Archive for 'Gourmet' Category

The First JAPAN Incentive Travel Awards

JNTO (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/) lauchned a new prize system to promote inbound tourism, called “JAPAN  Incentive Travel Awards” on Dec.21st. And three travel agents have been conferred the first awards and ceremony was held at the International Meeting Expo 2016 on Dec.7th(http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/ime/2016/eng/index.html) .

The grand prix was given to a tour of 6500 participants visiting Hokkaido hosted by LionTravel in Taiwan(http://www.liontravel.com/). The planning award was given to “Chaumet – Hurry up for sales” hosted by  teamtravel premium GmbH in Germany. That tour included 55 participants visiting spots related to jewelry using ipad services in Tokyo in style of a rally competition. And the Contribution award was given to “Millennium Achievers Tour” hosted by JTB Australia Pty Ltd. including 25 participants visiting Tokyo,Okayama,Kagawa, enjoying cultural activities of each local areas.

 

 

Kyobashi Edogrand grand open

A new skyscraper of  commercial and office complex opened in Kyobashi, a central area so close to Tokyo station and Ginza on Nov.25th. This is “Kyobashi Edogrand” that is 170m high and has 32 floors groend and 3 floors underground, provided with 34 renowned shops of foods and stuff. (http://www.edogrand.tokyo/en)

 

Kyobashi Edogrand consists of  newly built part of the higher rises and old Meijiya Kyobashi Building which has old history. This facility’s building project started 15 years ago as a redevelopping plan of the area led by owners of shops and lands of the area to reinvigorate the old office and shopping streets. The building has the state-of-the-art technology of quakeproof systems to keep things very safe and secure. the new building is expected to draw a lot of attention from people both in Japan and overseas.

 

“Shibuya Stream” construction project

Information about  construction project of  a new comemrical skyscraper at the open space where Toyoko Line’s station  once stood was announced on Oct.24th.

Tokyu group(http://www.tokyu-fudosan-hd.co.jp/english/) that owns the lands in the central areas of Shibuya holds six huge redevelopping projects of the Shibuya area and the new skyscraper plan is one of them. The name of the building will be “Shibuya Stream” and is to be  a highrise of 180 m and the total floor squares will be 116,700 ㎡.  According to Tokyu, 1~3 rd floors will be for commercial facilities,4th floor is for incubation offices, 6th is for conference rooms, 9-13rd are for hotel, and 14-35 floors are for office areas. The developper says, the new building is expected to make dedications and contributions for promoting the unique culture being born in Shibuya.  The project is to finish its first stage in 2019 and all stages will be finished and open to public in 2027.

Tsukiji Fishmarket postponed relocation

Tsukiji, the world famous fish market in Tokyo was to be relocated to Toyosu on Nov.7 2016, but now Yuriko Koike, the new Tokyo Governer delared the plan being postponed on Oct.31.

The reasons of  this postponement  are  environmental conditions, costs, and questionable points in the plan. according to Koike. Now the relocation time will be in Feburuary 2017 ,but sources have not been solved and the real moving time has not been decided yet. Meantime, people can enjoy visiting the world’s biggest fish and other foods market in the central part in Tokyo.

Pokemon Pikapika Festival in Odaiba

“Pokemon Pikapika Festival” is being held at Decks Tokyo Bay in odaiba,Tokyo Jul.12-Aug.31st. (http://www.pokemon-movie.jp/decks/)

This festival is held as a tie-up between Pokemon and decks Tokyo in token of Decks’ 20th anniversary.  At the venue there is Illusion Dome where visitors can take a walk and see projected Pokemons’ images and footages at 360 degree. Visitors also can enjoy some special games and facilities, and meals at the restaurant and other attractions.

