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The lanterns of Uradeyama (Gion Matsuri float)
This year, the rainy season was over pretty quickly, so it is under a blue sky that the Gion Matsuri starts! The float is dedicated to...
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Naginata-Boko Float of Gion Festival
Hokotate (鉾建て, the assembling work for floats of Gion festival) was launched yesterday. Among the 33 floats of the festival, the most...
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Bochukoh, Fragrant Mothballs
When I was a child, I used to smell a very favorable scent every time my mother opened the drawer of her chest. I was thinking she put...
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Kimono Calender
Hitoe (単衣, unlined Kimono) is a type of Kimono worn in June and September in Japan. In July and August, Natsumono (夏物, summer Kimono made...
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Tips for Wearing Kimono in a Cool Manner
It has become the Tsuyu (梅雨, rainy season in Japan) and is getting really hot and humid. From now on, the weather will be scorching even...
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Nejiri-Manpo, a Peculiar Brick Tunnel
Around the Keage (蹴上) station of subway line, there are many historic spots related to the Biwako-sosui (琵琶湖疎水, Lake Biwa canal), such as...
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Kofuku Jizo at Suzumushidera Temple
Kegon-ji (華厳寺) temple, also known as Suzumushidera (鈴虫寺, Cricket Temple), is very popular in Japan for the beautiful chirps of crickets...
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A Shed Where Sakamoto Ryoma Hid
The life of Sakamoto Ryoma (坂本龍馬) was a short one, but his name remains as the man who established the monumental work called Saccho...
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Misasagi, Graveyard of Tragic Empress
In Kyoto, there are many graveyards of emperors and empresses. Those graveyards are called Goryo (御陵) or Misasagi (陵). At a quiet place...
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Warabe-jizo (Statues of Bodhisattva Who Look Like Children) at Sanzen-in Temple
The most famous place in the Ohara (大原) district in Kyoto is Sanzen-in (三千院) temple. The Sanzen-in temple, founded in the Heian (平安)...
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