Claire Advice List

Claire Belgium 20 years in Japan

Being in Japan is like having your birthday everyday: everyday, you get a surprise!

Kasai Rinkai Park : enjoy the sea !

If you want to get away from high-rise building without going too far, Kasai Rinkai parc is your place. One station before Disneyland (Maihama), on the Keiyo line, it takes you 20 minutes to get there. If you go there, you need to bring your lunch with you because the only restaurant there is a…(204 words)

Claire

Park Tokyo Summer

Enjoy the cherry blossoms

Every spring, it is the same thing: everyone are getting very (positively) anxious and are looking forward to enjoying the cherry blossoms.Spring is there. 8 blossoms on a tree, and it's done. Cherry blossom season is launched. Time to prepare your picnic and enjoy it under the trees, if you f…(169 words)

Claire

Cherry blossom Cherry Asakusa River Japanese festivals

Hot spring etiquette: Please, do hot-bath like a pro.

Hot springs are often marketed for their positive effects on health: skin, articulations, cardio-vascular system, muscular relaxation… depending on its mineral content, the hot water is supposed to have an impact on your body. As the Romans used to say - and they were enjoying hot springs too - men…(705 words)

Claire

Etiquette Onsen Hot Spring Japan short trip Kusatsu Onsen

Indulge myself with a small luxury : a minitrip to Kusatsu

Have you ever had that feeling that your mind is stuck with your work and you need to get away from the office for a while? Staying home is not an option because then, you will not stay focus on your backlog work. In such a case, I go to Kusatsu hot spring. It is three hours away from home in T…(537 words)

Claire

Luxury short trip Onsen Hot Spring Japan Kusatsu Onsen

A trip to hot springs?

I remember one business meeting I attended and the quizzical look of my Belgian business partner when our Japanese host suggested a trip to hot springs together. We knew him very well, but…, a trip to hot springs, … together? However, from the Japanese perspective, the invitation to enjoy hot s…(594 words)

Claire

Trip Hot Spring Japan Relaxation Japan Kusatsu Onsen

Omotenashi - a tradition made famous by Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic 2020

Since Tokyo has been nominated to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020, « omotenashi » has become the buzz word to epitomize Japan’s art of welcoming guests and attract tourists. But what does it exactly means, and how can we experience it truly ?Omotenashi meaning cannot be encapsulat…(745 words)

Claire

Onsen Hot Spring Japan short trip Kusatsu Onsen

« The train came out of the long border tunnel ...

A short trip at Kusatsu Onsen.You may be on a business trip in Tokyo, with jet lag and many meetings weighting heavily on your shoulders and mind. You do have one day and a half though to discover something about Japan. Something you don’t know. This is not your first trip to Tokyo, you’ve been…(616 words)

Claire

Hot Spring Japan Relaxation Japan short trip

Artistic heaven under the rail tracks

Tokyo's tunnels-under-rail-tracks are worth exploration. Land is quite rare and expensive in Tokyo so it is put into good use. Any plot of land, how small it may be, is productive. This is also the case for the roads under rail tracks. You have km of land under JR rails but they are not alw…(502 words)

Claire

Tokyo Shopping Walk

Find your inner zen in Kanazawa

Kanazawa is one of these romantic treasures that have survived time. If you visit the Higashi Chaya district, you will find old tea houses and dream of geishas. Kenrokuen, a Unesco world heritage place, looks great and precisely the typical Japanese garden that you fancy. It is beautiful and it fee…(516 words)

Claire

City Visit Food Building Art Kyoto English History Museum Tea

Math is cool! Science too!

I have always had a hard time finding equation beautiful. Not my thing. But many people do. Einstein, for instance. Math is not only used to explain the universe and quantum theory. Actually I find it very useful everyday in my life (more simple than quantum theory too). Measuring calorie…(262 words)

Claire

Tokyo Museum

In Japan train are always on time - always.

There are many goods things in Japan but there is one thing ingrained in the Japanese ADN and technology: punctuality.Here, trains and metro and bus are always on time. Never too early (they wait at the station), very very very rarely late (reasons: typhoons, accident but never because they are…(570 words)

Claire

Train Tokyo Kyoto

Inspiration for Valentine Day !

