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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The Chugoku district includes Hiroshima, on the beautiful, island-studded Seto Inland Sea, Shimane and Tottori on the Japan Sea coast with rich seafood, the old streets of Kurashiki in Okayama, and Yamaguchi’s Kintaikyo bridge. The region is a treasure trove of historical sites and natural scenery, ...
Near Tottori's famous dune fields lies the Uradome coastline, part of the Sanin Coast National Park. The area is celebrated for the fantastic shapes created by wind and water, including cliffs, beckoning caves, and strange, twisted islets bristling with windswept pine trees. The blue-green water i...
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...
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...
Far and away the most famous sight in Tottori are its sand dunes, stretching across 16 kilometers east to west at the prefecture's easternmost end. Reaching as high as 90 meters, the dunes are an instantly recognizable symbol of Tottori for Japanese visitors, who arrive in droves to disappear among...
