Obon in Japan

Obon is one of the most important Japanese traditions. People believe that their ancestors' spirits come back to their homes to be reunited with their family during Obon and pray for the spirits. For the reason, Obon is an important family gathering time, and many people return to their hometowns.

Obon was originally celebrated around the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Obon periods are nowadays different in various regions of Japan. In most regions, Obon is celebrated around August 15, and it typically begins 13th and ends 16th of August. In some areas in Tokyo, Obon is celebrated around July 15, and it is still celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar in many areas in Okinawa.

Japanese people clean their houses and place a variety of food offerings such as vegetables and fruits to the spirits of ancestors in front of a butsudan (Buddhist altar). Chochin lanterns and arrangements of flower are usually placed by the butsudan.

On the first day of Obon, chochin lanterns are lit inside houses, and people go to their family's grave to call their ancestors' spirits back home. It's called mukae-bon. In some regions, fires called mukae-bi are lit at the entrances of houses to guide the spirits. On the last day, people bring the ancestor's spirits back to the grave, hanging chochin painted with the family crest to guide the spirits. It's called okuri-bon. In some regions, fires called okuri-bi are lit at entrances of houses to send the ancestors' spirits. During Obon, the smell of senko incense fills Japanese houses and cemeteries.

Toro nagashi (floating lanterns) is a tradition often observed during Obon. People send off their ancestors' spirits with the lanterns, lit by a candle inside and floated down a river to the ocean. Also, bon odori (folk dance) is widely practiced on Obon nights. Styles of dance vary from area to area, but usually Japanese taiko drums keep the rhythms. People go to their neighborhood bon odori held at parks, gardens, shrines, or temples, wearing yukata (summer kimono) and dance around a yagura stage. Anyone can participate in bon odori, so join the circle and imitate what others are doing.

Obon is not a Japanese national holiday, but many people take vacations during this time. Mid-August is the peak travel season in summer.

Kamakura

Kamakura  is a city located in  Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about 50 kilometres  south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called Renpu.

Kamakura has many historically significant Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, some of them, like Sugimoto-dera, over 1,200 years old. Kotoku-in with its monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amida Buddha, is the most famous. A 15th century tsunami destroyed the temple that once housed the Great Buddha, but the statue survived and has remained outdoors ever since.

Nearby - his sandals

The road to pagan temple

Japanese toilet...

Back at the dawn of the civilized world Japan amazed the world with their technological achievements (take, for example, Nintendo and the Tamagotchi). Some Japanese products were able to circumvent and subjugate the world, radically changing the lives and outlook of people. The world is rapidly beginning to introduce Japanese technological achievements in life. But when it comes to the toilet, Westerners are horrified by the fact that the Japanese even a place as a toilet seat could fit lots of obscure buttons, displays, indicators and a huge number do not understand, switches and glowing lights.

This familiar to everyone attribute of every house has received a second life in Japan and has been called Washlet, or as Europeans call it - Supertoilet. In addition to completely innocuous features such as heated toilet seat, the automatic recovery, hermetization, air conditioning, lighting Supertoilet has also a set of very outstanding features, such as music, which in the opinion of the Japanese helps you to relax in such a crucial moment, and warmed to body temperature fountain which escapes from the toilet, well, you know where... Well, of course, inherent in the Japanese epidemiology, ionizers are not omitted which is also mounted in the toilet.

Japanese engineers never rest on laurels and continue to modify the miracle invention, providing it with a special system for the prevention and treatment of hemorrhoids and setting inside the toilet an express analyzer of urine, the results of which are transmitted through a wireless connection to your doctor.

If you're ever lucky enough to face with this amazing embodiment of human thought, then you will have to wonder twice, since no one Supertoilet display does not show any usual European language. Therefore, pressing all the buttons if you are lucky of cource, you will be surprized with amazing music works of Mendelssohn, but if not lucky, you get a stream of soap solution directly in the eyes ...:)

Japanese Geisha...

Geisha (芸者 "person of the arts") are traditional Japanese artist-entertainers. Geisha were very common in the 18th and 19th centuries, and still exist today, although their numbers are dwindling. Geisha is the most familiar term to English speakers, and the most commonly used within Japan as well, but in the Kansai region the terms geigi and, for apprentice geisha, "Maiko" have also been used since the Meiji Restoration. The term maiko is only used in Kyoto districts. The English pronunciation or the phrase "geisha girl," common during the American occupation of Japan, carry connotations of prostitution, as some young women, desperate for money and calling themselves "geisha," sold themselves to American troops.

The first geisha were all male; as women began to take the role they were known as onna geisha (女芸者), or "woman artist". Geisha today are exclusively female, aside from the Taikomochi. Taikomochi are exceedingly rare. Only three are currently registered in Japan. They tend to be far more bawdy than geisha. Other public figures who contributed to the creation of the modern geisha were Oiran, or courtesans, and Odoriko, dancing girls. The Odoriko in particular influenced geisha to include dance as part of their artistic repertoire.

Geisha were traditionally trained from young childhood. Geisha houses often bought young girls from poor families, and took responsibility for raising and training them. During their childhood, apprentice geisha worked first as maids, then as assistants to the house's senior geisha as part of their training and to contribute to the costs of their upkeep and education. This long-held tradition of training still exists in Japan, where a student lives at the home of a master of some art. This training often lasts for many years.

The course of study traditionally starts from a young age and encompasses a wide variety of arts, including Japanese musical instruments (particularly the shamisen) and traditional forms of singing, traditional dance, tea ceremony, flower arranging (ikebana), poetry and literature. By watching and assisting senior geisha, they became skilled in the complex traditions surrounding selecting, matching, and wearing precious kimono, and in various games and the art of conversation, and also in dealing with clients.

Once a woman became an apprentice geisha (a maiko) she would begin to accompany senior geisha to the tea houses, parties and banquets that constitute a geisha's work environment. To some extent, this traditional method of training persists, though it is of necessity foreshortened. Modern geisha are no longer bought by or brought into geisha houses as children. Becoming a geisha is now entirely voluntary. Most geisha now begin their training in their late teens.

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent...

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area (or 29.9% of its land area) and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.

The wealth of Asia differs very widely between and within each region. This is due to its vast size and huge range of different cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems. In terms of nominal GDP, Japan has the largest economy on the continent and the second largest in the world. In purchasing power parity term, however, the People's Republic of China has the largest economy in Asia and the second largest in the world.

Asia is a continent that has been very important to the World. People have been living there for thousands of years. In fact, the first traces of civilization began in Mesopotamia, a part of Asia. Asia is the continent with the huge country of China. In the 15th and 16th century, a great monument in China was being built. It is called the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall is the only man made super structure that can be seen from space. It is also a monument of human advancement considering that it was built in times before our major technological ages.

Today though, many people in Asia live normal lives by American standards. Asian children go to school, while their parents go to work. Though some of their customs may be different, their basic lives are much like ours.

Asia is also the largest continent in size and population with a population that is over half the Earth's population most is in China.