Otsuka Museum of Art

The Otsuka deposit of Art was inbuilt Naruto Park on the occasion of the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group's seventy fifth day. it's the biggest deposit in Japan, that includes life-size reproductions of nearly each representative masterpiece of Western art from antiquity to the twentieth century as well as works by designer, El Greco, Goya, painter and sculptor.

The deposit is well bestowed and allows its guests to understand the art of numerous master artists beat one place. Besides over k paintings, the deposit displays reproductions of altars, tombs and full halls, like the inside of the Sistine Chapel.

Paintings were reproduced by repeating them onto ceramic plates, a way that is claimed to preserve their colours and shapes for as long as 2000 years. additionally to the art, the deposit additionally incorporates a variety of out of doors areas with expansive terraces and exquisite gardens. high these square measureas are a eating house and a restaurant.

Get There and Around


The Otsuka deposit of Art stands in Naruto Park, many kilometers outside central Naruto. Buses between Naruto Station and Naruto Park create a stop ahead of the deposit on the method. The a technique ride from Naruto Station takes quarter-hour and prices 280 yen. there's one departure per hour. The deposit is additionally a few 10 minute walk from the Naruto Koen stop.

Miho Museum

The Miho repository stands deep within the wooded hill west of central Koka and may be visited in a very aspect trip from urban center. it had been designed by the famous creator, I. M. Pei, and is called when Koyama Mihoko, one amongst the richest ladies in Japan and also the founding father of the repository.

Perhaps the foremost fascinating facet of the repository is that the style of its structures and the way they're integrated into their natural surroundings. this is often highlighted within the museum's approach that leads through a combination of synthetic and natural environments. the within of the repository continues this theme by different steel and glass with heat stone and bird's-eye views of the encompassing valleys.

The museum's exhibits accommodates works from ancient civilizations as well as the Egyptians, Romans, and varied Asian cultures, with the items for the most part coming back from Koyama's personal assortment. the most exhibit changes each year close to, and special exhibits modification each few months.

Get There and Around

From Kyoto

Take the Jr Tokaido Line (local, fast or special fast service) from urban center Station to Ishiyama Station (240 yen, 15 min). From there take Teisan bus range one hundred fifty to the Miho repository (820 yen, 50 min). The bus departs from stop 3 and says Miho repository in each English and Japanese on its sign.

The bus arrives at the museum's reception building that contains the price ticket table, gift shop, and atiny low eating place. Purchase your tickets here before creating your thanks to the repository's entrance either on foot (five to 10 minutes) or by free museum shuttle.

From Central Koka


Although there's a road that connects central Koka with the Miho repository, there exists no direct public transportation between the 2. Instead, a detour via Kusatsu and Ishiyama would be needed. A rental automotive is suggested if you intend to go to each the Miho repository and Koka's ninja attractions.

Roppongi Hills

Roppongi Hills is one in all the simplest samples of a town among town. Opened in 2003 within the heart of Tokyo's Roppongi district, the structure options offices, apartments, shops, restaurants, a hotel, art museum, observation deck and additional. The workplace floors area unit home to leading corporations from the IT and money sectors, and Roppongi Hills has become an emblem of the japanese IT trade.

At the middle of Roppongi Hills stands the 238 meter Mori Tower, one in all the tallest buildings within the town. whereas most of the building is occupied by workplace house, the primary few floors have restaurants ANd outlets and therefore the prime few floors house an observation deck and trendy art repository that area unit receptive the general public.
The Tokyo town read observation deck is one in all Tokyo's best. once the weather permits, views may be enjoyed from AN out-of-door deck on the top. conjointly situated on Mori Tower's prime floors is that the Mori Art repository, a contemporary art repository with a spotlight on new creative ideas from everywhere the planet.

Other areas of interest in Roppongi Hills embody the Mori Garden simply behind the tower and therefore the Grand Hyatt luxury building. varied searching and eating choices may be found all across the complicated, and there's conjointly an outsized Toho Cinemas movie that plays each Japanese and international movies. The headquarters of TV Asahi also are situated on the grounds.

  • Mori Tower
A 54-story edifice, named when the person and company that engineered it. the primary six floors area unit occupied by outlets and restaurants, whereas the highest six floors house AN art repository and observation deck. Offices fill the forty three floors in between. The Mori Tower is one in all the tallest buildings in Tokyo and a characteristic feature of the city's skyline.

  • Tokyo town read
Hours: 10:00 to 23:00 (until 25:00 on Fridays and Saturdays) 
Sky Deck opens from 11:00 to 20:00 once the weather permits 
Admission ends 30-60 minutes before hour. 
Admission: 1800 yen, extra five hundred yen for Sky Deck; combination tickets for the Mori Art repository area unit typically offered
Located at the highest of the Mori Tower, the Tokyo town read observation deck has high ceiling and glass walls that reach all the approach round the building, giving guests views of the complete town. to boot, Sky Deck is AN out-of-door top deck that may be accessed once the weather permits.

