travel – motto.media

Abe ‘Willing to Accept’ Postponement of Tokyo Games if Virus Keeps Spreading

Yomiuri Shinbun reports: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he is willing to accept the need to postpone the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics if the new coronavirus continues to spread. “The judgment of the IOC is in line with my decision to [...]

A Coronavirus Explosion Was Expected In Japan, But Where It?

TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) – Japan was one of first countries outside of China hit by the coronavirus and now, it is one of the least-affected among developed nations. That’s puzzling health experts. Unlike China’s draconian isolation [...]

China Coronavirus is at Center of Hong Kong Protests

Mary Hui reports: Hong Kong’s leader has given another reason for people to be angry. As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across China and worldwide, with the number of confirmed cases growing at a rapid rate, Hong Kong is bracing [...]

Iwate: ‘Village of Folktales’ Home to Modern Ventures

TONO, Iwate — Koichi Saijo reports: Partway up a hill in Tono, Iwate Prefecture, is the majestic, amazing sight of a massive rock sitting atop smaller rocks that act as a pedestal. “There’s a legend that the warrior monk Musashibo Benkei put [...]

Worried Hong Kong Residents Are Moving Money Out as Protests Escalate

The local currency has weakened rapidly since early July, a move analysts attribute partly to outflows. Steven Russolillo, Joanne Chiu and Eli Binder report: Money is leaking out of Hong Kong as months of protests raise concerns about the [...]

The Pros and Cons of Retiring Abroad

Jaimie Seaton reports: After working as an environmental engineer for nearly 40 years, Ann Kuffner had had enough of corporate politics. She and her husband, Michael Brunette, who owned a contracting business, were overworked and burned out. [...]

Coming events give Japan chance to shine as travel destination — if it can rise to the occasion, says tourism chief

TOMOHIRO OSAKI reports: Once a tourism underachiever, Japan is riding high like never before. Last year, the nation attracted a record 31 million foreign tourists, topping 30 million for the first time and pulling off nearly a fourfold jump from [...]

Japan Enacts Controversial Law to Accept Foreign Workers

Tokyo (AFP) reports: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition early Saturday rammed through legislation to bring more blue-collar foreign workers into the country, in a controversial move to address chronic labour shortages. The [...]

A Woman Chugged an Entire Bottle of Cognac Rather than Give It to Airport Security

Miss Zhao, International Folk Hero Alex Swerdloff reports: This Chinese woman was stopped in Beijing for having a bottle of Cognac in her carry-on. What else could she do but pound the entire bottle on the spot? But then, of course, she [...]

[VIDEO] TV Asahi’s ‘Life of Paradise’ Features Tono’s Legendary Agriturismo Omori House

Tono Japan’s own Agriturismo Omori house Agriturismo 大森家（アグリツーリズモオオモリケ）was featured this week in TV Asahi‘s documentary series Life of paradise. Below is a sample of the story (imperfect machine [...]

Crafting a Japanese Gin: Domestic Distilleries are Producing Low-Volume, High-Quality Batches that Source Local Ingredients

Eric Johnston reports: While rooftop beer gardens with cold glasses of one’s favorite suds are the popular way among many in Japan to cool off during the hot summer and early weeks of autumn, gin, whether served neat with a bit of water, over [...]

The Japanese Mini Truck Garden Contest is a Whole New Genre in Landscaping

Johnny Strategy writes: The Kei Truck, or kei-tora for short, is a tiny but practical vehicle that originated in Japan. Although these days it’s widely used throughout Asia and other parts of the world, in Japan you’ll often see them used in [...]

HondaJet Business Plane To Go On Sale in Japan Next Year

TOKYO (Reuters) — Honda Motor Co. on Wednesday said it would start selling its six-seater business jet in Japan next year, as it seeks to expand global sales by tapping into demand from a growing class of high net-worth individuals. The automaker [...]

Lost in Robo-Translation

Sue Halpern writes: A few days before I left for a trip to Japan with my husband, I signed up to rent a translation device called Pocketalk. According to a press release from January, when the device debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las [...]