 

a “new” Tsukiji fish market opening in October

As I wrote in my previous post, some main functions of the Tsukiji Market are going to be relocated to Toyosu in Tokyo, however, a new fish market at the current Tsukiji market area is going to be open on this October 15th. (http://www.tsukiji.or.jp/english/index.html)

The new fish market at Tsukiji will include about 60 intermediate wholesale shops that will keep their business there along with the current outer market with about 400 shops even after the coming relocation as above mentined. Now the Tsukiji market has carried out a new project of promoting its own traditional concepts and business skills called “Tsuki-Waza/ Tsukiji’s crafts and techniques” being created and practiced by the shops there. They host seminars to promote those traditions and techniques as cultural assets of the market  as a part of  comemmorating the upcoming 100th anniversary of the market area.

Tsukiji market opening time being changed

Tsukiji market,one of the biggest food markets in the world, is nowadays worldwide famous as the central market of Tokyo dealing fish, vegetables, commodities, and having cafe, restaurants, and stuff.  The management of the market  declared the market’s opening time for lay visitors to the fish, fruit and vegetable market sections to change. Currently, the opening time is 9:00am and is going to be 10:00am on and from the coming July 1st.

However, the opening time of other facility sections and corners, such as restraurants, sourvenir shops, and others will remain  the same as the current one of 9:00am.   Some main functions od the market are going to rerelocated to Toyosu this November, so, visiting some sections at the market at Tsukiji is highly advised  before the relocation.

fruits picking being so popular among foreign visitors

According to Nikkei’s article on May 27th,  picking-your-own farm shops of fruits are becoming more and more popular among foreign visitors especially those who come from Southeast Asian countries.

The article says, you can enjoy picking fruites at those shops withen a  certain limited period of time such as 30 minutes or 60 minutes or so during which you can enjoy all- you-can- eat service and after the time you can buy those fruites to go, though service styles vary depending on each shop.  The fruites may be strawberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, grapes, pears,  apples,  mandrin oranges and so forth. Those fruites are so rare and usually difficult to see in  natural or fresh states except for processed or cooked  in Southeast Asia, which is the primary reason why those services increasingly attract people from those countries.  Those farms shops might be a new eyecatcher for inbound tourism in Japan.

Hakone Ropeways partially resuming the service in Owakudani

Hakone Ropeways resumed its service partillay from Togendai station (the ground) to Owakudani station (middle of the mountain)  on April 23rd. (http://www.hakoneropeway.co.jp/foreign/en/index.cgi)

The air ropeway service between Togendai-Ubako-Owakudani-Sounzan was partially suspended due to the smoking erupations of the Hakone Mountain in Owakudani area since May 6th 2015 (Togendai-Ubako has been in operation though). However, the erupting situations there now became kind of placated and the line Togendai-Owakudani has been resumed. Still, passengers can’t get on the cargo from Ubako but only from Togendai ,and they are not allowed to get out of the station building at Owakudani. Although there bus services substituting the ropeways are in operation, the buses don’t stop at Owakudani.

   

And the famous and popular sourvenir of Owakudani, the Black Eggs have now been resumed to be sold since April 29th, as the producing sites of the eggs have become safer. Still, ordinary visitors have not been allowed to get out of the station building there, the black eggs are soled only at the station and places  other than  the area. The black eggs are believed to be very good to health and if you eat one, your longevity is said to be extended for three years.

 

Grand opening of “NEWoMan”, department store complex in Shinjuku

A major department store chain “Lumine” opened its new commercial facility complex called “NEWoman” at the south exit of Shinjuku station Tokyo on this Mar.25. (http://www.newoman.jp/)

This new facility showed up in one of the busiest areas in Japan consists of 5600㎥of 6 floors and  2000㎥ of three floors just above the station areas connected to a part of the station facilities. NEWoMan provides about 100 shops and expected to make 20- billion- yen revenue in its first year. Foods , cosmetics, fashion shops, cafe, a daycare,  clinics, an event hall ,and so forth are there and mainly targetting working generations  of females in thier 30-40s.

popular chocolates for the Valentine’s Day 2016

St.Valentine’s Day on Feb.14th is a popular  practice among young people.   Some websites  carry out  rankings of  top popular chocolates.