If you want your Valentine to be really happy with your present, here are some ideas for you from Romantic Japan.Tokyo top 10 of the best presents ever for 2015. The keyword is: let's share and enjoy the present together!10. Life is a box of chocolate. Of course, you can enjoy chocolate t…(352 words)

Claire

St. Valentine's day

The mysterious statues of Sanjusangendo

In Kyoto you need to make choices. And choices are always tough.But if there is one place you should not forget to visit, this is it: Sanjusangendo.Why is it so different, or more Japanese than any other sites in Kyoto? gold pagoda, silver pagoda, Ryoanji and Kyomizudera. It's the atmospher…(288 words)

Claire

Visit Kyoto Garden

Chocolate on Valentine, chocolate any time

I am Belgian. Don't talk to me about Swiss chocolate. Or nightmarishly, French chocolate. I have been eating chocolate everyday under any possible form since I was born, and most probably my mum gave me chocolate in my bib when I was a baby. Today, I had hot chocolate in the morning. If you…(274 words)

Claire

chocolate Visit Kyoto Shop Eat Work

Cutting edges: souvernirs that look like they are out of Kill Bill

You have seen the sword of Uma Thruman in Kill Bill. It is made by an old blacksmith known by only a few privileged and who does not accept to create a sword for anybody unless they are heaven-gifted creatures... Even if you are not Uma Thruman, you can get yourself a piece of that art!If y…(366 words)

Claire

Souvenir Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Traditional

Eating in Japan is never a problem! Picnics are the bests

When travelling, you have no choice but to eat either in restaurants (nice but it gets on your appetite, and stomach and say good bye to your weight control), or get some room service (a bit sad), or grab some junk food from fast food restaurant and conbini (the 7/11 and other Lawson that have col…(738 words)

Claire

Tokyo City Restaurant Park Kyoto Food Department store

KAKIGORI will help you to survive the August heat

Kakigori is a mountain of grated ice cubes with something on top of it to give it taste. Simple Kakigori comes with some kind of sirup (the chemical type - with fluorescent blue, green, red, yellow color). More elaborate ones comes with Uji tea, like the one in this picture, or other tastes lik…(321 words)

Claire

August Sweets Green tea Kakigori

Flee markets: an alternative to shop souvenirs

There are so many things you can bring back home as souvenir from Japan that sometimes, choice and possibilities are overwhelming. It's so difficult to decide which souvenir will please the best to who...And, everyone does not always enjoy "shopping" per se. So you rush to some kind of souvenir…(476 words)

Claire

Tokyo Shopping Kyoto Souvenir Kimono flee markets

Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto: Walking the stairs to heaven....

There are many beautiful things to visit in Kyoto and for very good reasons. If you fancy a little bit of fresh air and a walk in the forest, Inari Shrine of Fushimi is the place to go.Inari Shrine is one of the many UNESCO world heritages in Kyoto and it attracts many tourists. But if yo…(553 words)

Claire

Jinjya (Shrine) Kyoto Visit Trip Walk

Of course it's hot!

Look at a map or better, draw a horizontal line from East to West, at the level of Tokyo. What happens? You will notice that well, Tokyo, and even more Kyoto, are quite South. As South as Kabul, Beirouth, Sfax, Casablanca and Jacksonville, Austin ... And Japan, is an island, all surrounded by w…(549 words)

Claire

Tokyo

Short trip in Fukuoka? There is Dazai Tenmangu and Toto factory to visit

In Kyushu, there are many lovely things to visit and usually, Fukuoka, is not a must-go on the list.But, if you go there, you can certainly enjoy your time.Dazai Tenmangu is a temple dating from the 10th century and built by a Michizane Sugawara, an high-rank administrator of the Heian gov…(344 words)

Claire

Visit Trip Fukuoka City Event Jinjya (Shrine) Kokura

Japan: entirely another planet for advertisement

If you are in Japan, you have seen it. It is everywhere. It is either fixed or mobile. Sometimes fixed in mobile environment like the handles in trains. I am talking about advertisement. For this, Japan is another planet. Well you do find the straightforward ones like beer or laundry powder…(274 words)

Claire

The Plum Season!

June and July is the season of the "plum rain" in Japan. The start of the season is much expected and advertised by the weather report. The plum rain front has reached Okinawa... they say with a very dark voice. And suddenly, it pours cats and dogs in Tokyo. There is no plum-rain in Hokkaido. W…(646 words)

Claire

Tera (Temple) Umbrella

Public bath !

In Japan, you still find many public baths. They usually look like ordinary houses, very humble and discreet but if you look for them you can see them.Public baths are different from onset, their hot spring cousin in the sense that they are using normal water and they are open to everyone w…(318 words)

Claire

Beautiful Kyoto

Kyoto is a beautiful city where you discover small temples and shrines around the corner. One step inside and you are in another world, free from the noise of the city, stressless, peaceful. All it takes is a walk along Kamo river, and some curiosity to look around the corners... So, if you ha…(391 words)

Claire

Kyoto Visit Tera (Temple) Jinjya (Shrine) River

The season of fireworks will start soooooon!

