Even if you’ve never been, you’re probably already familiar with the site. It was featured in Memoirs of a Geisha. It was also the inspiration for the art installation “The Gates” by Christo and Jean-Claude. The epic arrangement of Shinto gates (鳥居 / torii) packed so tightly together creates an amazing, surreal illusion – you feel as though you’re walking through an otherworldly hallway.

I’ve been to Fushimi Inari Taisha 4 or 5 times now, and it sure doesn’t get old. It’s sort of like Miyajima in that it stands apart from other shrines and temples. If that sort of thing isn’t up your alley, you may find yourself thinking “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” You won’t get that feeling here. Visiting at different times of day, in different seasons, etc. all change the scenery drastically.

I included Fushimi Inari in my old student travelogue from my study abroad days. You can see a video clip that I put together by clicking here (it will open in an overlay) or by visiting the original. I also wrote about it a few years ago when I spent Christmas vacation in Kyoto at the J-Hoppers hostel with friends, including J-Web vlogger/blogger Claytonian.

If you do go, I recommend taking the extra time to wander up to the upper loop past the lakes. I love the view at the top – you can even see Kyoto Tower. Most people tend to go a little bit into it and turn back, imagining that things look the same all the way up. The truth is, the scenery changes. Fox statues, mini-torii and all sorts of devotionals, incense burners, and the like are scattered throughout the area. Perhaps you’ll meet and befriend a shrine cat there like I’ve done on more than one occasion.

The theme for this Japan Blog Matsuri was “your favorite place in Japan.” It’s being hosted by Shane at the Nihon Sun.

This month, the Japan Blog Matsuri is being held at What Japan Thinks, and the theme is “Slow Times in Japan.” Now, while I live on a tiny fishing island in rural Japan, I’m a pretty busy guy. I’m frequently scooting from one school to the next, blogging, networking both on and offline, planning classes, planning trips, starting upcoming podcasts (the rumors are true…), and more. Then it occurred to me – this is the perfect opportunity to announce the special project that I’ve been asked to help with. You could say that my city, Imabari, is having a bit of a slow time with tourism lately. It’s my job to help – and I want your input!

Imabari is an interesting place. I’ve lived here for almost 3 years, and it’s become very comfortable and homey to me. But in all honesty, it’s not a place you’d think of as a tourist attraction. Especially if you’re foreign. It’s not a city of shiny skyscrapers, luxury shopping, or hip new subculture. It’s also not a super-quaint historic piece of pristine Japan. Imabari is somewhere in the middle. It’s a place where around 175,000 people live their lives. It’s a transportation bottleneck that people pass through by bus or train on their way to Matsuyama (or deeper into the countryside, for that matter). It’s famous for reasons that appeal (quite naturally) to Japanese people: it is part of Ehime, which is famous for mikan oranges; it has some killer yakitori shops that avoid charcoal in favor of smashing the chicken under hot metal plates; it sells the famous “ichi-roku” tart; it has an interesting history involving lots of pirates; it produces lots of major cargo boats and nearly 60% of all the towels in Japan; and it has Hakata no Shio.

Not much about that screams “you’ve got to visit here!” to foreign folks. The Imabari City Tourism Board has put together a project to try and help us fix this. I’m one of seven foreigners being asked to pitch in. The PR plan goes something like this: make a survey, analyze the survey, do monitor tours. The monitor tours are the interesting bit. [Disclaimer - I am not being paid to do this work, since it is a volunteer operation, but I am reaping the benefits of these free inner city monitor trips. I am being asked to make some presentations when I'm done, and share some of it on my blog - which I would have done anyway. Ha ha.] The tourism board will create the first trip as a single-day bus tour, featuring some sights that they want to show some attention. We’ll be asked to reflect on the tour, offering our foreign perspective.

