Podcast Host: DJ Stormer
Podcast Owner: JapanVisitor
Website: http://japanvisitor.blogspot.com
Location: Japan
Rating: (1 review) | Rate it yourself!
Listen to sounds from Japan - festival (matsuri) music, street sounds from Tokyo and temple gongs.
Tags:
2/1/2012 | Download File (0.00 MB) - right click to download
?????????The Konomiya Hadaka (Naked) Festival takes place this year on February 4.Hadaka Matsuri has its origins in an attempt to dispel an outbreak of plague and the festival began in 767. The boisterous behavior at Konomiya has sometimes got out of hand. Riots occured in the 16th century. Upto 10,000 semi-naked men usually attend with over 100,000 spectators and the crush and subsequent frenzy can be scary.The festival has a set of defined stages.On the second day of the lunar new year a post marked with the words "naoi shinji" is set up outside Konomiya Shrine, this happened this year on January 24.An hour later at 10am a group of applicants arrive in the hope of being selected as that year's shin-otoko or ("god-man"). To be chosen as shin-otoko is considered a great honor, though a strange one in most people's eyes in view of the bruising experience that is to follow.A huge 4-ton rice-cake (mochi) is prepared and is presented to the shin-otoko on the eve of the main festival. For three days prior to the start of the matsuri the shin-otoko is kept alone, enclosed in a small hall in Konomiya Shrine. He is fed only rice-gruel and water and has all his body hair shaved off as part of the purification rite.The festival begins in mid-afternoon on the 13th day of the lunar new year when thousands of men dressed only in loincloths carry a bamboo pole covered with pieces of paper carrying the excuses of people who couldn't make it to the festival that year.When the shin-otoko appears from the shrine the assembled men - many of them aged 23 or 42 (ages considered unlucky or yakudoshi) - converge on the shin-otoko in an effort to touch him and thus pass on their bad luck and so rid themselves of evil.The shin-otoko's guards, who attempt to stop him getting killed in the crush, throw cold water on the crowds to help cool things down. The event can be dangerous and people have suffered injuries in the past.At 3am the next morning the shin-otoko carrying a "mud cake" on his back - symbolizing bad luck and calamity is chased away from the shrine and the mud cake is buried by the shrine priests. This part of the festival is known as yonaoi shinji.Later that morning the large rice cake presented earlier is cut up and distributed to worshippers. Eating the rice cake is supposed to ward off illness and misfortune. Access: Take a Meitetsu Line train from Nagoya Station bound for Gifu to Konomiya Station (north exit and then a short 3-minute walk) or a JR Tokaido Line train from Nagoya Station to Inazawa Station and then a 15-minute walk to Konomiya shrine.Konomiya Shrine1-1-1 Konomiya, Inazawa cityTel: 0587 23 2121Konomiya is located just outside Nagoya.TagsJapan Naked Festival Hadaka Matsuri Nagoya Japan Festivals Konomiya <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/JapanVisitor?a=fu0IAJZDnKM:Qr39_t
1/2/2012 | Download File (0.61 MB) - right click to download
??Click here for the sound of New Year hatsumode at Toyokawa Inari shrine, Tokyo.Hatsumode - is the first prayer of the New Year as people all over the country flock to shrines to pray for success and health in the coming year. Shop owners and business people may visit one of the thousands of Inari shrines in Japan, which are particularly associated with financial and commercial fecundity. Toyokawa Inari, a grand, 700-year old Shinto shrine in Tokyo's Akasaka district, is a very popular shrine at this time. In the big cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya subways and commuter trains run all night to ferry the faithful to the popular shrines.Hatsumode usually takes places in the first three days of the new year in Japan. New omamori (lucky charms) can be bought at many shrines, such as these daruma dolls below, and old ones are often burnt at this time or later at Setsubun.HAPPY NEW YEAR!TagsJapan hatsumode New Yearshrine shinto
12/26/2011 | Download File (0.00 MB) - right click to download
E4????The MAX Shinkansen is part of the E4 series of Shinkansen and has double-decker carriages. The MAX (Multi Amenity Express) runs on the Joetsu, Tohoku and sometimes Nagano shinkansen routes from Tokyo and Ueno stations at a maximum speed of 240kph.When 16 cars are used the train can carry over 1,600 people, the highest capacity for a train set in the world.The interior of the trains have special spaces for storing skis on the journey to ski resorts of Nagano and Echigo Yuzawa.Max E4 Series Shinkansen Tokyo StationThe present E4 series is planned to be discontinued in 2016.© JapanVisitor.comLike this blog? Sign up for the JapanVisitor newsletterBooks on JapanTagsJapan trainsTokyoShinkansenNagoyaJapanese
