MyJapanPhone

Chilling out in a warm Kume Island way

Wendy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:51:00 +0000

The first thing a good beach does is immediately make you want to take your watch off. But what makes a really great beach is when you do that – and then kick off your shoes as well. That’s exactly what I did when I arrived at Eef Beach on Kume Island, Okinawa. The university near Naha on Okinawa Island where I teach on Tuesdays and Fridays canceled classes on Tuesday, Oct. 24 for a students’ “Career Day” – meaning that, as my weekends are usually free, I was looking (with delight) at a windfall four-day break. Pacing my pleasure, though, I spent the Saturday taking care of this and that, and the Sunday sleeping in, resting up and checking out where to go, and how. I opted to take the ferry named Naha from Naha’s Tomari Port to Kume Island, about 95 km to the west in the East China Sea.

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Spring Airlines to launch carrier in Japan

Wendy — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:17:05 +0000

Shanghai-based Spring Airlines, the most successful Chinese low-cost carrier, is preparing to launch a carrier in Japan to gain a deeper foothold in the Japanese market.

Spring spokesman Zhang Wu’an said the carrier has registered a company in Japan; however, since foreign investors can hold no more than a one-third stake in a Japanese airline, it is looking for a Japanese partner. Zhang said Spring is negotiating with potential investors in the new entity

According to Zhang, Spring also plans to explore other international markets. To that end, it will open new routes to Thailand and South Korea next year.

Spring, which has become one of the fastest growing carriers in China, is expected to report a higher net income in 2011 than the CNY460 million ($72.6 million) net profit it earned in 2010. The carrier is moving forward with an IPO, which is scheduled to launch on the Shanghai Stock Exchange next year, to fund fleet expansion

Spring operates a fleet of 27 Airbus A320s and plans to expand to 50-60 aircraft by 2015.

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Far from the crowds in Japan

Wendy — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:21:17 +0000

WITH international tourism numbers declining in light of its nuclear disaster, why not divert to Japan’s southern islands for a slice of the country you will not find in any tourist brochure? Turquoise water and stunning coastal scenery will show you there is far more to Japan than the tourist-heavy mainland. When you think of Japan, people usually conjure up romantic images of picture-perfect gardens, geishas walking neatly through Kyoto or vast swathes of neon lights illuminating the Tokyo skyline. Well, there is a different Japan. A Japan where the intense heat is tempered by cool winds and sand so soft, and water so turquoise, that you question your preconceived images of the country.

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Japan to waive visa fees for visitors to disaster-hit areas

Wendy — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:57:02 +0000

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will temporarily do away with visa fees for foreign tourists visiting Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures during their stays in Japan.

For five years starting Nov. 15, the 3,000 yen fee for general visas and the 6,000 yen charge for multiple-entry visas will be waived for foreign nationals who apply to go as tourists to any of the three prefectures devastated by the March 11 earthquake disaster. It does not matter whether these prefectures will be the first destination for the visitors.

The ministry seeks to help rebuild the three prefectures with the special waiver program and may decide to extend it beyond the initial five years.

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“Undressing Paintings: Japanese Nudes 1880-1945″

Wendy — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:04:36 +0000

The nude may now be a common and popular subject for artists, but in Japan, depicting a naked person was considered immoral and obscene during the early Meiji Period (1868-1912). This exhibition explores how modern Japanese artists such as Seiki Kuroda and Busho Hara struggled to introduce Western art aesthetics to Japanese culture.

In the West, depictions of the naked body had been made acceptable through artworks based on mythology. But such art was unfamiliar to the Japanese, and those who sought to paint nudes were considered scandalous. In fact, the painting of nudes became so controversial, artists’ activities often attracted the attention of the police.

The varied styles represented in this show tell the history of the nude in Japan and how the efforts of past artists paved the way for its acceptance in today’s society; till Jan. 15, 2012.

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Japan to waive visa fees for visitors to disaster-hit areas

Wendy — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:12:21 +0000

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will temporarily do away with visa fees for foreign tourists visiting Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures during their stays in Japan.

The ministry seeks to help rebuild the three prefectures with the special waiver program and may decide to extend it beyond the initial five years.

Some 77,000 foreigners visited the three prefectures in 2010, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Those who required visas are estimated at around 20,000.

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Discover samurai tombs hidden in the hills of Kamakura

Wendy — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:27:27 +0000

No matter how warm and sunny the day, there’s always a chill in Mandarado Yagura, a samurai graveyard in Kotsubo, right at the boundary between Kamakura and Zushi in Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Yokohama. In this secreted locale little more than an hour by road or rail from the concrete and steel of Tokyo, lush vegetation obscures the many caves housing tombs, though their stone markers stubbornly materialize through the greenery. Here, history, nature and the unknown ripple through the wild flowers, stirring the grass and causing the heart to skip a beat or three.

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For foreign tourists, there’s room at the inn

Wendy — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:44:19 +0000

When Martin Smith checked into a small “ryokan” in the hot-spring resort of Shima, Gunma Prefecture, on a rainy September night, staff at the traditional inn saw a glimmer of hope that overseas guests could be lured back after the March triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. Smith, a 32-year-old cofounder of a software company in San Diego, was the first foreign guest that Kashiwaya Ryokan had received since launching an English-language word-of-mouth campaign using Facebook and other websites earlier in the month.

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Interpreters to be stationed at airports, seaports

Wendy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:50:38 +0000

The Justice Ministry has decided to station about 50 foreign-language interpreters next fiscal year at immigration clearance counters of 18 airports and seaports across the country, a move apparently designed to cope with the increase in visitors from other Asian countries. It is estimated hiring such interpreters from the private sector will cost 300 million yen, the ministry said. The ministry has included the cost in its budgetary requests for fiscal 2012, starting next April. The 50 interpreters will consist mainly of those with Chinese and Korean language skills.

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Eight-block line forms outside Apple store in Tokyo for iPhone 4S

Wendy — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:32:12 +0000

Hundreds of Apple fans in Tokyo waited in a line that stretched eight blocks – that’s eight blocks – outside Apple’s Ginza store on Friday morning local time, eager to get their hands on the refreshed smartphone, which now sports a faster processor, better camera and the acclaimed Siri voice-activated personal assistant app. According to a Reuters report, many in the line were purchasing Apple’s new device as a tribute to Steve Jobs, the comapny’s co-founder who died last week after a long illness. The introduction of the iPhone 4S marks the end of exclusivity in Japan for mobile carrier Softbank. KDDI’s ‘au’ mobile arm is now also selling the popular smartphone too, while the country’s biggest mobile operator, NTT Docomo, still has no deal with Apple to sell the device.

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