Next, we’ll be given free reign to create OUR OWN overnight trips. (That’s a trip that lasts 2 days, 1 night, to be taken individually.) I want to open this up for community input. I want to take a trip that other folks might be curious about, too. So I plan to present you with options I’ve researched, etc. I hope you’ll help me out. Will you? If you’ve read this far, I’d love it if you’d answer this quickie no-commitment-necessary poll.

Most foreign people who come to Imabari are temporary workers, businesspeople, or visiting relatives. It’s rarely makes the cut on a person’s first trip to Japan otherwise. Plus, loads of things aren’t English-friendly or marked well on maps yet. I speak and read Japanese (at JLPT2+ levels, depending on the amount of sleep I get), I’ve got the international association to help me with reconnaissance that I can’t hack alone, and it’s subsidized. We should be able to figure something really cool out with your input.

If this thing goes at all like I think it will, I’ll learn a ton about my city and I’ll be able to share interesting stuff that I learn with you guys. And, you know, we just might be able to make this place a more interesting tourist location for foreigners. The truism that foreigners only travel to places with stations in Japan is unfortunate – and Imabari only has one main station, but there’s much more to it. Imabari is a part of Japan that most people will never see, and it holds some cool secrets. If I can get to those and make them more easily accessible for other foreigners, we could have a really neat experience together. I hope you’ll support me.

Welcome to the February 2009 Japan Blog Matsuri! This month’s theme was Foreign Food, and we’ve got quite the blog smorgasbord from which to sup. We had a record-breaking total of 26 direct entries for this matsuri. If you add in the recommendations, it comes to a whopping total of 34 entries in all. Because some participants are inside Japan looking out at foreign food, whereas others are elsewhere looking at Japanese food as foreign, I’ve split the entries accordingly. Please make sure you don’t miss any of the entries! I’ve selected my own personal top 3 at the bottom of the post. When you’re done looking through the entire spread, head back here and vote for your own favorites in the poll.

Michael, the Gakuran Man of http://gakuranman.com/, introduces us to traditional fish & chips in English, and counts down the top 10 fish & chips shops in Japanese. Not only can you discover whether you should go for the lemony zing or the mushy stodge, you can find out where to get it!

YouTube legend Ken Tanaka eats Hawaii and breaks his mouth. No, really! That’s the title of his video about sampling Hawaiian food. Watch it to find out which kind of [profanity meaning "animal excrement"] is the best he’s ever eaten! You still think I’m kidding? Go!

David from the ::mdid:: blog discovers exorbitantly priced German Eisbein at a restaurant called Alte Liebe near Shimbashi. Have you ever had eisbein? Would you have paid the price to try it? What would you pay?

James at Japan Probe contributes what has got to be the smallest Italian restaurant I have ever seen! Check out this minute entrepreneurial establishment, and his ironic plans to “expand.” I’d definitely eat there, probably opting for the carpaccio and self-serve beer. How about you?

Ok, time for some shameless self-promotion. My own entry for this matsuri! I examined the selection of available peanut butter-like products in Japan. I did a video review, too. Please feel free to comment. I’d love to know how many people think I’m dead wrong about the conbini sandwiches, and how many people agree with me about the evil that is peanut cream.

Pikko of Adventures in Bentomaking makes a Beef Pasta Bento using Hamburger Helper! You can easily follow this “bentorial” at home. Who says bentos must be constituted solely of Japanese ingredients? Not Pikko, that’s for sure. But she does like things cutesy. Go tell her what you think at her site, and learn a thing or two!

Chris from Nihongo Notes teaches us about how British people craft bentos in an attempt to cause extreme gastronomic discomfort. Or something. Ha ha. You weren’t expecting 2 bento entries in the foreign foods category were you? I suspect Chris’ approach to bentomaking might give Pikko a run for her money. Sure, it may make you ill, but I know I’m tempted nonetheless. What would you add to his monstrosity?

Saitoneko from Life in the Korean Ghetto discovers that American Chili made with shichimi togarashi instead of the traditional spices results in…keema curry? I have to agree that some of the “slop dishes” over rice are excellent. I would probably opt for the traditional cornbread instead of the white rice, but that’s just cause I am a southern boy who misses his southern comfort food.