12/22/2011 | Download File (3.38 MB) - right click to download
??????New residence registration cards for foreign nationals (zairyu cards) will start replacing the old alien registration cards (aka "gaijin cards") from July 2012.The move mirrors the change in authority for issuing foreign residence cards from the local municipalities (ward offices) to the Justice Ministry (MOJ).Special permanent residents of Korean origin (zainichi) will be exempt from the changes, but foreign nationals residing in Japan under medium- to long-term residence status will need to change from the old alien registration card, first introduced in 1947, to the new cards with an embedded IC chip in them.Foreigners can apply for the new cards at their nearest regional immigration office from January 13, 2012, though the present alien registration card remain valid for 3 years when they will be replaced by the new card. Check the front of your gaijin card where it says in red: "Renew within 30 days starting from." to see how long it is still valid.Permanent residents will have to apply for the new residence cards within 3 years from July 2012. According to the Japan Times newspaper, "Required materials necessary for an application have not been determined yet," which sounds rather ominous.Information stored on the chip will include the type of visa of the card holder and work and home addresses. The fine of 200,000 yen for failure to carry the new card remains the same as the old alien registration card.As a sweetener to yet more controls on foreigners entering or residing in Japan in addition to mandatory electronic fingerprinting on arrival, the maximum period of stay for some types of visa will be increased from 3 to 5 years and re-entry permits (aka "gaijin tax") will be abolished as long as the period outside Japan is less than one year.New arrivals on medium and long-term Japan entry visas will receive an application form for the new card. Other changes afoot from the MOJ include "the issuance of a Special permanent Resident Certificate."Akihiro Yamaguchi, a spokesman for the Japanese Ministry of Justice added, "Foreigners are a potential threat to a homogeneous society such as Japan and need to be strictly monitored and controlled through finger printing and IC chips to protect and reassure the Japanese people." I made the last bit up, but that could be interpreted to be the message the foreign community in Japan is hearing.However, the MOJ in its Basic Plan for Immigration Control (4th Edition) argues that as the government is actively promoting immigration to counter population decline ("In the future, Japan intends to actively promote the acceptance of foreign nationals") and also encouraging overseas students to study in Japan to reach the government target of 300,000 foreign students, more efficient and centralized means of immigration control are required as these foreigners begin to settle in Japan. Hence the need for the new cards.For further information see the pdf document Basic Plan for Immigration Control (4th Edition) provisional translation from the MOJ website.© JapanVisitor.comLike this blog? Sign up for the JapanVisitor newsletterBooks on JapanTagsJapan VisaImmigration CardGaijinzainichiJapanese Visa <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.c
12/20/2011 | Download File (0.00 MB) - right click to download
?????, ?Kikuya House (Kikuya-ke Jutaku) in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture is an historic merchant's house and garden which is open to the public. Kikuya House contains a number of buildings including traditional Japanese storehouses (kura) hidden behind its distinctive black and white check walls.Garden of Kikuya House, Hagi, Yamaguchi PrefectureThe Kikuya family moved to Hagi from nearby Yamaguchi in the early 17th century and quickly became one of the richest families in town involved in the construction of housing for samurai and the laying out of the town of Hagi as it grew. The house contains around 5,000 artifacts from the Edo and later periods of Japanese history including paintings, scrolls, ceramics and ornamental Japanese dolls.Stone lantern in the garden of Kikuya House, HagiKikuya House1-1 GofukuHagi758-0072Tel: 0838 25 8282Hours: 9am-5.30pmAdmission: 500 yenGoogle map of Kikuya HouseVisitors to Hagi can enjoy the city's beautiful walls, the historic Meirin Elementary School, Shoin Shrine, the Takayoshi Kido residence, Kikugahama Beach, a tour boat of Hagi and Ito Hirobumi's Residence, all a short distance from Hagi Station.© JapanVisitor.comTagsHagi Kikuya House Japanese Houses
