



Akihabara (Akiba)
Akihabara is a major shopping area for electronic, computer, anime including new and used items. Since Japan use 110V electronic devices, the place is especially famous for Americans who live in a country which uses 110V. In Akihabara, You can find any sort of old & new videogames, starting even from the 8-bit era to modern motion-sensing videogames. If you like game, you should visit Akihabara. There are thousands of games! Akihabara first gained some fame through being home to one of the first stores devoted to personal robots and robotics. In nowadays, Akihabara has emerged as the major place for buying animation products. There are some peculiar and funny places like cosplay ("costume play") cafes, where waiters and waitresses are dressed up like anime characters, and manga kissaten ("comics cafes"), where customers can read comics, watch DVDs and surf the internet.
(Tokyo sky tree under construction 5/18)
(The Tokyo sky tree in 2012 Spring)
The 'Tokyo sky tree' is under construstion. It will be the Tokyo's new symbol. It already exceeds the height of 'Tokyo tower' in March 2010. It will open at 2012, spring. It will take the funcition as signal tower from 'Tokyo tower'.
Studio Ghibli made many famous animations that won many awards like ‘Castle in the Sky’ and ‘Spirited Away’.
(Castle in the Sky)
(The ticket of studio Ghibli)
Odaiba
Odaiba is a large artificial island in
There are some ways that you can use to visit this artificial land.
By Yurikamome
The Yurikamome is an un-manned, elevated train with rubber tires
By Boat
You can ride Tokyo Water Cruise, also known as Suijo Bus,
By Rinkai Line
This is an underground railway line
On Foot
It is possible to cross the
Shinjuku
Shinjuku is a major commercial and administrative center. There are also busiest train station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration center for the government of Tokyo.
I will introduce some famous places that are wonderful place for the tourists.
Ōkubo: Tokyo's best-known Korean district
Shinjuku Gyoen: It is a large park, 58.3 hectares, 3.5 km in circumference. There is a Japanese traditional, English Landscape and French Formal style garden.
Yotsuya: An upscale residential and commercial district; the Arakichō area is well-known for its many small restaurants, bars, and izakaya. (Japanese bar that also sells snacks.)
Kagurazaka: One of Tokyo's last remaining ‘hanamachi’ or ‘geisha’ districts. Hanamachi originally means ‘Flower Street’ but nowadays; the term ‘hanamachi’ is commonly used in modern Japan to refer to the areas where modern-day geisha are still operating. Geshia is female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.
The floor of Japanese house is very unique. The Japanese flooring, called tatami, is a mat woven by rice straws. Most tatami have edging with plain cloth, but in some tatami they don’t have any edging at all. Tatami was a luxury item in past Japan around in Heian period. The lower classes then had mat-covered dirt floors, which is different from these days since almost all people around Japan uses tatami as their flooring.
Tatami is also divided into parts when a host invites guests into his/her house. They have entrance mat, guest mat, host mat and hearth mat. The guests are supposed to sit on the guest mat, and the host sits on the host mat. If there are too many guests and they cannot fit in, some guests sit on the entrance mat. They put their lower half of the body inside the hearth mat to keep themselves warm. The table that is put on the hearth mat contains a cover-like thing that works like an insulator for the heat from the hearth.
Tatami also has the knowledge of Japanese people inside it. Since tatami is made out of straw, it absorbs the humid air of Japan. Since Japan is an island country, they have a lot of humid air around the country. Also, tatami controls and insulates the temperature of the house very well. If it is very hot during summer, tatami keeps the floor cool enough so that people can feel comfortable. Also, when it is winter, tatami makes the room warm and keeps the temperature inside the house.