Summer is the season of fireworks. In Japan, it is an absolutely orgiastic affair. Not to be missed. To attend these fireworks, you need to prepare for extreme crowds, more or less disciplined, and to gear up with: drinks (if possible alcoholic one if you are more than 20 years old), a yukata (…(162 words)

Claire

Fireworks Tokyo Summer Asakusa Kamakura

Take a walk on the nearly wild side

One of the many characteristics of Japanese people is their large tolerance for fashion. Aoyama district is the fashionable place to be for all fashion victims "with classe". Aoyama street is the place to be for fashion designers of the world. They show off their season collections in really ni…(308 words)

Claire

Walk

Kameido Tenjin Shrine

If you still have a few hours to kill in Tokyo, Kameido's Tenjin Shrine is a nice spot to visit. It is at walking distance from the Skytree Tower. I like the way modern constructions mixe with traditional ones.The shrine is located in quite a large parc with a pond and a forest of palawnia. Fuj…(303 words)

Claire

Jinjya (Shrine) Kameido Tokyo Sushi Visit

Sushi, the fast food of Japan

Sushi, is the traditional fast food in Japan. It is finger food in fact. Yes, you read me well: you do not need any chopsticks to eat sushi. Your fingers are all enough. So, to me, a 4 Michelin star sushi place, is quite similar to giving Michelin stars to a Mac Donald (yes, I am exaggerating, …(335 words)

Claire

Sushi Tokyo Drink Beer Ginza Lunch

Japanese sweets

Japanese sweets and cakes are awesome.If you are afraid to try the traditional ones, those made with rice and red beans, you can still try the "occidental" ones.If you go to a department store food floor (usually basement floor), you will have a huge choice of patisseries and breads. Giotto…(189 words)

Claire

Sweets

How do the Japanese promote good behavior?

I always wonder how it is possible to get so many people behave in a special way, especially when it comes to public manners. No scoop here, but the Japanese society model is not based on individualism. Fitting in is a matter of survival. But well, how do they promote good manners? But what…(433 words)

Claire

Train Etiquette Strawberry Cake

La Folle Journee au Japon

If you happen to be in Tokyo during the "Golden Week" as you should prefer to, you can spend time walking the streets of Marunouchi and discover street performances and concerto.What is Golden Week: it is a week blessed with so many national holiday that you do not work at all during that week.…(224 words)

Claire

Tokyo City Music Event Marunouchi Golden Week

The real soba experience in Asakusa

You will never find Tanso-an Kenjiro unless you know how to find it. It is the Saint Graal of soba experience.Kenjiro Suzuki has traveled around Japan during many years to learn his craft and soba making from every region of Japan. He did it the medieval way: working for soba-masters every wher…(265 words)

Claire

Asakusa Soba noodles Tokyo Restaurant Tempura

Massage and Japan

Massage therapy is omnipresent everywhere in big cities: Temomin, Global Sports, Raffine, Queensway... and many others.For a very reasonable amount of time you can reload up, without killing your travel budget. Going to a massage therapy place is a real treat to yourself. Your menu goes l…(340 words)

Claire

Massage

I did it! I have found the proof of the existance of incivility in Japan!

Have you ever wondered how they do it to keep their cities and public space so spic and span clean? I do. Every day I walk the streets of the city, and I am amazed by its welcoming cleanliness. - There is no paper, not gums littering the streets. No nothing. They even do not have rubbish bins! …(387 words)

Claire

City Bicycle Train Etiquette

Staying in Roppongi, without its inconvenient: the H&R Roppongi

Last week, I had to finish up a tough work, and heavy jogging was not helping structuring my mind, as it usually do. I needed something else so I decided to monaster up myself, away from the office, away from home, in a place where I would find time and atmosphere to struggle through the work succe…(330 words)

Claire

Roppongi Tokyo Hotel

Hanami: Do it like the Japanese

This is the check list of things that you absolutely need stricto minima to do your Hanami party like the Japanese! If you have the following kit, you will look like the real part! - blue plastic sheet: to use as a carpet. You can use one with Hello Kitty or Pikatchu but blue will do it. …(210 words)

Claire

Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) Beer Edamame (Green soybeans)

Where does the cherry-viewing buzz come from?

Cherry blossom period is starting in Japan. It is the time when Japanese people are enjoying watching flowers blooming everywhere:- trying to find out the first sakura bud of the year and take a picture of it, - having pique-nique under the trees (well, usually, drinking and karaoke-ing a lot…(339 words)

Claire

Cherry blossom Beauty

Funny souvenirs from Japan

Yesterday, I was screening the cosmetics section of Zakka, the small beauty outlet inside Kyoto station and I found wonderful promises of beauty and youthfullness! These huuuuge sections, that you also find in Loft and Tokyu Hands like shops are wonderful. You spend 5 minutes there and underst…(387 words)

Claire

Kyoto Beauty Cosmetics

Find an Oasis in the Desert!

If you come to Tokyo, you find that each district has its own atmosphere. Tsukiji, Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Meguro, Roppongi, they are all different. The architecture is different, people working and living there are different. People at different time of the day or night are even differe…(369 words)

Claire

Roppongi Restaurant Hotel

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