Kyoto, Japan News

Ages ago, a particular Pikachu bouncy house was noticed in Japan. The entrance looked like, for lack of a better word, a Pikachu vagina.

Last Thursday, July 17th, I braced the summer heat, got up early and was hoping for a good spot to witness the Saki-Matsuri.

Interviewing Seizo Fukumoto, the star of Ken Ochiai's backstage drama "Uzumasa Limelight," I wished I had brought a video camera, instead of my voice recorder and notepad.

Tokyo - The moon in Japan is not like our moon. There is no man in there, for one thing.

A couple of days before we were to leave for Osaka we happened to go on a day-trip to Yokohama.

Shocked teenager Yu filmed the rare salamander - which bizarrely has four toes on its front feet but five on their rear legs - on his way to Kyoto high school.

The Japan Culture Center of Western New York, in partnership with the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, is proud to announce a new exhibition showcasing the work of Sarah Brayer, a Rochester-born artist living in Kyoto.

On July 5, the "Kippu-iri" opening ritual of the Naginata Hoko float, which leads the Yamahoko procession of the Gion Festival, was held at the Naginata Hoko community hall in Shijo-dori Karasuma-higashi-iru, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto.

Most artists are encouraged to pursue their craft, their dream, their vision, by family members or by teachers in school.

To pep up a 95-year-old futon business, a Kyoto company injects a modern twist into the good ol' zabuton, aka floor cushions.

This is a shot of the Japanese Giant Salamander that was spotted going for a stroll on the bank of the Kamogawa River in Kyoto.

Bell flowers are called kikyA in Japanese and the Tentoku-in temple is famous for them.

Sunday shoppers in Tokyo could be forgiven for wondering if they had been transported to Tibet or Myanmar as a man climbed atop a pedestrian crosswalk, voiced his reason to the crowd via megaphone and set himself ablaze.

The Gion Festival, one of Japan's three major festivals, kicked off on July 1. This year, the "Ato-matsuri," or the latter festival, is being revived on July 24 for the first time in 49 years, so the "Yamahoko Junko" float procession will parade through central Kyoto City for two days, on both that day and on July 17 for the "Saki-matsuri," or the ... (more)

In 1868, time traveling school teacher Mikako Kawabe amazes the Shogun's Navy Commissioner, Katsu Kaishu , with 2014 technology.

Walk Japan's guided 11-day Nakasendo Way walking tour is about $4,085 per person and includes accommodation for 10 nights, breakfasts and dinners, baggage transfers and entrance fees.

WHAT does it take to join Japan's oldest sisterhood? A young woman explains why she left her life in New Zealand to train as a Geisha in Kyoto, Japan.

Bangkok has lost its top spot and dropped entirely from the Top 10 of the world's best cities to visit in a poll based on the survey of Travel + Leisure magazine readers.

Sunday shoppers in Tokyo could be forgiven for wondering if they had been transported to Tibet or Myanmar as a man climbed atop a pedestrian crosswalk, voiced his reason to the crowd via megaphone and set himself ablaze.

The ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, famed for its historical landmarks, has been ranked the best city in the world for 2014 by readers of the US magazine Travel + Leisure, but Bangkok has slipped from favour.