TRAVEL

A well-known property in Tokyo dubbed "Totoro's home" reopened as a park Sunday based on a sketch by Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the popular character in the 1988 animated film "Tonari no Totoro" ("My Neighbor Totoro") who cherished the spot filled with trees and plants. There are more than 100 kinds of plants on the 840-sq.-meter property in Suginami Ward, and components from the house that once stood there before it burned down, including red roof tiles, were used for a restroom facility, a local official said, referring to efforts to create an atmosphere that would make visitors feel Totoro would live there. (Japan Times)

Mori Building City Air Services Co., which runs a helicopter service between downtown Tokyo and Narita airport, may add a third chopper now that tieups with airlines have boosted traffic. The unit of Mori Building Co., Japan's biggest closely held developer, may add an eight-seat helicopter to its two existing four-seaters, Koichi Ueno, a managing director, said Wednesday in Tokyo, without giving a time frame. The helicopter service pares travel times from downtown Tokyo to Narita to about 30 minutes, he said. (Japan Times)

The center of Little Tokyo was begun in 1977. Its real name is Japanese Village Plaza and it was designed and funded by a group of businessmen in cooperation with the city of Los Angeles. It's only about a square block of city real estate, bounded by First and Second and Alameda streets. But once you enter, you could be in the middle of the real Tokyo itself, or Yokohama. It has been honored for its urban design. It is the real deal for anyone wanting to experience modern Japan. (dailybulletin.com)

You can't beat Japan for variety and quality of native cuisine. Here are some of my favorite types of restaurants, followed by a few recommended Tokyo spots. A little more than an hour off my plane from the U.S., I was starving and had some time to kill, as my ride was going to be late to Shinagawa station. It is a very busy, somewhat bewildering train station. I'm a noodle fanatic, so I naturally homed in on a noodle shop. (CNN)

After a hot, humid day in Tokyo, what do you reach for first at your after-work bar of choice? As Japan breaks for a holiday weekend (July 19 is 'Marine Day'), it's a question that preoccupies liquor makers, chasing market share amid Japan's shrinking population and weak economy. How about beer? Well, beer sales have been stagnating in Japan for years, with younger customers tempted by other tastes and trends in recent years, including pre-mixed cans of traditional liquor shochu and fruit juices. Partly in recognition of that, major drinks company Suntory has injected new life into a plain old whisky brand known as "Kakubin". (Wall Street Journal)

Japan's All Nippon Airways announced it Friday it will become the first airline in the world to offer draft beer in-flight beginning Tuesday. The airline said the draft beer will cost about $11.30 per glass and 20 cups will be available on each domestic flight, except Tokyo to Okinawa flights, which will have 40 glasses, the Japan Probe reported Friday. Officials said the beer will be served using keg technology designed to compensate for air pressure problems that previously made draft beer problematic on flights. (UPI)

Japan changes the way you think about life. It's like being beamed into an alternative reality, where optimism and respect permeate life, and modernism is fused with tradition to create exciting new possibilities of how to live. I'd organised my trip in and around Kyoto and Tokyo to explore Japanese food, but found myself captivated by the latest fashion in ryokans - Japanese inns. My revelation came in the form of Miyamasou, an idyllic new ryokan high up in the Northern mountain forests of Kyoto prefecture, famed for its wild herb food. Once our bus passed what looked like a beware-of-bears-crossing-the-road sign, deep in the dark cypress woods, the driver put on Greensleeves to announce its arrival to the mountain hamlets. (guardian.co.uk)

Japan is thick with temples, shrines and cultural attractions with a unique and interesting ancient history. But beyond what you can learn about the past, modern Tokyo offers more than a few memorable experiences. You can't beat Japan for variety and quality of native cuisine. If you find yourself hungry, keep walking; you won't get very far without stumbling over something delicious or odd (and usually -- but not always -- both). From vending machines and food stalls to traditional and cutting-edge (and stratospherically expensive) restaurants, there is no shortage of options. (CNN)

The Great Heat has returned, blanketing the city, sapping our energy and, worse yet, stifling all appetite for food. There's only one solution for lifting that summer lethargy - at least if you hold with local lore: It's time to feast on that supreme summer specialty, unagi eel. Whether or not you believe in its restorative powers to combat the debilitating midsummer heat, there's no denying that kabayaki grilled eel is one of Tokyo's great plebeian pleasures. Or that there's any finer setting for indulging than at the wonderful Myojinshita Kandagawa Honten. (Japan Times)

Narita International Airport Corp. said Thursday it will provide a free Internet connection service in one of its two airport terminal buildings from July 17 when a new high-speed train service commences. After clearing immigration, passengers will be able to use five desks to access a local area network with personal computers that can connect to wireless LAN services. The new Narita Sky Access train service will reduce the journey time between central Tokyo and the airport to less than 40 minutes. (AP)

Museums in Japan are abuzz with visitors aplenty, more so than in any other nation--but they are not all solemn art lovers attempting to cultivate their tastes. Observers say the main contributing factor to booming attendances is a perception among young people that visiting museums is cool. The four most well-attended exhibitions worldwide last year were held in Japan, according to an international survey, and the number of visitors to national museums has nearly doubled over the past 10 years. The April issue of The Art Newspaper, a British monthly publication on visual arts, said Japan's love of museum exhibitions is "recession proof." The publication's survey of exhibition popularity, conducted annually and based on average daily attendance, ranked "The National Treasure Ashura and Masterpieces from Kofuku-ji" exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum as the most popular in the world last year, attracting 15,960 visitors per day. (Yomiuri)