Jamie at Frugalista Japan laments the availability of foreign ingredients, and accurately notes that foreign food is not a frugal topic at all in Japan. Should you forgo foreign ingredients for the sake of environmentalism? Should you avoid price gouging? I for one vote nay to the former and aye to the latter. What do you think about it? Is buying foreign items at the supermarket worth it all? Go tell Jamie what you think!

Nick from Long Countdown reports on (and makes up some stuff about) baked beans. Shifty guy, that Nick. Come to think of it, this is the second British fellow on the list attempting to give us stomach trouble. What’s the deal? And in any event, do you think that baked beans could really save Japan from a food crisis? Weigh in (ahem) on the post.

Hao at Instant Ramen compares sashimi and ceviche! Mmmm! Have you ever tried ceviche? The Costa Rican version showcased here looks amazing. By the way, if you’re not into raw fish, this might be a great stepping stone dish for you, since it’s not raw technically speaking. Hao also recently won a logo contest for JapanSoc.org. Congrats!

Shichi at The Other East cooked a Baltimore Feast in Yamanashi. I am so jealous! The meal looks delicious. (Don’t miss the pictures at the bottom of the post!) I think it’s summed up by the words, “I noticed that of all of us, her grandmother was eating the most.” When grandma can’t get enough, you know it’s good!

Drew at Alpha Whiskey Hotel searches for authenticity in restaurants around Japan. This theme of this post was one of the reasons I chose the foreign food theme, actually. Have you ever been to a foreign food place in Japan that has a weird atmosphere? Does the “’stick random crap on your walls’ school of restaurant design” bug you, too? Discuss it over at Drew’s!

Jordan submits a pretty lame photo and pretends it’s an entry, but he knows that every bit helps. After all, as his site’s title proclaims, 塵も積もれば山となる. See his about page for an explanation. Luckily for Jordan, I am a gigantic fan of both donuts and Star Wars, so his entry is here. (I kid, I kid!) Would you wait in line like those in the picture?

Kirk at Jamaipanese declares his love for chicken foot soup. You may have guessed that chicken feet are in the soup. If you’re curious about the rest of the ingredients, or about how best to feed your pet Gundam, head over to Kirk’s and drop a comment! Sounds so yummy, and it seems to be a home remedy for just about everything – perfect.

Egmont at Katamari Democracy decided to start a mutiny. Instead of following the rules about no spam entries, here comes a whole entry about does Japan-style Hawaiian food. The insolence! There’s even a spam-related Monty Python reference! (Now if that’s not enough to entice you over there, I don’t know what is – so get going!)

Carlie from GoddesCarlie.com tried takoyaki for the first time during her visit to Japan last November. Did she love it? Did she hate it? It’s always about drama with Carlie. Find out what she thought, and tell her what you think!

Sanjo-chan of CEN.TAKU.ME delivers a refreshingly honest beginner’s approach to sushi. Not everyone is ready to leap willy-nilly into the world of raw fish. The adventure starts at a local grocery store and winds up experimenting at home with more familiar ingredients. What should be next on the menu? I recommended unagi.

Shane at the Nihon Sun shows off Japan’s very own “superbowl” (of Ramen) at Ippudo, a superb restaurant chain. Since you can order a custom bowl of excellent ramen at Ippudo (which I frequented on Waseda-doori in Tokyo), I’d always get the katamen (al dente) noodles in a bowl of akamaru kasane-aji. Shane prefers the shiromaru moto-aji. What would you order?

Tony of The Soul of Japan wrote about Yonezawa Steaks. Learn how to distinguish between actual, factual Yonezawa beef and the fake kind. (Who knew there was a fake kind?) Tony also discusses the history of marbled meat in Japan.

