TRAVEL

The custodians of the grand canals in Venice and the colorful floating markets in Bangkok need not worry about their status just yet, but in Tokyo a group of concerned citizens is convinced it can transform the city's sludge-clogged waterways into a magnet for tourism. The hubbub on the capital's rivers and canals was once one of its most celebrated sights. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), boats carried people and goods on an intricate water system that was the equal of any in the world. (Asahi)

It's springtime in Japan and that means one thing. Actually, two things. Penis festivals and vagina festivals. It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. One of the best-known penis festivals is at Komaki City's Tagata shrine, about 45 minutes outside Nagoya, every March 15. In a neighboring village, a vagina festival is held the Sunday before that. (Global Post)

Hotel New Otani will hold walking tours of historic and scenic areas of Tokyo, formerly known as Edo, with a lunch at the hotel after the tour. Held during cherry blossom season, there are two tours - the Imperial Palace and former Edo castle course on March 28, and Asakusa and Bokutei course on April 4, both of which include some of Tokyo's best hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots. (Japan Times)

Celebrations for Ireland's most famous holiday are gaining in popularity worldwide, and Japan is no exception. St. Patrick, who helped spread Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century, is the country's patron saint. Legend has it that he died on March 17, so the Irish celebrate the day by wearing green, symbolizing the shamrock. In Japan, people have enjoyed the St. Patrick's Day parade since 1992. As an international cultural exchange event, it has become more popular, with recent years seeing around 1,000 participants and 50,000 spectators taking part in Omotesando, Tokyo. This year's parade is on March 14 and starts from Omotesando Hills; it runs from 2 p.m. till 4 p.m. (Japan Times)

Signs of the full-blown spring season were observed in Japan when cherry blossoms bloomed Wednesday in the western city of Kochi, coming out the earliest in any location other than Okinawa and nearby southern islands, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The "someiyoshino" cherry blossoms in Kochi came out six days earlier than the previous year and tied the record for the earliest blooming on Japan's main islands, which was registered three times in the past -- in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1955 and 1973 and in Wakayama Prefecture in 1959. (AP)

Strong winds and snow battered the Pacific side of the nation Tuesday and Wednesday, wreaking havoc with road, rail and air routes and leaving thousands of homes without power. According to the Tokyo Fire Department, 26 people were taken to hospitals in Tokyo with fall injuries between Tuesday evening, when it began snowing, and 6 a.m. Wednesday. Ten people in Yokohama suffered fall and other injuries, and 46 people in Saitama Prefecture either fell or were involved in skidding accidents. The hazardous weather also brought chaos to the nation's transport network. (Yomiuri)

Kyoto was once the imperial capital of Japan, and it is here that many of the country's finest gardens are to be found. 'Throw nothing away' must always have been the motto of Japanese garden designers, for old and new co-exist in the country's gardens, which have much to tell us about the history of Japan. The oldest surviving gardens belong to the Heian era (794-1185), and they are known in Japanese as chisen shuyu teien, or 'pond-spring-boating-gardens'. The pond was at the heart both of the garden and of the wonderfully leisured, light-hearted and sensuous lifestyle of the aristocracy. The chisen shuyu teien garden was designed to be seen from the water, and the boating parties that took place in it were highly theatrical affairs. Guests drifted about in beautifully carved and painted boats to the accompaniment of music played by an orchestra that floated in the pond on a boat of its own. (telegraph.co.uk)

The words "Japan, wine exporter" have a somewhat unlikely ring but that is the aim of a new organisation, Koshu of Japan, which is keen to shine an international spotlight on a grape variety that is often dismissed within its native country. I have just made my second visit in 12 years to Yamanashi prefecture, the Bordeaux of Japan in terms of winemaking. Except it reminds me more of Switzerland than Bordeaux. Every square metre in the heavily populated Kofu basin overlooked by Mount Fuji is cosseted. Individual vineyards are tiny, partly thanks to the postwar policy, implemented by General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw Japan's reconstruction, of weakening the powerful landowners by redistribution. Farmers are protected. Labour costs are high. And the most-planted vine variety, like the Chasselas that is known as Fendant in French-speaking Switzerland, is also a table grape. (FT.com)