Where Robots and Ninja Collide: Shinjuku Offers Amusements to Foreign Visitors at Night

Yuka Matsumoto reports: Tokyo is bustling with a tide of foreign tourists. According to a Tokyo metropolitan government survey, the most popular destination by far is Shinjuku. I visited the area with Yukiko Konosu, a translator who is knowledgeable [...]

Titanic Food Menus For 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Passengers

The Titanic sank almost 104 years ago to the day, but while many things have changed in the world over the last century, one thing remains the same: the contrast between first class and economy. Passengers on the Ship of Dreams were divided into [...]

[VIDEO] Dog Mistakenly Flown to Japan Reunites with Family

(CNN) – Nicole Chavez and Marlena Baldacci report: More than 11,000 miles and about 48 hours later, Irgo has finally arrived at his new home in Kansas. The Swindle family reunited with the beloved dog Thursday in Wichita, two days after United [...]

Native English Speakers in Demand as Japanese Teachers Hone their Language Skills for New Curricula

KYODO – More and more elementary school teachers in Japan are turning to English language schools with native speakers, as they seek to gain confidence in teaching the language before it is formally added to their curricula in the academic [...]

United Airlines Flies Kansas Family’s Dog To Japan By Mistake

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — United Airlines says it’s investigating after mistakenly flying a Kansas family’s dog to Japan. KCTV reports that Kara Swindle and her two children flew from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday on a United flight. [...]

Japanese Towns Struggle to Deal with an Influx of New Arrivals: Wild Boars

Anna Fifield reports: Rapidly shrinking towns and cities across Japan are experiencing a population explosion. Not an explosion of humans, though. An explosion in wild boar numbers. Across the country, wild boars are moving in as Japan’s [...]

Japan’s Latest Luxury Train is a Stylish Cafe on Rails with Hundred-Year-Old Craftsmanship

Casey Baseel writes: Locally-sourced ingredients served in dining area decorated with woven bamboo, stonework made with samurai-era techniques. Some of Japan’s sightseeing trains double as hotels, with luxuriously appointed sleeping quarters. [...]

In Sanlitun Soho, a commercial and office complex in Beijing, a giant electronic billboard displays this message from the Chinese Communist Party: “The people have faith. The nation has hope. The state has strength.” Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times

The Propaganda I See on My Morning Commute

BEIJING — JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ writes: People joke that it’s now easier in many Chinese cities to use Communist Party slogans rather than street names to give directions. Looking for a bank in Downtown Beijing? Walk past the screen [...]

[VIDEO] How a Steel Box Changed the World: A Brief History of Shipping

As the container shipping industry continues to boom, companies are adopting new technologies to move cargo faster and shifting to crewless ships. But it’s not all been smooth sailing and the future will see fewer players stay above water. via WSJ [...]

Pregnant Subway Riders in Tokyo Can Request a Seat with their Phones

Cailey Rizzo reports: More than 40 years ago, social psychologist Dr. Stanley Milgram gave his students an assignment: Go on the New York City subway and ask fellow passengers to give up their seats. The majority of students reported high anxiety [...]

Tokyo Cruise Offers a Step Back in Time

Yoshiaki Miura reports: A new Tokyo Bay samurai-themed cruise ship fashioned after those used by feudal lords back in the Edo Period (1603-1868) promises tourists visiting the nation’s capital an interesting contrast between modernity and [...]

Japan Loves It Some Christmas Chicken: KFC Japan Earned $53 MILLION Over Christmas Weekend

Perhaps the only equivalent might be turkey sales during U.S. Thanksgiving, but KFC is a fast food chain, not a whole industry, and Japan is a much smaller country than the U.S., so it’s amazing that a single company could have such high numbers [...]

Japan: Government Report Warns of ‘Impending’ Mega-Quake and Tsunami Off Hokkaido

The government’s earthquake research panel on Tuesday warned of a possibly “impending” magnitude 9 class quake in the Pacific off the eastern coast of Hokkaido that would likely trigger a massive tsunami. A huge earthquake occurred about 400 [...]