Shaun from Nippon the Bus reminds us to “remember the melon bread.” A wise sentiment indeed. What does it mean? Well, it’s an admonition to try new things – because sometimes you’ll find them pleasantly surprising. I, for the record, am a fan of melon bread, but not Calpis. But at least I tried it!

Ryan at the Ghost Letters discovers that 33-Spice Curry Lunch Packs are addictive munchies for your daily commute. Other than 33 spices, what could possibly be in these things that makes them a compulsive habit? By the way, next month’s matsuri is being hosted by Ryan. Cheers!

The one and only Japanator tells us what it’s like to eat with a Japanese family. Sure enough, three square meals a day are covered. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bakery fresh bread, curry rice, and yakiniku, baby. Delicious. And it’s not just made up – it’s actually based on a homestay experience. If you’ve got any questions, head over to Japanator and ask away.

Brett at the Rainbowhill Language Lab leads us through 3 ways to enjoy Japanese-style curry and rice, as if we needed help enjoying it! Seriously, though, the difficulty levels are covered well, here. Are you the type of person who wants to make it from scratch? How about from a curry roux? Need instant gratification at a curry house? I’m usually the roux guy, but I switch it up a bit. Tell Brett what your approach is.

David, aka “Shack,” of Shack in Japan gives a mouth-watering description of wining and dining at a Japanese steakhouse. He has included the menu, so you can see what your choices might be. What a wallop on your wallet, though! Shack said, “I love Japanese and fusion cuisine, but sometimes you just want western food done right, and this was the real deal.” Be sure to visit his post!

Harvey at Japan Newbie eats pond scum shows us the intriguing process of dining on yuba – the film that forms on top of slowly heated nigari and soymilk. That’s right – it’s basically the skin of an early tofu. Harvey says you eat it with a bit of soy sauce and some yuzu gratings. If you’re having trouble imagining this, you should go check out the photos! Would you try it? (I would. Remember the melon bread, guys!)

Deas’s Top 3 Picks: Hao’s post about sashimi and ceviche, Sanjo-chan’s candid post about trying sushi, and Harvey’s post about yuba. But hey, that’s just me. What did you think? Please vote for up to 3 posts in the poll below, so we can crown a reader’s choice royal court!

Here are some recommended entries, all but one of which were selfishly chosen by me. Hopefully the authors of these posts will participate in the next matsuri. Blue Lotus has some awesome food posts. I particularly like the dulce de leche from a can of Japanese condensed milk, the recent Valentine’s Day breakfast, and the awesome looking panko-crusted rack of lamb. Mmmmm. Claytonian failed to enter something this time around, but he’s got a video series about eating odd foods in Japan – I recommend starting with the grasshoppers. What a trooper. It’s like Fear Factor! I’d also like to recommend a few posts from a Japanese mom who recently commented on this blog. Her name’s Naoko, and she posts about food in English on her blog. You probably wouldn’t randomly come across her blog, so I thought I’d send some visitors to her. Try her entry about wakame seaweed, eating out in Japan, or getting a package from the US. Last, but not least, Ken Tanaka thinks you should check out his buddy Sku’s post on Jewish American Food. Doesn’t get much more foreign to Japanese folks than that, I’d wager. Looks like some great grub. If you’ve got more recommended reads that didn’t make the cut, leave them in the comments for us to enjoy.

Remember to check the newsroom and widget for information about the next matsuri, hosted at The Ghost Letters. Many thanks to Rising Sun of Nihon for hosting the last matsuri. The Japan Blog Matsuri was started by Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks, and currently resides at the JapanSoc Community Blog.

I went to my local grocery store and picked up the common Japanese peanut butter-ish products. You can see them in the photo above. Clockwise around the plate from bottom left: ピーナッツホイップ (Peanuts Whip), ピーナッツソフト (Peanuts Soft), Skippy (American-style Peanut Butter*), ピーナッツクリーム (Peanuts Cream), and ピーナッツランチパック (Peanuts Lunch Pack). I’ve done a video review of these products available both on this page and on YouTube. (First video! Go me!) * – American-style IS available in Japanese brands, too! Have no fear!

