Momiji viewing involves Japanese maples. And they don’t just grow everywhere. It takes a little planning to find places with many maple trees on the grounds. Some local parks scattered around Kyoto have them. Some shrines and temples have them. But not all places have Japanese maples.

So here are some of the best places around the Kyoto area to see Japanese maple trees in the splendor:

• Kiyomizudera
• Kinkakuji
• Fushimiinari
• Nagaoka Tenmangu
• Komyoji
• Arashiyama
• Tofukuji
• Nanzenji
• Takaragaike
• Kibune

So what’s the difference?

It’s Obon period.

For those of you who don’t know what Obon is, you can read more about Obon from this article: Japanese Obon.

If you need to drive anywhere in Japan during Obon, avoid the major highways and toll roads. They will be most traveled.

To get anywhere you want to go faster, drive on smaller highways. While the speeds may not be the fastest, you will most likely get to your destination much quicker nonetheless…even with all the stoplights!

During Obon, traffic on major highways and toll roads can take hours to travel as short a distance as 20 kilometers because of congestion.

Drive safely, or as they say in Japanese English, Safety Drive!

It’s Monday, April 2nd and April Fool’s Day is over. So no fooling around when I say the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom.

Yesterday, April 1st, was a rather warm day in the afternoon. Tonight will be cool and tomorrow even warmer than today. So sakura, cherry blossoms, should begin to open a bit faster from tomorrow.

Look to see cherry blossoms at about 40 to 50% opened by this weekend in the Kyoto area of Japan.

Florally speaking, plum blossoms are the first to bloom. Birds fill the branches as they sip the nectar from the flowers. A few weeks later, cherry blossoms make their presence known. After cherry blossoms (sakura), peach blossoms begin their process. They are somewhat temperamental and bloom depending on winter temperatures, location and spring weather. Iris flowers bloom in late April to early May, while other flowers on the ground begin blossoming out with plum blossoms and continue all the way to the end of summer.

One of the most common flowers visible in spring is the dandelion, tanpopo in Japanese. They add extra color to landscape photos of cherry blossoms, blue picnic tarps and hanami viewers.

Springtime means a break for students. Japanese students are out at the end of March for a week or so while everyone else is busier than usual finishing out the fiscal year before the new one starts in April. Aside from students, the only people who aren’t putting in extra hours at work are the retirees.

If you travel in Japan in spring, you are bound to run across huge groups of elderly and retirees as they are the majority of the tourists visiting parks, museums, shrines, temples and hiking in Japan other than rich Chinese. Practice your Japanese or maybe even some Mandarin before you come for a visit. Elderly are learning English and many other languages. Many love to spark up conversation with foreigners visiting their home country.

Can you believe there is a sign like this being displayed in a store in Osaka, the second largest city in Japan where millions of people live? Believe it! It’s something that happens all the time, maybe not so foul, but the misuse of English is prevalent in all facets of literary use throughout Japan.

In this day and age, when computers and electronic dictionaries are something most have access to, you’d think those wishing to use English would get it correct. That, however, is not the outcome, no matter what their approach. They still get it wrong; so much it has become a sort of cult for foreigners!

Foreigners living, working and/or traveling in Japan cannot go a day without seeing some sort of English faux pas. Many foreigners make it a mission to seek out bad English. Once they find it, they post their findings to the web. Many blogs and websites around the world have been created by native English speakers to display strangely written English on T-shirts, signs, billboards or other forms of English print. It’s amazing how much there is out there! It’s even funnier when you take into consideration the huge number of foreigners that now live in Japan who can provide Japanese with English support if they were ever given the chance.

Most of the grammar mistakes come from people who think they have a good enough grasp of the language to do it on their own. Some might consider them idiots while others might consider them genius, if you taken into consideration the amount of exposure they get from foreigners posting their mistakes. Just look at how much exposure the store in Shinsaibashi is getting as their sale campaign is being splashed across the web on Facebook and websites like this one.