Tokachidake (dake means volcanic peak), an active volcano that last spewed in 1989, is 40 kilometres from the small farming town of Furano and offers the purest easily accessed backcountry terrain in the park. We are the first to forge through the forest to break trail for an ascent of Furanodake. We slog higher on the steep slope, cut a path amid wild arms of frozen dancers - the snow-covered silver birch. Ryounkaku has an excellent onsen, its water coloured rust by iron. But nearby there is a particularly wonderful onsen, the unadorned Fukiage, a short amble down a snowy path from the road. Spirits surely swirl in the steam as water percolates out of the earth amid a forest and falling snow. (Globe & Mail)

There's no shortage of tourist hotspots in Tokyo, where a walk down an average city street is an experience in itself, but some of the capital's quirkiest encounters are those not always listed in the guidebooks. The Japanese love a museum and alongside the city's many well-known galleries and institutions are dozens of smaller, often privately-run museums dedicated to just about anything you care to imagine, all well worth a detour from the traditional tourist landmarks. You won't find many English translations - or tourists for that matter - at the Meguro Parasitilogical Museum, but its hundreds of jars of preserved parasite specimens, many of them spilling out of organs and dead animals, don't really require much explanation. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Qantas Airways Ltd. will increase its seat capacity for flights to Japan from July this year, due to an increase in demand for travel to Japan, chief executive officer Alan Joyce said Thursday. Australia's national carrier currently flies daily between Sydney and Tokyo, using Airbus A330-300 aircraft. However, from July 5, Qantas will begin operating larger Boeing 747- 400 aircraft on six services each week, increasing capacity by 115 seats per flight, Joyce said in a statement. (AP)

Concerned over falling numbers of passengers to Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, a rail line is giving stations, trains and employee uniforms a retro makeover in hopes of luring tourists back aboard. Many of the stations along East Japan Railway Co.'s Nikko Line, which links Utsunomiya and the tourism hot spot of Nikko, were built in the Meiji (1868-1911) and Taisho (1912-1925) eras. To evoke those days, JR East has changed the colors of its platforms, benches, staff uniforms and even vending machines at Nikko Station and rebuilt parts of other stations. (Japan Times)

All Nippon Airways Co. on Monday will begin introducing women-only lavatories on international routes for passengers who feel uncomfortable using the same facilities as men. One lavatory will be designated for use by women only in all classes. Men will be restricted from using such toilets except in emergencies and when there are very few female passengers, ANA said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Nothing outside Tokyo's 24-Kaikan hotel hints at what goes on behind its gray concrete walls. Tucked in a back street in Shinjuku 2-chome, the seven-story building could be an apartment block for retired civil servants. Only in the lobby, cheerily adorned with scenes from a sex movie, does it become clear this is one of Asia's biggest gay landmarks. After passing the ticket machine - ¥2,600 for a 13-hour stay - pretty much anything goes, according to the guests, who come from across Japan and even abroad. Soak in the sauna/bathtub, then make your way up seminaked through the floors, where porn flickers 24 hours a day in dimmed communal sleeping areas equipped with futon. Wander around or lie back and wait for someone who fancies you, instructs one guide, which blissfully advises customers to expect "some mind-blowing tableaux." (Japan Times)

Failed flagship carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) said Monday it planned to raise fuel surcharges for its all international flights from April 1. The Japanese airline, which went bankrupt a month ago with six billion dollars of debt, applied for the charge with the transport ministry, citing recent rises in fuel prices, the company said in a statement. JAL is going through a government-backed turnaround plan to rebuild itself under a new management team. (AFP)

A cold winter spell is still blanketing many countries in the northern hemisphere. In Japan, many are looking for unique ways to keep warm, while reaping health benefits. The warm sand by the sea in Kagoshima is among the hottest around the globe. The closer one gets to the shore, the hotter it gets. At some places, it is regarded to be around 85 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature most people can withstand is around 50 degrees Celsius. Although the mechanism is said to be unknown, it is said to be the only such place in the world. (Channel NewsAsia)