You can see a closeup of the 4 spreads below. The color differences are interesting, and they actually do reflect the depth of taste in each product, in my opinion. If you’ve ever tried these peanutty wonders, feel free to comment below. Do you agree with my review? Vehemently disagree? Let me know!

Needless to say, the American-style Skippy is my favorite. (But don’t think I’m just a shill for Skippy. I’d take JIF, Peter Pan, or generic American-style PB. Just not Reese’s – the stuff is meant to be in candy, not sandwiches.) Yum! In a pinch, I’d go with the Peanut Soft. This might be because my first experience with Japanese peanut spreads was with Peanut Soft. My poor host mom watched me as I tried to gleefully consume a peanut butter sandwich after discovering that the peanut butter…wasn’t. Ha ha. Once I got used to it I just kept on going with it. It’s not that bad, really.

If you’re one of those folks who really likes to get into the spirit of foods you love, you might enjoy making your own peanut butter. And to that end, I’ve embedded another video here. That’s right, it’s a peanut butter bonus round!

The clip above is from Season 11, Episode 9 of Good Eats, titled “Peanut Gallery.” It features host Alton Brown, one of my TV heroes, making his super-simple recipe for homemade peanut butter.

This post is my entry for the February 2009 Japan Blog Matsuri. The theme is Foreign Food. Thanks for reading! Subscribe to my RSS feed if you liked it, and consider hitting one of the social buttons, too!

Well, folks, it’s February – time for another Japan Blog Matsuri. If you missed it, go check out January’s edition of the Matsuri, hosted by Bill Belew at the Rising Sun of Nihon, where 11 bloggers chimed in to answer the prompt “How will you resolve to make the most of your stay in Japan?” Hats off to Bill for doing a great job.

This month I am hosting the Japan Blog Matsuri. I announced the topic yesterday at the first online J-Bloggers Conference. (If you’re interested in joining the next conference, watch this space for details.) So, let it be known, the topic for the February Matsuri is: FOREIGN FOOD!

Anything related to FOREIGN FOOD is acceptable. We obviously prefer fresh entries over stale entries, but even old entries are ok. The theme is open to a bit of interpretation – and remember that you don’t have to be in Japan to participate! Anyone can participate. In fact, I want us to expand this time. I am hoping to have collected 20 or more entries for this edition. To encourage this, I am making an offer. Encourage your friends to participate, or submit entries from their blogs yourself, and I will leave a hat tip link to your own blog alongside that entry. If you submit your own entry and one other person’s entry (or persuade them to participate), you’ll have (up to) 2 links on the matsuri. It’s not much, but it’s something!

If you write a post and submit it to me by midnight of Sunday, February 22nd, I will include your entry in the compilation that will go up on the 24th. You can either email me directly (deas-at-rocking-in-hakata-dot-com) or submit your entry using the widget after the break.

Ok, go get writing! Go get your friends involved! Let’s build this thing!

The Japan Blog Matsuri was originated by Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks, and has been revived by Nick Ramsay at the JapanSoc Blog.

So…Bill has posed the question – how will I make the most of my time in Japan? Well, the answer may not be the standard, but it’s true for a lot of people here – I’ll make the most of my time in Japan by getting out of Japan as often as possible. That’s right, folks, I’m all about international travel.

Being an ALT on the JET program is a unique opportunity. I’m young, much of my cost of living is subsidized – so I have some expendable income, and I have the ability to take chunks of vacation whenever the schedule has an opening. Also, I’m geographically much closer to a lot of places of interest than I was when living on the east coast of the United States. Most of Asia is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. I will likely never be in this situation again. I’d better make the most of it, no?

Some folks are far more serious than I am about travel, but I’ve still done my fair share. In my time here, I’ve been to South Korea, North Korea (technically…if you count 5 minutes over the line in the DMZ), Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, and the Philippines. (Posts containing photos and video clips from each trip are available by searching around. Too many posts to link to here.) And I’m currently looking at a trip to Taiwan in March. Of course, I’ve done loads of travel inside Japan as well – again, far too much to even list.

