In Japan, Morozoff Ltd. introduced the holiday for the first time in 1936, when it ran an advertisement aimed at foreigners. Later in 1953 it began promoting the giving of heart-shaped chocolates; other Japanese confectionery companies followed suit thereafter. In 1958 the Isetan department store ran a "Valentine sale". Further campaigns during the 1960s popularized the custom.
The custom that only women give chocolates to men appears to have originated from the translation error of a chocolate-company executive during the initial campaigns.In particular, office ladies give chocolate to their co-workers. Unlike western countries, gifts such as greeting cards, candies, flowers, or dinner dates are uncommon, and most of the activity about the gifts is about giving the right amount of chocolate to each person. Japanese chocolate companies make half their annual sales during this time of the year.

Culture Traditions

2:06 AM

Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.

Culture Tourism

4:30 AM

Kabuki (歌舞伎) is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.
The individual kanji, from left to right, mean sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎). Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as "the art of singing and dancing". These are, however, ateji characters which do not reflect actual etymology. The kanji of 'skill' generally refers to a performer in kabuki theatre. Since the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to lean" or "to be out of the ordinary", kabuki can be interpreted as "avant-garde" or "bizarre" theatre.^[1] The expression kabukimono (歌舞伎者) referred originally to those who were bizarrely dressed and swaggered on a street.

Famous plays

• Kanadehon Chūshingura (Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is the famous story of the Forty-seven Ronin, led by Oishi Kuranosuke, who track down their enemy and exact revenge upon him before committing seppuku as required by their code of honor upon the death of their lord, Lord Takuminokami of the Asano clan.

• Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees) follows Minamoto no Yoshitsune as he flees from agents of his brother Yoritomo. Three Taira clan generals supposed killed in the Genpei War figure prominently, as their deaths ensure a complete end to the war and the arrival of peace, as does a kitsune named Genkurō.

• Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy) is based on the life of famed scholar Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), who is exiled from Kyoto, and upon his death causes a number of calamities in the capital. He is then deified, as Tenjin, kami (divine spirit) of scholarship, and worshipped in order to propitiate his angry spirit.

Arts Culture Information Tourism Traditions

4:14 AM

The Japanese New Year (正月 shōgatsu^?) is an annual festival with its own customs. The preceding days are quite busy, particularly the day before, known as Ōmisoka. The Japanese New Year has been celebrated since 1873 according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year (New Year's Day where the Gregorian calendar is used). In Okinawa, the cultural New Year is still celebrated as the contemporary Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Years.

Culture Etiquette Information Traditions

11:12 AM

Ikebana (生け花^?, "living flowers") is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as kadō (華道^?, the "way of flowers").

Culture Tourism

11:07 AM

Harajuku (原宿 "meadow lodging")  listen (help·info) is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in theShibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan.

Every Sunday, young people dressed in a variety of styles including gothic lolita, visual kei, and decora, as well as cosplayers spend the day in Harajuku socializing. The fashion styles of these youths rarely conform to one particular style and are usually a mesh of many. Most young people gather on Jingu Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge that connects Harajuku to the neighboring Meiji Shrine area.^[1]

Harajuku is also a fashion capital of the world, renowned for its unique street fashion.^[2] Harajuku street style is promoted in Japanese and international publications such as Kera, Tune, Gothic & Lolita Bible and Fruits. Many prominent designers and fashion ideas have sprung from Harajuku and incorporated themselves into other fashions throughout the world.

Harajuku is also a large shopping district that includes international brands, its own brands, and shops selling clothes young people can afford.

Location

Girls at Harajuku Station on a Sunday afternoon

Rockabilly dancers in Yoyogi Park

Harajuku is an area between Shinjuku and Shibuya. Local landmarks include the headquarters of NHK, Meiji Shrine, and Yoyogi Park.

The area has two main shopping streets, Omotesandō and Takeshita Street (Takeshita-dōri). The latter caters to youth fashions and has many small stores selling Gothic Lolita, visual kei, rockabilly, hip hop, and punk outfits,^[3] in addition to fast food outlets and so forth.

