mikekato
United States
27 years in Japan
I've been living in Japan now for 27 years... and counting! Still having fun and learning new things each day, too.
I'm running a company, Japanese Greats Co., Ltd., that is providing solutions mostly for SMEs in Japan with great products and ideas in their international endeavors. We aim to make the world a better place by utilizing some of the great things Japan has to offer.
I've been shaving my head for the past 15 years. It is a chore, but I've gotten used to it. It sometimes grows a bit, during camps and sometimes during long holidays like Golden Week. But basically, I'm a skinhead. I love the feeling of cold water splashing on top during the summer months. It hooke…(893 words)
mikekato
Beauty Ginza Barber Hair
Subaru is a fairly well known brand globally, particularly for those who are familiar with off-road racing. It's definitely not as much a household brand name as Toyota or Honda, or even companies known for their motorcycles like Kawasaki and Suzuki. But Subaru is indeed a hugely popular automobile…(225 words)
mikekato
Shinjuku Tokyo Subaru Building Beauty Toyota Kawasaki
Ikeuchi Organic is a Japanese company that makes towels like no other. Towels are not its only products, but towels are the company's core products. And what wonderful towels they are!The company philosophy is totally organic. Certified organic: There are no chemical fertilizers or agricultural…(813 words)
mikekato
towels Imabari textiles Tokyo Kyoto Shop Shikoku Ehime
There's no shortage of holiday blessings in Japan. Not being a Christian nation has never stopped Japan from adopting this holiday as its own. And while Christmas caroling has not yet become a holiday pastime, it has joyously adopted the tradition of celebrating Christ's birthday with a cake, alb…(763 words)
mikekato
Christmas Marunouchi illumination Tokyo Winter Castle Building Art Star Wars
At a recent bonenkai (year-end party), one of the entertainers was Neko Punch. Neko Punch is a band, led by singer/songwriter Leanne and producer/bass player Macc. Later, the duo was joined by dancer, Pinky. The group formed, apparently, in London in the summer of 2012, but has recently caught sto…(291 words)
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Music Pop culture dance Tokyo Summer Event style Party
Yes, you may not realize it, but not only is there a history of geisha in Tokyo, but there are quite a few places where there are active geisha communities, including Kagurazaka, Asakusa, Shinbashi/Ginza, and Hachioji. There are, of course, Hatobus and other tours that offer geisha shows, but it se…(1873 words)
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Tokyo geisha drinking Art dance Train City Drink Food
Somewhere between the real and virtual is a strange and exciting dimension that is absurdly geeky and gorgeous. On the one hand, there is an abundance of beautiful women, powerful cars and motorcycles, and tasty food. On the other, there are a panoply of geeky and nerdy otaku, as well as fun-seek…(761 words)
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Yokohama Event Otaku Food Music Kanagawa Building
Social Innovation/Smart City Week 2014 (I wrote about the event in another article in this site) was held on October 29-31, 2014. The event was the 4th edition of what is becoming a very important event for the promotion of activities that can help cities throughout the world adopt more sustainabl…(839 words)
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Yokohama Event Smart City Tokyo Convenience store Business
For the past 4 years, Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. (NikkeiBP) has organized a Smart City Week event in Yokohama. The first event, in 2011, was primarily a conference, with 5000 participants. In 2012 and 2013, the conference and exhibition expanded, with the number of attendees growing to 22…(838 words)
mikekato
Smart Cities Yokohama Exhibition City Event Business Tourism Smart City Ecology sustainability
There are many restaurants; there are not as many restaurant experiences. Some might say that any restaurant whose primary draw is not the food should not exist; I beg to differ, as the food of some localities is best experienced as a part of its culture. Awaodori is the cultural heritage of Tokush…(273 words)
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Restaurant Shinjuku Awa Odori Festival Food festival dance Tokushima
Awaodori is a dance that is performed in summer festivals throughout Japan, but originating in Tokushima Prefecture in the southwestern island of Shikoku. Shikoku is one of the four main islands of Japan, but the one that is often forgotten, because it does not have a major city like Fukuoka or Na…(778 words)
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dance Event festival Tokyo Summer Drink Music Food Beauty
It wasn't so long ago that most staple products were purchased in Japan in bulk. The grocer, dry goods shop, or other shopkeeper had a scale, upon which he measured any amount that his customer wanted to purchase. The item would be put into a container, usually one that the customer brought to th…(689 words)
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cooking dry goods Cuisine
Tanabata, which means "double seven" in Japanese, is celebrated usually on the 7th of July, as one might expect. It is a celebration stemming from the lunar/solar calendar and the meeting of a mythical cowherd and weaver girl throughout much of East Asia.On July 7th, people throughout Japan pl…(489 words)
mikekato
