Your Japan Private Tours: guided & self-guided tour packages & city tours

04/12/2024

24/10/2024

Ohara village, Kyoto secret spots, fall foods, Shiga & Otsu: This post is kind of all over the place but easy to negotiate with my handy index below. The main ideas I cover in this article are: the incredible high-value village of Ohara just NE of downtown Kyoto ; a very special temple in downtown Kyoto for praying to the living & the dead ; the modern and contemporary serenity of Kyoto's Garden of Fine Art ; kaki persimmons, matsutake luxury mushrooms and wagashi tea masterpiece sweets ; and, finally, all about the prefecture east of Kyoto: Shiga and it uncrowded worlds. Learn more! https://www.kyoto-tokyo-private-tours.com/blog/10-23-2024.html

18/10/2024

Two interviews: 1. June-2000 conversation with the "mama-san" or manager of a geisha tea house in the Miyagawa geisha district. 2. February-2002 interview at the home and studio of a renowned Kyoto-based Buddhist sculptor. And careful with the geisha of Gion! They have been chased and confronted by determined paparazzi for years now. And this year a few tourists went way too far! As a result the Gion geisha district is cordoned off in the evenings to prevent "idiots" from going where they shouldn't go. If you do wish to catch a maiko or apprentice geisha en route to her work engagements be sure to be on Hanamikoji Street between 16:30 and 17:30. You will see them, all dressed up with wig and all, walking north on Hanamikoji or slipping discreetly into a waiting taxi. So do respect the rules when in Gion in the evening hours, OK? Thank you from everyone concerned!

And note that these "acts of rudeness" have also occurred at the sumo practice sessions in Tokyo's Ryogoku sumo district and other popular experience locations. Don't be rude! Don't be pushy! And don't think you understand Japanese etiquette. Try to do as the Japanese do and you will be fine, OK?

Save time & have a better time anywhere in Japan with my travel design expertise (since 1990). 100% designed for who you are & what you want! Learn more! Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google search) | Whatsapp: (415) 230-0579

01/10/2024

This post or article covers a number of interesting Japanese topics. First we look at two unique features of Japanese traditional homes: the tokonoma ceremonial alcove and the engawa wooden walkways that lead you around the edges of the house and overview traditional Japanese gardens. The next topic is the exquisite omamori talismans sold at most Japanese shrines & temples: for protection, luck and love! Next we go back to the 10th century when Japan's first two "samurai families" the Genji and the Minamoto clans battled each other for territory across Kyoto. Then we look at something that is still used in Japan: bead-system wooden soroban calculators. But fact is you really have to look for elderly people running wholesale and retail businesses on old covered market streets. Think Nishiki street or Sanjo just south of Nijo Castle in Kyoto; Osaka's Kuromon and Korean market; and Tokyo's Outer Tsukiji Market and select ultra old covered market streets. And last but not least, I have provided a good selection of Zen temple sleeping & and meditation temples near Kyoto and Tokyo.

-Japan's unique tokonoma alcoves & engawa walkways,

-Omamori talismans at Japanese shrines and temples,

-Minamoto no Yosh*tsune learns to fight with Kurama's tengu goblins,

-Japan's amazing soroban bead calculators,

-Zen temple overnights & mornings in Kyoto & Tokyo.

15/06/2024

*Anger begets more anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love.* Mahavira, 600 BC, royal Indian 24th preacher of Jainism

These words were said 100 years before the Gautama Buddha and 600 years before Christ. How many wise truths are taught in kindergartens or elementary schools or high schools across planet Gaia? Very few . . . In Japan too . . .

*Jainism:* Jain monks take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity ; *bummer*), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). These principles have affected Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly lacto-vegetarian lifestyle. *In Jainism the function of souls is to help one another.* It is the faith's motto, and the Namokar Mantra is its most common and strongest prayer.

26/02/2024

It was never meant to be a Teddy Bear! The cute white head represents our emotions, the next stone our thoughts, the next our bodies and the final big stone represents our auto-conscious mind (fck un-con or sub-con!!!). But it’s also a Teddy Bear. So sentient life is both complex & cute! Who knew?