 

Most of  top popular chocolates are deluxe foreign ones such as Bvlgari’s   “Saint Valentino 2016 Lui e Lei” (http://gourmet.bulgari.com/shop/default.aspx), Jean-Paul Hevin’s  、“LES PIEDS SUR TERRE, LA TÊTE DANS LES ÉTOILES (http://www.jph-japon.co.jp) ,and other European brands.

a new hotel open near Ueno station

A new hotel “Life Tree” opened near Ueno station, which is one of the oldest and hub stations in central area in Tokyo on this Feb.2nd.(http://www.lifehotels.jp/ueno/)

It takes about 5 minutes to Ueno station from the new hotel. The station area is home to a lot of  popular tourists’ destinations such as traditional Japanese-western restaurants,  Ueno park, the most popular cherry- blossom veiwing spot in Tokyo,  Ueno Zoo, art museums, national museums, Kaneiji temple, Ame-yoko old shopping street,and so forth.   And  ueno is close to other popular areas, such as  Asakusa, Ginza, Yanaka and others.

“Hotoriya”,a new cafe-and-sourveir shop in Hakone

A new facility for tourists opened at Hakone-machi port on the lakeside of Lake Ashi  in Hakone, Kanagawa pref. on this Jan.23rd. The name of this new establishment is “Hotoriya”(means; a shop on a lakeside ) and is a commercial complex of “wa-cafe”(/traditional Japanese style cafe) and sourvenir shops.

Hotoriya’s nickname is “Chaya-honjin”(means;cafe-style main local guest house ) because  the building has a  figure of  an old  main local guest house of hundreds of years ago where  high-class samurai warriors stayed when Hakone was an important check point of travelers to monitor and control people by the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Eating facilities and sourvenir shop to provide a variety of  local food, beer,and other sorts of  sourvenirs are in the establishement.  Some of those shops are directly run by the operarion company of  this facility,  Hakone Sightseeing Cruise Co.,ltd.(http://www.hakone-kankosen.co.jp/foreign/en/index.html)  and some are branch shops of renowned  old  major  shops from Hakone and other neighboring areas. And from the cafes, you may enjoy  magestic and panoramic views of Mt.Fuji and Lake Ashi.

The open hours of  souvenir shops on the 1st floor is daily 9:30-17:00 and cafes on the 2nd floor is daily 10:00-16:00.

“Good Meat Day”

November 29th  is the “Good Meat Day” which is a designated (not as an official) day for meat.   This is because “29/11” can be pronounced as “ii niku”  which means “good meat” in Japanese. This event day ‘s concept was establied by the Yoriyoki MiyazakiBeef Council (Miyazaki council of strategies for producing better quality MiyazakiBeef) to promote the brand meat goods consumption produced in Miyazaki.(http://www.miyazakigyu.jp/en/)

One year ago in 2014,  a young female idol group, Chubbiness,who had debuted on November 29th 2013, was apoointed as the “Ambassador of  the Good Meat Day” and carried out plans to promote meat consumption of such as beef steak.(http://avex.jp/chubbiness/)

Hotel Okura’s renewal construction plan

The main building of Hotel Okura in Tokyo is going to be closed at the end of thsi August and a reconstruction will take place which will have finished by the coming spring in 2019 in order to meet the timing of preparation for the Tokyo Olympic games in 2020. (http://www.hotelokura.co.jp/tokyo/en/)

The current main building of 11 floors with 408 guest rooms will be replaced by two new buildings of  41 floors and 16 floors with 510 guest rooms due to  decrepitude.  The current one was open n 1962, two years before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 as its preparatory inflastructure and now the new ones will be created as a preparation for another Tokyo Olympics in 2020. However, a lot of  people including foreign celebrities who have stayed at the hotel are reluctant to accept the reconstruction and against the plan of  demolision because  of  their sweet memories with building of  the beautiful conbinations of traditional Japanese artistic  and western modernism.  Famous writers,  foreign monarchs, well-known business people and so forth enjoyed the lavish stays at the hotel in the past 50-year history and some of those influential foreign visitors  even conduct protest sign-in campaigns against the demolision plan.  The culturally important asset of the hotel building might be spared and might be preserved in some other way due to the passions of  those who love those works and facilities.

At any rate, the hotel will remain open in business operation even during the reconstruction utilizing its annex building.