Japanese festivals Tanabata Festival Asagaya Yaki soba noodles animation characters Tokyo
The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance is better known throughout the world as Trappist. The order is Roman Catholic, cloistered contemplative monastic monks and nuns who live in monasteries. Originally part of the Cistercian Order, the Trappists broke off to form an independent order…(458 words)
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Hokkaido Sweets Beer Hakodate
Kankontan, it seems, is a very famous pastry from Toyama Prefecture. It is made by a well known local patisserie, Fleur de Lis Blanc. Apparently, the patisserie is primarily of French persuasion, though it is one with a distinct Japanese taste.The Kanji characters for Kankontan reveal almost …(306 words)
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Sweets Cake Toyama Pastry
Doraemon everywhere. I'm not sure how many there are, but I'd say around a hundred of them. There all over the plaza, on the walls, in the water fountains.There's Doraemon doing magic. Singing. Dancing.I understand it is to celebrate the movie that came out recently. The Stand By Me 3D…(341 words)
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Roppongi Hills Doraemon Public art Roppongi Kids Art
I like shoes. Not enough to have 3000 pairs, like the wife of a former Asian dictator, but I think good shoes are a very important thing. A good pair of shoes keeps our feet on the ground, after all.Atsushi Inoue is a Shoe Creator. Not just any shoemaker. His shoes are, no doubt, a mixture …(294 words)
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Shoes Play May style design comfort durability
Tai, or sea bream, is a fish often used in Japan to celebrate something. The reason is because the sound is part of the word, "medetai," that indicates a cause for celebration. The winners of sumo tournaments, for example, celebrate by carrying a large tai, presumably to be consumed at the feast …(348 words)
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Food Sweets Snacks Green tea Japanese festivals Fish chocolate
There's no shortage of big bookstores in Tokyo. There is, of course, the Kinokuniya Books in Shinjuku, as well as Junkudo, and Parco Books, as well as the Aoyama Book Store. All of these stores have their merits, but they carry only new books. But just like there is something important you l…(604 words)
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bookworm Antiques Nishiogi books bookstores Music History Cafe
Tokyo, a metropolitan area with something over 30 million people living within a 60km radius from its center, is obviously crowded. Space here is definitely a premium commodity.There are many places where careful observation reveals some pretty creative use of space. There are some extremely …(282 words)
mikekato
architecture Tokyo Restaurant Building Ikebukuro design
The main intersection of Harajuku, where Meiji Street and Omotesando cross, is surprisingly nondescript. On one corner is a bank, with Jonathan's, a popular family restaurant above it. On another corner is another bank, with a small clothing boutique and a cafe adjacent to it. The third corner i…(415 words)
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Tokyo Shibuya Harajuku architecture rooftop escalators mirrors
Rain. Water. The source of Life itself.Tsuyu. It's that time of year again. It's not exactly like the monsoons of southeast Asia, or the hurricanes and tornados of most of the United States. Japan's got the typhoons, too, but that is later in the summer and hails the coming of fall and the …(358 words)
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Tsuyu Summer Rain green moss
In Nishiogi, one can find many quaint shops, whether for food, books, antiques, or a small gift for a good friend. Unlike the contemporary boutiques of nearby Kichijoji, where the students from the many women's colleges nearby flock and shop, Nishiogi is where the women "in the know" tend to hang …(471 words)
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Tokyo Nishiogi stationary Showa Era
That is exactly what the sign says, "Nombe Yokocho" - Drunkard's Alley. It is located about a minute from Shibuya Station - almost directly across the street from a police box. It is a small section next to the JR tracks that is filled with bars. Sorry, this photo is taken during the day, when n…(188 words)
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Train Shibuya Harajuku Only in Japan bars
Masakiya is an udon shop. It is located not only off the beaten path, but well off the oft-travelled roads in an offbeat area, Nishi-Ogikubo. Nishiogi is well known for its antique shops, used books, quaint eateries, and, mostly, for being located near the ever popular Kichijoji, Asagaya, Koenji,…(379 words)
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Udon noodles Tokyo pork Tsukemen Nishiogi
The Chindon'ya are a type of Japanese marching band that wear elaborate costumes and perform in a variety of festivals, shop openings, and other promotions or special events. Originating in Osaka during the late Edo period, most of the remaining Chindon'ya are based in Tokyo. Chindon'ya usual…(511 words)
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Tokyo Event Music Osaka Children Play Entertainment
The ip.horn speaker is an extremely rare item, currently sold only at a number of events in held in Japan. The manufacturer prefers to remain anonymous, because the craftsmen make the ip.horn in their spare time, outside of regular company business. Nonetheless, the company, which makes wood prod…(550 words)