I still want to go to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia*, India*, Russia, mainland China, Australia, New Zealand, and some other spots. But we’ll see. I might be able to knock out 1/3 to 1/2 of that list by the end of my stay here. If not, I’ll at least give it my best shot. That’s how I plan on making the best of my time in Japan. Other than financially saving as much as I can – yes, it’s doable even with travel expenditures – and improving my Japanese, that is.

*Providing they are safe enough for me to go.
** Yes, I borrowed the map from GraphicMaps.com, so sue me. Figured I shouldn’t erase their watermark if I was gonna use their image. Ha ha.

Last Christmas 今はまだ思い出になんてできないよ
でも愛はもう ここにはいない this year
Last Christmas ふたりなら 願いはかなうと信じてた
まだ越えられない 君は今でも special

Last Christmas – I still can’t call it a mere memory
But love – you’re already not here this year
Last Christmas – if we were together, I believed my wish would be fulfilled
I still can’t get over it – you’re still special, even now

出会って気づいたよ 本当は僕も淋しがりやだと
ねぇ君は覚えてるかい？ ふたりで交わした初めてのキス
思えば僕は 君にはたぶん重すぎたよね
わかったふりの強がり 張り裂けそうな my beating heart

We met and I noticed, the truth is that I’m a lonely person too
Hey, do you remember? The first kiss that we shared
When I think about it, maybe it was too serious for you
You pretended like you knew, it was as though my beating heart would burst

Last Christmas 今はまだ思い出になんてできないよ
でも愛はもう ここにはいない this year
Last Christmas ふたりなら 願いはかなうと信じてた
まだ越えられない 君は今でも special

Last Christmas – I still can’t call it a mere memory
But love – you’re already not here this year
Last Christmas – if we were together, I believed my wish would be fulfilled
I still can’t get over it – you’re still special, even now

悲しみもせつなさも 僕たちが生きてる証
失ってみて 初めて知った 大切なもの 大切なひと
もうあの頃には戻れない 君のほほ笑みは戻らない
(Show me your smile)
Ooh ooh この胸の痛みを覚えてる

Our grief and pain are evidence of being alive
When I tried to lose it, I realized for the first time, that it was important, that you are important
I can’t go back to that time, your smile will not return
Ooh ooh – I remember the ache in this chest of mine

Last Christmas 今はまだ思い出になんてできないよ
でも愛はもう ここにはいない this year
Last Christmas ふたりなら 願いはかなうと信じてた
まだ越えられない 君は今でも special

Last Christmas – I still can’t call it a mere memory
But love – you’re already not here this year
Last Christmas – if we were together, I believed my wish would be fulfilled
I still can’t get over it – you’re still special, even now

もうあの頃には戻れない 君のほほ笑みは戻らない
Maybe, next year!
だけど今でも 君は今でも special

I can’t go back to that time, your smile will not return
Maybe, next year!
But even now – you are special even now.

Ok – now that you’ve seen the goods, go try out the iKnow video list! If you want to jump right in and you’re already an iKnow user, you can click one of the buttons below to start the iKnow study application or the iKnow dictation application immediately. DO IT!

This was my first attempt at making a list, and I think I botched at least one thing. There are an equal number of sentences to words, which is messed up. In total there are really only 12 sentences. I pulled the 30 words from them. But I wanted to link the sentences to the words, so I created sentences on each one. It works for studying, but the Dictation gets really repetitive really fast…which might be good if you’re attempting to memorize the song. Yeah….that’s the ticket… But seriously, if you have any list-building experience in iKnow, and you want to help me out, please let me know how I can avoid this problem in the future. Thanks!

