Todai-ji or the “Great Eastern Temple” is one of the most famous landmarks in Nara. It ranked highly on my list of “must visit” places in Japan and after being greeted on my arrival in Nara by tricky but cute deer I made my way quickly to Todaiji which was already a sight to behold...

Nara is a must visit for fans of Japanese history, Buddhist temples and.. Deer. Not just any ordinary deer but deer designated as “National Treasures”, all 1200+ of them. Up to the mid 1600′s killing one of them was a crime punishable by death as before World War II they were considered...

The Women’s football team from Japan won their first ever World Cup after they beat the United States of America in the final held in Frankfurt Germany in a stadium full to it’s 50,000 capacity. I had been following highlights from each match throughout the tournament and must say I...

Japan’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup of Football was defeated by Qatar in the bidding process earlier today at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich Switzerland. As expected the 2018 tournament was awarded to a European country with Russia walking away with that honor. Rivals and Voting Qatar,...

My occasional foray into Japanese popular music or J-pop unearths some real gems from time to time and I think I have found another, a self titled dance, trance, electronic musical album called World Order presented by Genki Sudo a retired Japanese mixed martial artist and a kickboxer famous for his...

Coracoes Sujos or “Dirty Hearts” is a new film by Brazilian filmmaker Vicente Amorim and is based off a fictional book written by Fernando Morais about the chaos in Brazil’s sizable Japanese immigrant population following Japan’s World War II loss. The Japanese immigrant community...

The 2010 World Cup only recently finished after being successfully staged in South Africa. We already know that the 2014 world Cup is headed to Brazil and that it is widely believed that the 2018 games will be awarded to a European country. However the 2022 World Cup bid race is still an open one and...

Japan’s run at the 2010 FIFA World Cup came to an end in the round of 16 when they were beaten 5-4 on penalties by Paraguay. The Blue Samurai and the red and white clad South Americans played out an largely uneventful 90 minutes in which the Japanese seemed tired and the Paraguayans refusing to...

Two magnificently taken first half free kick goals by Keisuke Honda with his left foot and Yasuhito Endo with his right plus a third goal in the second half by substitute Shinji Okazaki catapulted Japan into the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Denmark. The Japanese goal keeper Eiji...

Japan has got their 2010 World Cup challenge off to a good start with a 1-0 win in their first game against one of Africa’s powerhouses Cameroon. Keisuke Honda 28th minute strike came at a time when both teams looked unsettled in a rather scrappy game with Cameroon slightly on top before the goal....