A Japanese restaurateur has turned the nation's everyday comfort food, ramen or noodle soup, into a pricey, gourmet affair that costs more than $100 and takes three days to fully prepare. The "Five-Taste Blend Imperial Noodles" offered at Tokyo's Fujimaki Gekijyo restaurant is ultimately just a bowl of soup and noodles, albeit an expensive one, especially as Japan's economy slowly recovers from its worst recession since World War Two. But owner Shoichi Fujimaki said it's the soup, and the more than 20 ingredients used to make it, that elevated the dish from street food into five-star cuisine, with the price tag to match. (MSNBC)

Japan is one of the few Asian countries that does not celebrate the Lunar New Year. But with department stores suffering from falling sales, businesses are starting to attract the holiday crowds from neighbouring countries. Japan used to be rather unaccommodating towards foreign tourists, but over the past few years, the country has begun to implement various tourist services and support to boost sales. Returning five per cent consumption tax to foreign shoppers is a service provided at most department stores in Tokyo. (Channel NewsAsia)

Hotel packages featuring two meals but no overnight accommodation have been growing in popularity since autumn. Such plans are taking off among people who are keen to enjoy their holidays without traveling to distant locations and who would rather enjoy a hotel's facilities for several hours without staying the night. For example, Hakone Kowakien Yunessun Inn, a hotel in Hakonemachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, offers a two-meal daytime plan for 6,500 yen per person for a room that usually costs 15,000 yen as part of a two-meal, overnight-stay package. The deal also includes admission to an open-air bath at an adjacent spa theme park, Hakone Kowakien Yunessun. (Yomiuri)

A teenage girl walks gingerly with her eyes shut, carefully measuring each step. Her arm extends in front of her, fingers stretching toward the target. Off to the side, three companions watch with wide eyes and stifled giggles. After a few more paces, the girl reaches down and touches a picnic cooler-sized rock. Instantly, they all scream and jump about in celebration: her fate (and, presumably, the fate of some young man somewhere) is sealed. The rocks, and the gods, have spoken at the Jishu Shrine, Japan's temple to love. (The Star)

Even for tech-savvy Japanese teenagers, the path to love can still be a time honoured low-tech journey that starts at the ancient Jishu Shrine in Higashiyama, a district of Kyoto. Built by a shogun in 1633, the shrine has been attracting the lovelorn up through its gate ever since. Legions of unattached Japanese make pilgrimages to the home of Okuninushi-no Mikoto -- the god of love, matchmaking and marriage. But finding true love is not without risk, says guide Mark Amano. Visitors who appeal to the love god for help must first shut their eyes and navigate the 10-metre distance between two "love fortune-telling" stones. (Toronto Sun)

Travel agency H.I.S. Co. is poised to take over management of troubled theme park Huis Ten Bosch. Built on 800,000 square meters, or about 1.5 times the size of Tokyo Disneyland, Huis Ten Bosch began operations in 1992 after taking over the Dutch-themed Nagasaki Holland Village park, which first opened in 1983. (Asahi)

A century-old ferry route linking once important gateways on Japan's Honshu and Shikoku islands will be closed next month amid sluggish business prospects for the shipping companies involved. Kokudo Ferry and Shikoku Ferry filed applications with local transportation authorities Friday to end their direct services between Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, and Uno, Okayama Prefecture, which were launched by now-defunct Japan National Railways in 1910. (AP)

A ferry service between Kitakyushu and Busan in South Korea will begin in May, the local government said Friday. This will be the first ferry service on this route since the Moji Line, which went into service in June 2008, stopped its operations about two months later. It will use a 11,582-ton vessel, one which a Japanese ferry operator used on such routes between Kawasaki and Miyazaki, for the services for six days a week. (Mainichi)

A journey to 33 restaurants in Osaka and three nearby prefectures to enjoy thick "sanuki udon" is under way to give momentum to a boom in the pastalike noodles that originated in Japan. Organizers call the journey "Kansai sanuki udon pilgrimage rally." It involves participants slurping up noodles at one restaurant after another until they complete visits to all 33 eateries on the itinerary in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara prefectures. They will collect a stamp at each stop. (Japan Times)