Ever thought of how many interesting things that are in Japan. Here we are, giving you some, I mean some because there is lots more of interesting things in japan.
Attractions.
Japan offers a wide range of attractions, from historical and cultural treasures to modern and futuristic sights and beautiful forests, mountains and sea coast.
Talk of temples, shrines, gardens, castles also hot springs can be found all over Japan. Every municipality has atleast one. Among the attractions are:
Temples: These are the places of worship in Japanese Buddhism,almost every municipality has at least one temple, while large cultural centers like kyoto have several thousands of them. Temples store and display sacred
Buddhist objects,structurtes at a temple are the following:
The mainhall, These are called kondo or hondo . There are other several japanese names. This is where the sacred objects of worship, such as statues are displayed.
The lecturehall, They are called kodo.These are mainly for meetings and lectures but also display objects of worship.
pagoda, Usually with 3( sanju no to) or 5 (goju no to) stories.These store remains of the buddha.
Gate,These mark the entrance to the temple grounds.there is usually one main gate,and possibly several other additional gates.
Bell,On new year’s eve, temple bells are rang 108 times, corresponding to the buddhist concept of 108 worldly desires.
Cemetery, Most cemetries in japan are buddhist and are located at a temple. During Obon week, the japanese visit their ancestors’ graves.
The most famous Japanese temple is Todaiji found in Nara,it houses japan’s largest Buddha statue.
Accomodation.
Besides western style hotels and pensions, there is a variety of japanese style accomodations such as ryokan and minshuku.
Ryokan are japanese style inns, they come in all sizes and are found across japan. A stay at a ryokan is highly recommended to all foreign visitors of japan,as it offers the opportunity to experience a traditional japanese atmosphere. The rooms have a tatami floor and a low table.
shoes are usually removed at the ryokan`s main entrance, where slippers will be kept already. During stay at a ryokan, you have the opportunity to enjoy a japanese style bath, called ofuro, these are gender separated communal bath.
Minshuku are japanese style bed and breakfast places, they are usually owned by a family and offer visitors a good opportunity to meet a local family and experience a traditional japanese lifestyle.
Transportation:
Most of the japan’s major cities offer efficient public transportation networks,and are conneceted with each other by the shinkansen, the japanese bullet train.
Japan’s main island Honshu is covered by a network of high speed train lines that connect Tokyo with most of the island’ s major cities and Fukuoka on the island of kyushu.
Talking of shinkansen, the Tokaido shinkansen, connecting Tokyo, Nagoya,Kyoto and Osaka was inaugurated in the year 1964, as the first shinkansen line and the world’s first high speed train.
Food:
The japanese cuisine is one of japan’s greatest attractions . A great variety of japanese cuisine and food from around the world can be enjoyed in japan.
The most popular dishes, categorised are:rice dishes, seafood dishes, noodle dishes, soya bean dishes, nabe dishes, yoshoku dishes and several others.
The rice dishes include but not limited to, sushi, domburi, onigiri, kare raisu: this is curry rice, fried rice. The
sushi can be defined as a dish which contains sushi rice and (cooked or uncooked) fish. Sushi is usually confused with sashimi by many foreigners. Sashimi is the raw(nama) fish,there are several sorts of fish that can be used for this.
Onigiri are rice balls made of cooked rice and usually wraped with a nori seaweed. They are slightly salted and often contain some additional food in the center such as umeboshi(pickled japanese apricot)
Seafood dishes . They inculed sashimi,this is raw seafood,most types of sashimi are enjoyed with soya sauce and wasabi. There is also Yakizakana, this is grilled fish.
This is just a tip of the very many interesting things in japan, several more others have not been mentioned.
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