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speakers iPhone accessories horn speakers unplugged walnut Music Audio design
Tokuyama Shoes has its home in Kawanehoncho, tucked away in the northwestern side of Shizuoka Prefecture, inland from Shizuoka City and away from the more famous parts of the prefecture, which is home to half of the sacred Mt. Fuji and also the Izu Peninsula, with its world-class onsen and sightsee…(444 words)
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Shoes City Tea Onsen Green tea Shizuoka Trip
Twice a year, since the early-90s, Design Festa has rocked Japan. Arts, crafts, performance, music, and the entire breadth and depth of design is featured in this extravaganza using most of the west exhibition area of Tokyo Big Sight, the largest convention and exhibition space in Tokyo.With m…(455 words)
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design Tokyo Music Exhibition Event Art Fashion Entertainment festival
The Shibuya Subway Station is famous for a number of reasons. It was designed by world renowned Japanese architect, Tadao Ando. It's design, in not surprising Tokyo cool, is egg shaped and intentionally designed to look like a spaceship. There are locations in the station where the design can se…(469 words)
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Shibuya Subway Tokyo Shopping Building Anime Arcade Film architecture
Chiaki Kohara is an artist from Osaka. Born in 1986, she is still young enough to have the vibrant quality of a J-Pop idol. And her art has the lively quality of anime.But look underneath the surface of her colorful characters and one gets the sense that there is much more to her art than at …(358 words)
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Art Anime Building Ginza Osaka Fashion Uniqlo Exhibition
Kumo no Umi (Sea of Clouds) is a trampoline in the Showa Kinen Koen (Showa Memorial Park) in Nishi-Tachikawa, on the west side of Tokyo. The trampoline is built as a clump of hills and valleys of various sizes. The white vinyl looks, from afar, like a sea of clouds in the midst of an ocean of tre…(199 words)
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Tokyo Park Sea Play Children Playground
Deep in the catacombs of Shibuya Station, somewhere between JR and the Hikarie Building is one of the most pleasant tourist information desks that I've seen in Tokyo. It is jointly operated by Tokyu Railways and Tokyo Metro, providing maps and information in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish…(275 words)
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Shibuya lost Tokyo Building English Railways Metro Transportation Subway
Often referred to as the busiest intersection in the world, Scramble Crossing is certainly a real zoo. It is much more busy on most evenings and on the weekend, but even on this rainy Thursday afternoon, you can get a sense of the real scramble it is to get across the intersection. People walk in…(109 words)
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Shibuya Zoo
Any visitor to Japan will immediately see that there are vending machines of all kinds everywhere. Not just sodas, but beer, cigarettes, batteries, condoms, and, especially, coffee. Canned coffees are everywhere.But a visitor who travels on the highway is certain to find among the Coca Cola, …(282 words)
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Vending Machines Beer Coffee
Japan is a nation obsessed with seasonal activities of all sorts. After all, there are few other nations that I know that have national holidays for the Vernal (Spring) and Autumnal Equinox. This year (2014), the Vernal Equinox will fall on March 21, one day after the traditional date.But whi…(459 words)
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Spring Winter Holidays Flower Sumo Greeting painting Haiku Tulip
Rakugo is a form of Japanese traditional entertainment that is humorous, a lightly comedic storytelling. Rakugo is always performed by a single person, who plays all of the parts in a story. There are many notable features distinguishing Rakugo. It is performed with the storyteller sitting in the…(315 words)
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Rakugo Tokyo Shinjuku Building Entertainment Isetan Comedy
There are many examples of strange English in japan, as well as the rest of Asia. Strange English is found, in fact, on signs throughout the world. But some of the most strange English is found on t-shirts. I wonder who writes the copy? Many of these provide the foreign visitor with a great lau…(200 words)
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English Tokyo Shinjuku Building Shibuya Fashion Japanglish
Ame Yoko Cho is the name of a shopping district located between Ueno and Okachimachi Stations. It's name is a Japanese acronym which has two meanings. The original name is said to mean Candy Store Alley, because the area had many candy and snack stores. The area still has some stores that sell c…(269 words)
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Tokyo Shopping Harajuku Ueno Fruits Shoes Akihabara Fast food Otaku Jewelry Cosmetics
Taxi prices in Japan are controlled. In Tokyo, they all start at 710 yen for the first 2 km. The price rises at a defined amount, either by distance or time. If there is no traffic, the factor that will trigger a price rise is distance traveled. In traffic, the factor is time. Either way, the …(159 words)
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Tokyo Taxicab