This might be something that you could only find in Japan. Elsewhere in the world, they don’t really directly called it love hotels. There are motels and cabanas which somewhat offers the same kind of service. Here’s many words about Japan’s so-called ‘love hotel’, a really stand-out social phenomena in the land of the rising sun.
What are Love Hotels?
When you hear a Japanese say ‘Rabu-rabu Hoteru’, it might seems a little weird for those who never happens to come across the term. They simply means the ‘Love Hotel’ – hotels …

First of all, me and my team here at Japan Uptown wants to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and may you all be blessed with prosperous times ahead and all the best of luck!
Happy 2011 everyone!
New Year celebration is indeed a very big thing in Japan. The Japanese started to adopt the Gregorian calendar five years after the Meiji restoration in 1873. Before that, like all it’s other similar roots countries like Korea and China, they have been adopting the Chinese calendar. Therefore now, 1st of January marks …

Sumo, a form of Japanese wrestling began as long as 2000 years ago is considered by many to be the national sport of Japan.
Sumo became the professional sport in the Edo period (1600-1868), and although it is practiced today by clubs in high school, colleges and amateur associations, it has its greatest appeal as a professional spectator sport. Today, the ancient sport is still popular and the best wrestlers are revered as national heroes. The highest ranking players are called Yokozuna or grand champions.
The object of this compelling sport is …

The world has children’s day, however, Japan has been celebrating their little ones since long time ago.
Shichi Go San is a festival to celebrate the children in Japan. It is the coming of children of age seven, five and three. The word ‘Shichi Go San’ itself directly translates to seven-five-three. Shichi Go San is not a national holiday, however, on this day girls of age three and seven, boys age three and five are celebrated. Their parents will have the children dress in elaborated children kimono with traditional obi (for …

It is summer again and it calls for the time of summer festivals in Japan, where there are various kinds of stalls (or yatai), hanabi (fireworks), yukata, beaches and watermelons!
July and August marks the peak of summer in Japan. And in these months Japanese people celebrate summer festivals which may vary from place to place. One such festival is called Obon or Bon Festival which is a Japanese custom festival celebrated as part to honor the deceased spirits of their ancestors. It is actually a customary tradition closely related to …

Learning something that you really like should be a very pleasant experience for everyone, such in the case when you are trying to learn a new language. Japanese language is a very interesting language to begin with. It helps a lot knowing certain words and phrases in Japanese while living or touring Japan. Therefore, I wanted to provide something useful for people who wants to learn just the simple and basic Japanese language phrases and words for free and most importantly, it should fun too!
So meet Natsu Sensei~ She will …

2010 World Most Expensive City
Last year, the city ranked second but this year, due to the rising strength of yen has brought back Tokyo, Japan to the number one spot in the top 10 listing of most expensive cities in the world, as per information provided by BusinessWeek, beating Luanda, Angola down to number three this year. If you haven’t noticed or realized just how expensive it is the cost of living in Japan, perhaps knowing that in just the first 10 of the expensive cities in the world list, …