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Visit Japan in late March or early April for the best Japanese celebration of them all: hanami (cherry blossom viewing). The pink blossoms only stay for a couple of weeks, with their spectacular peak lasting just days, but send Japan into a frenzy of celebrations.
The Yayoi Festival celebrated in April in Nikko. Dating to the late 700s, the annual event welcomes in spring, with the highlight being a parade of eleven of these decorative floats.
Japan also welcomes events from other cultures, such as the annual Asakusa Samba Festival.
Watch a sumo tournament when in Japan if you can. There are six taking place every odd month of the year. The most expensive (and possibly most dangerous) are the ringside seats, where wrestlers may collide into the spectators.
It doesn’t really matter what the occasion—Coming of Age Day in January or a summer fireworks display—you see people in colorful kimono or yukata at many of Japan’s festivals.
As part of the Ohara Hadaka Matsuri in Chiba Prefecture, locals carry portable shrines into the sea to pray for bumper fishing catches. The word hadaka means “naked”, which generally means little more than loin cloths for those taking part.
A maiko (trainee geisha) taking part in the Hanagasa parade at the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, which is held every July.
The Ohara Matsuri dance festival in Kagoshima every November attracts ten thousand dancers, like these here performing Okinawan dances.
A monk walks on coals at the Fire-Walking Festival in Miyajima. Similar events are held around Japan, including a major one on Mount Takao in Tokyo on the second Sunday of March where onlookers can walk the coals themselves.
The Oniyarai Shinji Festival is part of the annual setsubun festivities that mark winter’s end. To ward off evil and welcome in good, people throw beans at demons, shouting “Oni wa soto” (Demons out!).
A spring festival at Daigoji Temple in Kyoto celebrates cherry blossom season and commemorates shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had seven hundred cherry blossom trees planted here in the late 1500s.
The highlight of Fukuoka’s Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival in July sees groups of men charging around the streets carrying 1-ton decorative floats.
RYOKAN AND ONSEN
An Unforgettable Night at a Traditional Inn or Hot Spring
More than simply places to sleep or bases from which to explore, Japan’s traditional forms of accommodation represent a chance to go deeper into Japan’s multiple cultural layers.
Take the ryokan, the traditional Japanese inn, which ranges from modest, family-run affairs to refined five-star luxury, but at its heart shares several core traits. Firstly, a typical stay here means a night sleeping on a futon in a tatami-mat room furnished with low table and defined by traditional design elements that include paper screen doors and calligraphy wall hangings. Then there is the food, usually a stomach-busting multi-dish breakfast that includes rice, fish, pickles and soup, but more importantly a multi-course dinner based around seasonal local produce that’s served on fine ceramics and lacquerware like a succession of miniature art works. On top of that, most ryokan also feature communal onsen (hot spring baths), sometimes inside, sometimes out, sometimes both, which add a soothing touch of pampering. All that, of course, would merely be window dressing if it weren’t for the level of hospitality and attentive service that usually comes with it—although despite rose-tinted reputation, it has to be said that Japan can do inhospitable and poor service, too, especially if you run into someone who behind the smile is terrified of or just plain dislikes foreigners!
Away from the ryokan come variations on the theme. Minshuku are a homely version of ryokan (like a B&B), without the formal level of service that comes with a ryokan, but in many respects even warmer for it. Then shukubo offer another twist, this time provided on temple grounds and typically being a more Spartan version of a ryokan, with the vegetarian cuisine eaten by monks on the menu and service functional but friendly. Better yet, shukubo offer opportunities to get a deeper look at spiritual Japan, not just by staying in the tranquil surrounds of a temple, but by being able to observe and take part in the temple’s morning rituals.
Dining at a ryokan is a special experience in and of itself. Taking a couple of hours, the kaiseki dinner generally features beautifully presented dish after dish that utilize regional and seasonal produce. Breakfast, too, can be a big affair, combining rice, fish, pickles, eggs, soup, salad, and plenty more.
Soaking in a piping-hot onsen (hot-spring bath) is one of the key attractions at most ryokan. Many ryokan will have a mix of indoor and outdoor gender-separated baths (although some still have mixed gender), where the mineral-rich water is said to alleviate not just fatigue but many other ailments. To bath correctly, you just need to remember a few rules: wash and rinse thoroughly by the low showers before getting in the communal water, and make sure you are completely naked.
Ryokan come in a variety of styles, from swanky contemporary to former samurai houses, but this is the classic guest-room design—a mix of tatami, low table, paper screen doors and views out to nature.
Okami is the term given to the proprietress or manageress of a ryokan. She will be there to greet you upon arrival, and she oversees the staff as they look after you during your stay. In smaller ryokan, she might even be more hands-on, helping to serve the lavish multi-course meals in your room.
CHAPTER 1
TOKYO
INTRODUCING TOKYO
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