You Can Buy an Akiya Home in Japan

Discover Akiya Homes in Japan in four articles.  Warning: Reading these articles could be a hazard your routine, you might find yourself living in Japan.

1. Dreamers Click HERE for a video about buying a Japanese Home.
About 13.5% of Japanese Homes in the country are abandoned.  Akiya Bank is ready for those who are interested in becoming part of a community under a 5 year contract.

2. Japanese Homes Click HERE

3. Best Article Click Here

https://blog.gaijinpot.com/buy-abandoned-house-in-japan/

4. How to Buy A Japanese Home Article https://www.homes.co.jp/akiyabank/b-5536/


Today’s Puzzle
Enter the location for this photo.

The Reiwa Era begins May 1, 2019 a landmark day as Crown Prince Naruhito becomes the new emperor of Japan. He accedes to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 1 May 2019.
Click HERE for details. Reiwa means Great Harmony.

Crown Princess Masako Owada

www.reuters.com

TOKYO (Reuters) - “Crown Prince Naruhito, set to become Japan’s emperor on May 1, is known as an earnest, studious man who wooed and won his ex-diplomat wife, Crown Princess Masako, with a pledge to protect her."

"...with a pledge to protect her."  Reading this line, I was swept back to the day I met Gassan Sadatoshi whose father made the Samurai sword presented to Naruhito on the day he was born. As we sipped tea with Sadatoshi he taught us:  "Swords are not for fighting."  I've come to understand that the deepest character imbued into a samurai sword is the spirit of "protection." The sword he received the day he was born was meant to protect him (his family and the nation) throughout the journey of his lifetime. Seems the spirit of his birth sword has guided Crown Prince Naruhito in pledging to protect the Crown Princess Masako.

”Naruhito, 59, will be ...
1. the first Japanese emperor born after World War Two 
2. the first to be raised solely by his parents,
3.  and the first to graduate from a university and pursue advanced studies overseas.”

Japanese Ancestors

Charles Thomas and a few of my former students have thought about exploring their Japanese ancestry... these posts are the perfect starting point for anyone considering such a quest.  Thanks to Matthew Mori, my principal advisor when I launched my first journey to walk in the footsteps of my grandparents Jotaro and Taka Ishihara Kobayakawa.  Click HERE to go to Ancestors Chapter 1

Michie Kobayakawa my mother's first cousin from Niimi, Okayama Japan. Photo circa 1919. Below ... 100 years later in Tokyo, April 6, 2019


It looks like my second cousin Michie is standing next Charles Thomas, separated here by only 100 years, the blink of an eye. Makes me wonder if her photo was taken on her wedding day, 100 years ago.

Movies about Japan

Departures, the movie, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Click HERE for the trailer

“Looking into the employment ads, Daigo finds a promising offer [Departures Agent] at what sounds like a travel agency. Daigo applies at a quiet little office, the interview is brief. He gets the job and a cash advance. He discovers the agency handles travel, all right -- to the next world. It is an "encoffinment," or undertaking, business.” --Roger Ebert

                 Click HERE for Roger Ebert’s full review.

From Wikipedia:  a nōkanshi is a Japanese ritual mortician.  Yukan is the ceremonial cleansing of the body prior to encoffenment. Japanese funerals are highly ritualized and generally conducted with Buddhist rites and involves a professional nōkanshi preparing dressing the dead in white.

Other movie recommendations coming soon.

Genki Yo! Chieko Iwase: The Inspiration for 10,000 People

10,000 People    Japan Art Book Project

00,001  Chieko Iwase. Bill and I met Chieko-san at the Ginza Antique Market April 7, 2019. Outgoing, bright and authentic, beaming radiating warmth!

Forging a Katana (A Japanese Samurai Sword )

August 15, 2015 Yoshio, second from the right, arranged for me to visit with Master Swordsmith Gassan Sadatoshi, second from the left and featured in the documentary below. Sadatoshi-san, will one day, like his father, become a Japanese National Human Treasure, an unparalleled honor. His family has been making Samurai Swords for more than 800 years.



Our wedding rings were forged in a manner inspired by the making of traditional samurai swords. Folding red hot forged steel or gold, imparts a beautiful wood grain character to the sword or ring.  Mokumeganea, the kanji Moku, means wood grain.  Personally, moku mirrors the spirits of living trees who leave their mark in wood grain. 




A closer examination of a forge folded samurai sword blade reveals the shabui of its red hot genesis (see below).

 The noh drama, Sanjō Kokaji, features the  10th century swordsmith Munechika forging the tachi (samurai sword) Kogitsune-Maru with the fox spirit Inari-Myōjin, the god of rice, agriculture and fertility, whose messenger is a white fox masterfully wields a heavy hammer, sparks fly and cascade from the scend.

Kitsune. 

I count at least 7 additional fox spirits witnessing the forging of this legendary sword.

Here is where Kitsune inspires a vision where I see a festival in Asuka and Sakurai City... and in Niimi.

The theme:  “Swords are Not For Fighting.” Opens in Gassan’s studio. Two heavy hammer wielding assistants strike glowing steel in showers of sparks, Sadatoshi turns the billet in the age-kitae process, more sparks fly.  Focus is on this forging and the preparation of the furnace, the shinto priests, the sparks flying symbolizing the festivals core, the spirit of the sword, like Inari-Myōjin and the Kogitsune-Maru, the festival runs from opening to closing ceremony absent any sword fighting, without a single sword clash. Here the rules of life are:

harmony 調和, Chōwa

justice 正義感, Masayoshi-kan

honor 名誉, Meiyo

serenity

courage

tranquility

respect

courtesy

kindness

honesty

frugality

modesty

loyalty

and duty.

These together form the future of bushido where swords are not for fighting but represent the 12 faces of new legends, old kitsune, and the new  Kogitsune-Maru’s that come from Gassan Sadatoshi’s studio.

In Asuka, student productions of the Kogitsune-Maru legend premiere in both noh and animation form with calligraphy classes producing banners in sets of three, like the sips of purifying sake that bring the gods and people together as a symbol of the vows we are making.

Tip #33 Narita Express Train for those staying in Shinjuku Kabuki-cho, take N'EX, Narita Express directly from Narita Airport to Shinjuku Station (see the map and additional stations below). From Shinjuku Station, you're a 9 minute walk or short taxi ride away from the APA Shinjuku Kabuki-cho Tower Hotel.  

This is the easiest and fastest way to move from Narita Airport to your hotel.  No train changes for a weary traveler new to Japan.  Remember, you can have your low cost mobile wifi waiting for your arrival at Narita Airport.  I cannot imagine navigating Japan without Google Maps paired with Pocket WiFi. Click HERE for Pocket Wifi

For your return flight you can catch Narita Express right at Shinjuku Station for a direct train to Narita without any transfers, easy peasy! Here's a return schedule:

For example: Narita Express 17 departing Shinjuku 10:08 am, arrives Narita 11:27 am.

... perfect for boarding a 2:30 pm flight home.

Other Tokyo Stations served by the Narita Express:

Afuna

Takako

Ikebukuro and

Yokohama 

Click HERE for the Narita Express Website

The schedule above is for April 2019. After that, the schedule might be different.
Check the N'EX website or the JR Ticket Office at Shinjuku Station before your departure or look for Narita Express on Google Maps after entering Narita.