??????????Last weekend I went to the Nishi-Kasai district of Tokyo, in Edogawa ward in the far east end of the city. Nishi-Kasai has the largest Indian community in Tokyo - and probably Japan - and the occasion on Saturday was the 10th celebration of the Hindu Diwali festival.In spite of it being an Indian event, it was aimed at much at the local Japanese population as it was the Indian. The majority of the crowd was Japanese, and even the performances were largely Japanese-style and by Japanese people.However, the Indian element was predominant in the stalls that lined the venue selling mainly Indian food, as well as clothing, incense, and jewelry. Several religious groups were proselytizing there, too, like Hare Krishnas, Sai Baba-ites, and even the Japanese, and decidedly oddball, "Happy Science" group.But the festival was focused on performances: singing, dancing, and drama - the drama even including some manga-style futuristic gundam fighting.Perhaps the most memorable performance was Beyonce-style stage dancing by half a dozen girls on stage, with the space below and along the stage lined with shirtless, body-painted boys drumming in vigorous unison while the girls worked their moves. Check out the YouTube video above of shirtless boys drumming and girls shaking it.© JapanVisitor.comYahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a Japanese Hotel with BookingsJapanese FriendsJapan Job SearchTagsJapan Tokyo Nishi Kasai Diwali festival

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???????????I had the fortune of getting tickets - per kind favor of the Brastel telecommunications company and New Zealand Telecom - for the Nissui Tokyo 2009 Bledisloe Cup rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies at the National Sports Stadium in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward.The massive National Sports Stadium, or Kokuritsu Kyogijo, (built for the 1964 Olympics) was close to a full house, with a crowd of about 45,000. There was a large contingent of both New Zealanders and Australians, and the excitement was palpable from long before kick off.Of course, the main part of the audience was made up of local Japanese, reflecting the enthusiasm for rugby in Japan.The Wallabies scored first, but the All Blacks dominated, keeping the play largely on their side of the field, and going on to win 32-19.© JapanVisitor.comYahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a Japanese Hotel with BookingsJapanese FriendsJapan Job SearchTagsJapan Tokyo Bledisloe Cup Nissuirugby Kokuritsu Kyogijo (National Sports Stadium)

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????Kabukicho is one of Tokyo's largest "entertainment" areas and well-known for its red-light sleaze.Kabukicho near Shinjuku Station is home to over three thousand bars, cinemas, hostess joints, karaoke boxes, nightclubs, pachinko parlors, love hotels, soaplands and massage establishments and has been a center of organized crime since the end of World War II.The Koma Theater in Kabukicho is a venue for musicals and samurai dramas. the historic Hanazono-jinja (Tel 03 3200 3093) is the local shrine for success in business and leads into the Golden Gai bar alley. The shrine is illuminated at night.© JapanVisitor.comYahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a Japanese Hotel with BookingsJapanese FriendsRough Guide To JapanTagsKabukicho Tokyo Japanese sex

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Tsukiji: The Fish Market At The Center Of The Worldby Theodore C. BestorISBN: 0-5202-2024-2456 ppLong a popular destination for foreign visitors to Tokyo, Tsukiji, the world's biggest fish market with some 450 different types of fish and a daily turnover of more than 2,000 tons of fishy products, is nevertheless facing a crisis in Japan's changing business and food culture. Though it is only a short hop from Ginza, its appeal to foreigners has left some locals bemused. A recent article in the Nikkei Shimbun marvelled at the number of tours for foreigners to this most Japanese of institutions.Luckily for us, the unique nature of this great market has been captured by Bestor, an anthropologist, in this fascinating book.Though it is an ethnographical study of Tsukiji as a trade and economic institution, at no point does the prose lose the layman. Bestor approaches his subject from a dazzling array of angles, with the focus shifting from the lives and routines of market families, to its colourful history, to more serious discussions on its significance in Japan's economic and cultural history as well as the influence it exerts on the world fishing industry.What Bestor manages to do is to walk his reader through this complex world and bring it all gloriously to life. He starts out with his own boozy induction to the joys of sushi and first visit to the market. This helps the reader remain anchored when the greater cultural, historical, economic, culinary and social implications of the market come to be discussed. The stall banter, wheeling and dealing, market slang and nuggets of fish lore interspersed throughout help make this much more than just an academic treatise.The arrival of kaiten-zushi, the kombini and family restaurants, and what all that actually implies for us who live here, is also discussed.Getting to understand Tsukiji helps to put so many more pieces of the Japanese jigsaw in place and sheds light on both past and present. No matter how familiar you may be either with Japan or her greatest market, this study, the result of a decade of research and observation, will prove rewarding. There is even a welcome guide to getting the most out of a visit to Tsukiji, which anyone will surely want to see after reading this. Indeed, most Tokyoites would learn a thing or two.Aidan O'ConnorBuy this book from Amazon USA I UK I Japan© JapanVisitor.comTagsJapanese food Tokyo Tsukiji

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???With the possible exception of stray cats and barking dogs (both pet hates of mine), the biggest urban pest in Japan are crows - karasu (in Japanese).Crows are the Taleban of Tokyo - large, aggressive, noisy and clad all in black.With wingspans of around a meter and sharp claws and beaks, Japan's crows have moved in from the countryside to the towns to scavenge on the easy pickings of household garbage.Household waste in Japan is not usually placed in a bin or can but left in a plastic bag by the side of the road to be picked up by speeding garbage trucks. Nets are used to cover the piles of plastic rubbish bags but the crows are clever enough to simply lift these off to get at the goodies within.Some estimates put the number of crows in Tokyo at 150,000 birds and the city government is involved in an ongoing fight to cull their growing numbers. Between 2001-2008, 93,000 crows were lured into traps and poisoned in the Japanese capital.Crows, which often make their nests in and from high-voltage power lines, have also been responsible for a number of blackouts as they eat their way through the cables, even causing the bullet train in northern Japan to temporarily shut down once.If you have ever been buzzed by a crow or worse shat on by one of the Hitchcockian monsters, you'll be with Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara on his crow extermination campaign, as the Tokyo city authorities try to eliminate this avian menace.Listen to the sounds of crows in TokyoVideo by Rob Markovitz© JapanVisitor.comYahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a Japanese Hotel with BookingsJapanese FriendsRough Guide To JapanTagsJapanese crows Tokyo Japanese birds

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