Omotesandō has recently seen a rise in openings of up-scale fashion shops such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada. The avenue is sometimes referred to as "Tokyo's Champs-Élysées".^[4] Until 2004, one side of the avenue was occupied by the Dōjunkai Aoyama apāto,Bauhaus-inspired apartments built in 1927 after the 1923 Kantō earthquake. In 2006 the buildings were controversially destroyed by Mori Building and replaced with the "Omotesando Hills"^[5] shopping mall, designed by Tadao Ando.^[6] The area known as "Ura-Hara", back streets of Harajuku, is a center of Japanese fashion for younger people—brands such as A Bathing Ape and Undercover have shops in the area.^[7]

Styles

The term "Harajuku Girls" has been used by English-language media to describe teenagers dressed in any fashion style who are in the area of Harajuku.^[10] This fashion infuses multiple looks and styles to create a unique form of dress. The cyber-punk look takes its influence from gothic fashion and incorporates neon and metallic colors.^[9]

Harajuku Girls is also a fashion line created by Gwen Stefani in the U.S. It is considered a designer brand and is sold at various department stores.

Punk style in Harajuku is more of a fashion than a statement.^[1] Its fashion mainly consists of dark colors, plaid, chains, and zippers. Punk style is also one of the more gender-neutral fashions in Harajuku.^[1]

Ganguro is a style that symbolizes the average American teenager. The term translates to ‘black-faced’. The basic look is what Westerners would call a ‘California girl’, with bleached hair, dark skin, fake eyelashes and nails. It is not clear how Ganguro came to be. Many assume^[who?] it originated in the early 1990s, and was meant as a way of rebelling against the traditional Japanese ideas of beauty (pale skin, dark hair, etc.)

Cosplay is more of a costume-based style. A cosplay enthusiast will usually dress as a fictional or iconic character from a band, game, movie, anime, or manga.^[1]

Ura-Hara is another section of Harajuku, which caters to a mostly male population interested in a hip-hop, graffiti, and skater fashion and culture.^[9] Ura-Hara is seen as the opposite of Harajuku in that it’s more hidden and reserved.^[9]

Culture Information Tourism

10:54 AM

Many people will ask a guest to open a gift, but if they do not, the Japanese will resist the urge to ask if they can open the gift. Since the act of accepting a gift can create a sense of unfulfilled obligation on the part of the receiver, gifts are sometimes refused, depending on the situation.

Seasonal gifts

There are two gift seasons in Japan, called seibo (歳暮^?) and chūgen (中元^?). One is for winter and the other is for summer. Gifts are given to those with whom one has a relationship, especially the people who have helped the gift giver.

Culture Etiquette

12:16 PM

Lolita fashion (ロリータ・ファッション Rorīta fasshon^?) is a fashion subculture originating in Japan that is based on Victorian-eraclothing as well as costumes from the Rococo period, but the style has expanded greatly beyond Japan. Companies such as Milk and Pretty (currently known as Angelic Pretty) sell various Lolita fashions. ^[1] The Lolita look began primarily as one of modesty with a focus on quality in both material and manufacture of garments. The original silhouette is of a knee length skirt or dress with a 'cupcake' shape assisted by petticoats, but has expanded into various types of garments including corsets and floor lengths skirts. Blouses, knee high socks or stockings and headdresses are also worn.^[2] Lolita fashion has evolved into several different sub styles and has a subculture that is present in many parts of the world. Although many people point to Japan for the Lolita trend especially with the influence of Anime media, which made it more popular, as the creator of the “Lolita Fashion,” the origin of its meaning is complex, and remains unclear.^[3] It is likely the movement started in the late 1970s when famous labels including Pink House, Milk and Pretty (later known as Angelic Pretty) began selling clothes that would be considered "Lolita" by today's standards. Shortly after that came Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, and Metamorphose temps de fille. In the 1990s, Lolita fashion became better recognized, with bands like Princess Princesscoming into popularity at the time. These bands wore intricate costumes, which fans began adopting as their own style.^[4] The style soon spread and ultimately reached Tokyo where it became popularized throughout Japanese youth culture. Today, Lolita fashion has gained global popularity and can be found even in department stores in Japan.

Culture Information Tourism

12:06 PM

Though the styles have changed over the years, street fashion is still prominent in Japan today. Young adults can often be found wearing subculture attire in large urban fashion districts such as Harajuku, Ginza, Odaiba, Shinjuku and Shibuya.