  • Mori Art repository
Hours: 10:00 to 22:00 (until 17:00 on Tuesdays) 
Admission: varies by exhibition, combination tickets with Tokyo town read area unit typically offered
With a spotlight on art that's each modern and international, the Mori Art repository presents innovative exhibitions of recent art. The repository makes a degree of keeping the art simply accessible to the final viewing public, instead of creating it to a fault obscure or mystical.

  • Roppongi Hills searching and eating
Shops: usually 11:00 to 21:00 
Restaurants: usually 11:00 to 23:00
Roppongi Hills options over two hundred outlets, cafes and restaurants. Most outlets focus on fashion, accessories, interior style and family merchandise, whereas restaurants provide a good array of Japanese and international culinary art.

  • TV Asahi Headquarters
TV Asahi Shop: 10:00 to 19:00
The headquarters of TV Asahi, one in all Japan's personal TV networks, is a component of the Roppongi Hills complicated. The spacious atrium is receptive the general public and options displays of current programs and a store marketing TV Asahi merchandise.

  • Mori Garden
Hours: 7:00 to 23:00
A small oasis of leafage between the tall buildings of Roppongi Hills, the Mori Garden is constructed within the variety of a conventional Japanese landscape garden. The garden encompasses a range of cherry trees that build it a pleasant spot to get pleasure from the cherry blossom season in late March and early Gregorian calendar month.

Roppongi

Roppongi (六本木, lit. "six trees") may be a district in Edo that's renowned because the city's most well liked nightlife district among foreigners, giving an oversized variety of foreigner friendly bars, restaurants and night clubs. Roppongi and therefore the encompassing districts of Azabu, Hiroo and Akasaka area unit home to several embassies and an oversized expat community.

Roppongi Crossing in the district's center

Two of Tokyo's largest recent improvement comes, Roppongi Hills and Edo Midtown modified the district's face over the past decade and expanded  Roppongi's charm to a wider vary of tourists and residents with their elegant retail, leisure and residential house, offices and luxury hotels.

Thanks to the looks of many art museums, Roppongi has additionally developed a name as a cultural center. The National Art Center is Japan's largest art deposit, and beside Roppongi Hills' Mori Art deposit and Edo Midtown's Suntory deposit of variety the "Art Triangle Roppongi".

Roppongi Hills

Opened in 2003, Roppongi Hills may be a town among town, providing residential house, offices and recreational facilities all among one structure. holidaymaker attractions embody outlets, restaurants, a movies and therefore the Mori Art deposit and Edo town read observation deck on the highest floors of the 238 meter tall Mori Tower.

Tokyo Midtown

Another town among town, Edo Midtown was opened in 2007 and offers similar residential, industrial and amusement facilities as Roppongi Hills. The advanced additionally incorporates a deposit, the Suntory deposit of Art, furthermore as trendy outlets and restaurants. the highest floors of the 248 meter Midtown Tower, the tallest building in Edo, conjure the Ritz-Carlton Edo, one in all the city's best hotels.

National Art Center Edo

Open: 10:00 to 18:00 (some exhibitions open till 20:00 on Fridays) 
Admission ends half-hour before closing 
Closed: weekdays (or following day if Tuesday may be a national holiday), 
mid Dec to early Jan 
Admission: Varies with every exhibition
Opened in early 2007, the National Art Center Edo (Kokuritsu Shin-Bijutsukan) is Japan's largest art deposit. The deposit maintains no permanent assortment, however rather provides a venue for varied, temporary exhibitions.

Roppongi Nightlife

Roppongi has been a preferred nightlife district among foreigners for many years. in contrast to different amusement districts in Edo, it offers several restaurants, bars and clubs, that area unit simply accessible for foreigners or maybe cater specifically to the expat community.

Wasabi Farming on the Izu Peninsula

Paste your text here and click on "Next" to look at this text rewrite man do it's issue. 

 haven't any text to check? haven't any text to check? Click "Select Samples".Today's Hidden Beauty is that the spicy and delicious wasabi cultivated here in Shizuoka Prefecture! Wasabi could be a plant associated with horse radish and mustard, and is most ordinarily ground into a paste and used as flavourer.

Although it's used typically in Japanese cookery, you will not have ever really tasted real wasabi in the least... The growing method could be a tough one, creating it high-priced, such a big amount of restaurants substitute horseradish turned inexperienced with colouring instead. However, I got the prospect to do real wasabi, and that i will undoubtedly say i am hooked. it had been delicious!

I began the morning with somewhat time on my hands, therefore I went 1st to Hosono Kogen to envision some stunning fields of Cortaderia selloana with the ocean within the background.

From there, I drove to satisfy my guide, Ms. Yamashiro, of the Yamashiro Wasabi Farm.

Ms. Yamashiro gave American state a tour of the realm, and that i was ready to learn the way wasabi is adult. First, seeds area unit cultivated in inexperienced homes till they're the right age to be transplanted into the area's sandy soil.

After 3 months, the young plants area unit robust enough to be planted into the wasabi fields.
Wasabi is planted into little plots that aren't connected to every alternative. you will assume the explanation is that the terracing of the landscape, because it is commonly adult in mountainous areas. but the important reason is really the water.