Another reason people in Japan make grammar mistakes, aside from the fact they don’t hire out foreigners to edit their works, is they take words straight from their dictionaries and use them thinking that because their dictionary said it means what they want to say in Japanese that it can be used in English just the same way. Unfortunately, this does not apply to all or most words the English language. Just look at the different words in a Thesaurus and you’ll see how words may be similar in meaning, but are used in different ways at different times. And some words, if used in conjunction with other words, may take on a whole different meaning.

Japanese people would do well to hire out foreigners to edit their English, especially since so many of them now live in the country and work in the English industry. But then again, they might not get as much exposure if their English stopped being funny!

The OSAKA Hikari-Renaissance 2011 will be from December 14 (Wed), 2011 to December 25 (Sun). The 9th OSAKA Hikari-Renaissance is a symbol of Aqua Metropolis Osaka. Building the light display is a way to show the energy of Osaka via Nakanoshima, Osaka.

This year, numerous plans have been prepared for the “Central Venue” around Osaka City Central Public Hall and the “East Venue” in Nakanoshima Park. Approximately 460 gingko trees have been decorated along the 1.9km length of Midosuji.

Osaka “Aquarium” Kaiyukan

Osaka “Aquarium” Kaiyukan in the Osaka Port area will be displaying illuminated forms of sharks, dolphins, penguins and other sea creatures. A 22-meter tall tree is illuminated and changes colors every few minutes.

Adding beauty to the light display, a mist fills the air giving off a spectacular atmosphere in the night lights.

Also, a mist blast adds a fantastic atmosphere. The popular rockhopper penguin from Kaiyukan comes to Event Square jumping on the switch to turn it on (approx. for 5 minutes from 17:00) on weekends and holidays until December 25 (Sun). Please come and see him do his stuff.

Eco-Friendly

This year’s illumination events have been created through joint efforts of many people. LED lights and environmentally-friendly sources of electricity are being used this year to conserve energy through lower electricity consumption.

Yawata City, which lies just along the northeastern border of Osaka prefecture, is host to one of the latest Costco stores to be opened in Japan. Tons of people will be flocking to the store today to get a glimpse of the latest addition to the Costco Japan family.

Roads leading into the Yawata Costco will most likely be jammed with cars as members and visitors head to the store to shop on Opening Day.

Locals have been anticipating this day for a long time and have hopefully prepared themselves for the traffic that will now be something they have to deal with on a daily basis. Granted, it might not be as bad as it most likely will be today, but nonetheless, from now on, anyone living near Costco Yawata will have a lot more traffic.

Locals, like myself, will most likely walk or ride their bicycles to beat the traffic. Anyone going by train will have to take a bus or taxi in order to get to the store since JR Matsuiyamate station is not a close walk away. But even though the store is not a short walk away, today, anyone going by train might want to consider walking. It might be actually faster!

I’m heading there by bicycle now…

The previous prediction that maple leaves would be ready for viewing unfortunately was incorrect. Maple leaves are still green in many areas around the Kansai region. Some are red. Some are yellow. Finding really bright red maple leaves is getting easier as winter approaches, but they are few and far between.

The better areas to find momiji are in the higher mountain areas or where trees are in direct sunlight.

Good luck finding really red maples! When you do find some, let us know where you found them.

At first Costco was supposed to open in spring of this year. Later, they pushed it to autumn. Late in autumn, they changed the sign in front of the store reading it would open in winter.

For whatever reason they chose to push the date back, anyone close to Kyoto that knows about Costco is frustrated that they keep pushing the dates back, but we anxiously await the opening of the Kyoto store.

Hurry up Kyoto Costco! Open up!

Right now is that time!

As temperatures begin to fall, people are beginning to talk about momiji viewing. It will continue to be the hot topic here in Japan until the last autumn leaves have fallen.

What most people want to know is “Where and when to go?”

Many people go to parks, shrines and temples, while others go to the countryside. Momiji viewing is done individually, as a date with someone you love or as a group. Most people in Japan from now on will be talking about momiji.

Momiji will be the hot topic on this site until sometime in December, just before Christmas. So keep your eyes and ears open. You will find many great places to go momiji viewing, too.