise straight from the water. At Togo, orch...
Opened in 1999, Tottori Hanakairo Park, or simply Flower Park, is an immense flower garden spreading across 50 hectares within view of Mt. Daisen. Flowers are in bloom all year round, including lilies, orchids, hibiscus and a rose garden. Near the center of the park, you can stroll through the mai...
Japan's Mixed-Sex Baths
“Excuse me, Miss, may I borrow your towel?”
Want to get up close and personal with the natives? What better than to join the ‘skinship’ of one of Japan’s mixed-bathing onsen? Men and women relax togetherin the baths, keeping alive a social tradition with ancient roots. Just...