Pure flowing water is critical for growing the most effective wasabi. Wasabi plots do not share water, therefore if one plot's water is not nice, it does not have an effect on any others. The water is continually flowing in and out, too.

Another issue necessary to growing wasabi is water temperature. Generally, water from the mountains is that the same temperature year-around. but exposure to the sun will heat up the water, that is not sensible for the plants. Therefore, having shade is additionally important!

Wasabi takes concerning eight months to grow to an honest size for harvest. The plants area unit force, then washed within the same water they grew in.

Wasabi usually flowers in might, however we have a tendency to noticed a couple of here and there whereas wandering round the fields!

After learning however the wasabi is adult, I conjointly had the prospect to envision a number of the known waterfalls within the space. There are literally seven falls quite approximate, though I did not see all of them because it was near lunch time.

Lunch was at Nakasetai Shokudo close to the waterfalls. This place focuses on wasabi dishes that highlight the wasabi style by keeping the ingredients easy. easy the food might are, however it had been all delicious!

You can even grind your own very little wasabi yourself!

It extremely tastes completely different from the pastes you get at the grocery store. though it had been spicy, i could not stop attempting it!

Stuffed with lunch, it had been time to do a unique wasabi-based food, wasabi-zuke. Mr. Inaba was my teacher here. This dish uses the stems of the wasabi plant dig little items, and mixed with somewhat little bit of alcohol and the leavings (or lee) of Japanese sake, that is bought from the breweries. it is a bit laborious to elucidate, however if you have ever tried amazake, it tastes like that and wasabi. It's good!

After cutting the wasabi into items, it's mixed with salt, pressed, and given a couple of minutes to soak within the salt before being squeezed to induce the additional wetness out. Meanwhile, the lees and somewhat alcohol, and to a small degree additional salt, is mixed well along.

Finally the 2 area unit mixed along, and voila! when concerning three days, you'll eat wasabi-zuke!

And thereupon, I had finished my wasabi tour. I aforesaid many thanks to Mr. Inaba and Ms. Yamashiro, then went back to my building, the Izu-Imaihama Tokyu building, for a meal, a bath, and a few beach time!

Tonight i am going to go to sleep to the sound of fucking waves outside my window, and tomorrow I head to Gunma Prefecture. I learned most concerning wasabi these days... i am unsure I will return to consumption the pretend horseradish paste ever again!

Nara National Museum

The independent agency National deposit (奈良国立博物館, independent agency Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan), settled in independent agency Park, is AN art deposit that primarily displays Japanese Buddhist art. Established in 1889, the deposit retains its original building ANd is joined by a brand new wing that's connected to the initial building by an underground passage.

Both wings show the museum's permanent assortment, which has Buddhist statues, paintings, scrolls and ceremonial objects principally from Japan. The new wing additionally homes temporary exhibitions, together with AN annual exhibition each season of treasures from Todaiji Temple. A price ticket to the deposit provides access to each wings, and English explanations are offered throughout the deposit.

Kofukuji Temple

Kofukuji (興福寺, Kōfukuji) wont to be the family temple of the Fujiwara, the foremost powerful family social group throughout a lot of of the NARA and Heian Periods. The temple was established in NARA at an equivalent time because the capital in 710. At the peak of Fujiwara power, the temple consisted of over a hundred and fifty buildings.

Today a handful of buildings of nice historic price stay, as well as a 5 story temple and a 3 story temple. At fifty meters, the 5 story temple is Japan's second tallest, simply seven meters shorter than the 5 story temple at Kyoto's Toji Temple. Kofukuji's temple is each a landmark and image of NARA. it had been 1st inbuilt 730, and was last restored in 1426.

While entrance to Kofukuji's temple grounds is free and attainable round the clock, there square measure 2 areas that need paying associate entrance fee: Kofukuji's National Treasure depository and also the jap Golden Hall. The recently restored National Treasure depository exhibits a part of the temple's nice aggregation associated is an absolute must-see for lovers of Buddhist art. Among the numerous outstanding exhibits is that the three-faced, six-armed Ashura sculpture, one among|one amongst|one in every of} the foremost celebrated Buddhist statues in all of Japan.

The jap Golden Hall, set shortly from the national treasure depository, options an outsized wood sculpture of the Yakushi Buddha. Another try of attention-grabbing buildings square measure the Northern and Southern octangular Halls. They each originally date from over 1000 years, and their gift reconstructions were completed in 1789 and 1210 severally. The buildings conjointly house a number of the temple's wanted artifacts, however square measure solely receptive the general public a number of days a year.

Kofukuji's main building, the Central Golden Hall, was destroyed in a very fireplace in 1717 and - though a replacement hall was engineered on a smaller scale within the 1800s - the initial Central Golden Hall wasn't reconstructed. In recent years, however, it had been set to build the hall in its full former glory. Reconstruction works square measure presently current and square measure regular to be completed within the year 2018.

  • Construction Notice: As mentioned on top of, the Central Golden Hall is presently being reconstructed and regular to be completed in Oct 2018. additional reconstruction works round the hall square measure planned to continue till 2023. Despite the development works, a visit to Kofukuji continues to be suggested.