Culture Information

10:58 AM

Kaiseki (懐石^?) or kaiseki ryōri (懐石料理^?) is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals, and are analogous to Western haute cuisine.^[1]

There are basically two kinds of traditional Japanese meal styles called kaiseki or kaiseki ryōri. The first, where kaiseki is written as 会席 (and kaiseki ryōri, 会席料理), referring to the fancy meal served at banquets. The other is written 懐石 or 懐石料理, referring to the simple meal that the host of a chanoyu gathering serves to the guests, and which is also known as cha-kaiseki (茶懐石).^[2]

Cuisine Culture

10:41 AM

Japanese gardens (日本庭園 nihon teien^?) are traditional gardens that create miniature idealized landscapes, often in a highly abstract and stylized way.^[1] The gardens of the Emperors and nobles were designed for recreation and aesthetic pleasure, while the gardens of Buddhist temples were designed for contemplation and meditation.

Japanese garden styles include karesansui, Japanese rock gardens or zen gardens, which are meditation gardens where white sand replaces water; roji, simple, rustic gardens with teahouses where the Japanese tea ceremony is conducted;kaiyū-shiki-teien, promenade or stroll gardens, where the visitor follows a path around the garden to see carefully composed landscapes; and tsubo-niwa, small courtyard gardens.

Japanese gardens were developed under the influences of the Chinese gardens,^[2] but gradually Japanese garden designers began to develop their own aesthetics, based on Japanese materials and Japanese culture. By the Edo period, the Japanese garden had its own distinct appearance.^[3] Since the end of the 19th century, Japanese gardens have also been adapted to Western settings.

Culture Tourism

10:31 AM

Traditional Japanese clothing distinguishes Japan from all other countries around the world. The Japanese word kimono means "something one wears" and they are the traditional garments of Japan. Originally, the word kimono was used for all types of clothing, but eventually, it came to refer specifically to the full-length garment also known as the naga-gi, meaning "long-wear", that is still worn today on special occasions by women, men, and children. Kimono in this meaning plus all other items of traditional Japanese clothing is known collectively as wafuku which means "Japanese clothes" as opposed to yofuku (Western-style clothing). Kimonos come in a variety of colours, styles, and sizes. Men mainly wear darker or more muted colours, while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels, and, especially for younger women, often with complicated abstract or floral patterns

Culture

7:11 AM

Hanakotoba (花言葉^?) is the Japanese form of the language of flowers. In this practice plants were given codes and passwords. Physiological effects and action under the color of the flowers, put into words the impressions of nature and the presence of thorns with the height of tall plants, flowers and garlands of flowers through the various types. Meant to convey emotion and communicate directly to each other without needing the use of words.

Flowers and their meanings

These flowers will be listed in alphabetical order by their names in English.

Culture Information

9:26 PM

In modern Japan you have western clothing (yofuku), and Japanese clothing (wafuku). The various traditional ethnic garments worn in Japan are still in use, they are mainly worn for ceremonies and special occasions- like weddings, funerals, coming-of-age ceremonies (seijin shiki), and festivals. Western clothing is worn more often in day to day life. They wear western style clothes in the work place, in the fields, and walking down the street. Both men and women favor "western-style" clothing in their daily lives- due to the comparative convenience and the influx of global fashion. While the westernization of fashions has continued at a rapid pace the kimono is dying, but it will remain part of the Japanese way of life for a good many years to come.

Culture

9:15 PM

 Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions. Some festivals have their roots in Chinese festivals but have undergone dramatic changes as they mixed with local customs.

Some are so different that they do not even remotely resemble the original festival despite sharing the same name and date. There are also various local festivals (e.g. Tobata Gion) that are mostly unknown outside a given prefecture. It is commonly said that you will always find a festival somewhere in Japan.

Unlike most people in East Asia, Japanese people generally do not celebrate Chinese New Year (it having been supplanted by the WesternNew Year's Day in the late 19th century); although Chinese residents in Japan still do. In Yokohama Chinatown, Japan's biggest Chinatown, tourists from all over Japan come to enjoy the festival. And similarly the Nagasaki Lantern Festival^[1] is based in Nagasaki's Chinatown. See:Japanese New Year.

List of famous matsuri

Culture Tourism

8:25 PM