Also – I discovered this really cool tool cleverly called Keiken [Japanese] via Bryan at A Walk in Hachioji. (Curiously, the specific post I found it in is no longer on his page…but it existed in the RSS feed earlier…hmmm.) Here’s a map of my experience of Japan so far. It includes shenanigans from my time studying abroad all the way to present day. And while I’m sad that I’ve still not been to Okinawa, I think it’s sadder still that I’ve not been to Tokushima… Ha ha ha. I’m not sure if the Javascript is actually working, so I’ll try to replace it with a self-hosted image later. In the meantime, the link does work. How many points do you have? I’m currently at 107! Wahoo!

1) First up, a bit of shameful shameless self promotion. I wrote a piece on Virtual Tourism. In it, I talk about technologies that make it possible for us to take trips through the internet in lieu of real world travel. It’s really cool to see the possibilities that are just around the corner. Take a look to see what I mean.

2) What Japan Thinks has some interesting tourism-related poll results. What is it that homeward bound Japanese folks harbor hankerings for? He lists the foods that they want to eat the most after returning from an overseas trip. I learn so many things from this site. As a brief aside, I noticed one thing that did not make the chart.

3) Next up is Japanprobe, which also featured some culinary curiousities related to travel – only these were Shinzo Abe Omiyage. That’s right, folks, there is a market for omiyage bearing the likeness of Shinzo Abe, the new Prime Minister of Japan. Is it weird? Yes. Would you not buy some just to prove that it exists? I would. It probably tastes the same as all other omiyage, but the novelty is worth it. Find out where to get your hands on some.

4) Alex over at Victory Manual has written a post about the lines between Tourists, Hosts, Overstaying Your Welcome. It’s similar to a classic “dating” and “after the honeymoon” pattern. Are you a long term or short term visitor to Japan?

5) He said I could, so I am including this vlog entry from Clay(tonian) – our friendly neighborhood Hopeless Romantic. In it he goes over his Golden Week shenanigans (like encountering a ginormous statue at a temple) and translates part of a theme song for our enjoyment. It’s worth a watch – if you like it, check out his other vlog entries – I hear his YouTube subscriber count continues to climb.

6) Around the corner at Q-Taro, Roy talks touring car dealerships for free stuff. Learn about how to make car salesmen seem like Santa Claus thanks to Golden Week.

7) Japanprobe proves that Cool Tourism is easy to come by in Japan. The bulleted list on the post says it all. It includes an earthquake simulator, an onsen for man’s best four-legged friends (dogs, people, sheesh), and a capsule hotel.

Japundit wrote about Travel During GW, and linked us to the Kyodo News Agency’s coverage.

9) Japanprobe pulls off a hat trick this month thanks to a video about Otaku Tourism, a quickly growing industry in urban Japan. Lately this “subculture tourism” has been attracting more and more foreign tourists. ‘Tis a fire that Japan intends to feed.

10) Lastly, Jon at Life is Random has put together a nice entry serving the dual purposes of recording his own personal Golden Week escapades as well as providing some cool random facts about his Golden Week to the reader. He took his free time as an opportunity to play pachinko, for instance.

There you have it folks, a few stretches there, but I wanted to include a couple of buddies. (If you host you’re allowed to do that. I’m pretty sure.) I hope that this month’s was as good as last month’s – I’ve got to say that Bill did a nice job, even though his oyaji gag made me wince. For those who missed them, here are links to the first, second, and third Japan Blog Matsuris. That ought to do it for this month.

It was not what I expected, but I want to offer my thanks to those that I drafted as well as the few who actually submitted your entries. There is no word yet on a volunteer for next month. If you’re stoked about hosting the matsuri and you have an idea for a theme floating about in your head, please contact Ken Y-N and volunteer. If we can get more people to participate, we’ll have greater quality in the articles, and a tighter Japan-blogging community. I’ll retire from the soapbox now, and let you read in peace. Thanks for stopping by my site. Feel free to leave me links back to your sites in the comments. I’m always looking for new online haunts. That’s what this whole thing is about, after all.

お疲れ様でした！