Want to get away from it all? Then why not fly 2,000 km toward the Equator from Tokyo to Ishigaki, the main island of the southerly Yaeyama group in Okinawa Prefecture. And once there, then treat yourself to a stay at Club Med Kabira Beach, where you can do almost anything you want - or nothing at all. From the airport, a hotel car makes a leisurely 40-minute drive along roads lined with palm trees and flowers to the resort in Kabira, which is known for its bay that's classed as one of the 100 most beautiful scenic spots in Japan. (Japan Times)

It is a comfort food to which millions turn when in need of a carbohydrate fix. It has inspired popular manga titles and films, and expert reviews of closely guarded recipes adorn countless magazines, books and blogs. Michelin may have declared Tokyo the greatest food city on earth last year, but you won't find a single etoile above the entrances to the thousands of restaurants serving Japan's de facto national dish: ramen. The noodle-broth combination, usually topped with vegetables, a hardboiled egg and chashu pork, originates from China but became a source of sustenance in postwar Japan. These days it is the food of the time-poor office worker, the student who demands satiation for their meagre yen, and, increasingly, for foreign visitors eager to forage deeper into Japan's culinary treasury - and all for about 700 yen a bowl. The Japanese archipelago has inspired myriad variations, from the spindly noodles in miso broth in Hokkaido in the north, to a thicker version immersed in a pork-based soup in Kyushu in the south-west. (guardian.co.uk)

Outside a major department store in Tokyo, dozens of gamers are scattered inside a cordoned off barrier, heads buried in their Nintendo DS handheld games consoles. Oblivious to the pedestrian chaos around them, they come daily to battle each other and trade rare items over Wi-Fi in one of Japan's most popular video games, Dragon Quest. Just metres away, swarms of nubile young ladies dressed in maid outfits beckon passers-by into a plethora of "maid cafes", while a cutesy girl dressed in a miniskirt police uniform hands out flyers for a new massage parlour, Action! Akiba Fumimomi Police. Stressed workers can come to escape the daily grind while lying in the laps of one of these costumed beauties, submitting to anything from "basic punishment" to "jail sentence". (Sydney Morning Herald)

The floor's sticky, the paint's peeling from the walls, and when your meal arrives there's a greasy thumbprint on the plate. But don't worry - the food at this restaurant lives up to its three stars. No, not from Michelin. These stars are awarded by Japan's latest hit TV show, "Kitanachelin," in which Tokyo's cheapest, filthiest, but most delicious eateries are visited and rated by a bunch of comics and TV stars dressed in evening wear more suitable for dinner at The Ritz. The title combines the Japanese word for dirty (kitanai) with the name of the hallowed French foodie guide, which launched a Tokyo edition in 2007. (Wall Street Journal)

Barely an hour north of Tokyo by road or rail, Ibaraki Prefecture is a place few people may consider for a day trip or an overnighter. But with its wealth of history and natural appeals, it's surely time it took its rightful place on the traveler's map. Lake Kasumigaura, with a surface area of 220 sq. km and a 252-km shoreline, is Japan's largest lake after Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, near Kyoto (674 sq. km). The greatest attraction of the lake, besides the sport fishing it offers for alien species such as channel catfish and large-mouth bass, are its hobiki-sen trawlers with their gorgeous and unusual sails. (Japan Times)

A mong the highlights of any visit to Ibaraki Prefecture could well be Kita-Ibaraki in its far northeast - specifically the towns of Otsu-ko and Hirakata-ko, which offer perhaps the best opportunity in the nation to sample the great winter seafood delicacy of anko (anglerfish). Otsu-ko can be reached in around 2 hours from Ueno Station in Tokyo by taking the Hitachi Express train to Mito (about a 60-minute trip), then changing to the JR Joban Line for another hour's ride. (Japan Times)

Visitors to Japan who are looking for an old-style town with traditional houses, stores and streets should head for Obuse in Nagano prefecture. Obuse is a cozy community known for its delicious chestnuts and as the home of Hokusai, the famous painter and printmaker from Japan's Edo period. About 150 miles north of Tokyo, the settlement of 12,000 sits in the northeast of Nagano Basin, nestled on the Chikuma River and surrounded by hills. Enhancing Obuse's charm are its gardens. Walking the narrow streets, visitors will see signs in front of houses here and there that say "Open Garden," welcoming tourists to enter the properties and enjoy viewing the unique greenery and flowers. So far, 104 homeowners with gardens have registered for this project. (stripes.com)

The tuna auction at Tokyo's popular Tsukiji fish market reopened Monday to the public with new restrictions following a monthlong ban leveled after tourists obstructed business. Shortly after tourists started entering early in the morning, the new limit of 140 was reached. Several other people were turned away. The lucky ones who got in were orderly and there were no disruptions, Tsukiji official Yoshiaki Takagi said. (Japan Times)

The cherry blossom season in Japan is almost over. Some can still be spotted in the north, because of this year's unusually cold winter but in Tokyo, they're all gone, except for some very special blooms that will stay on till early May. These cherry blossoms are unusual, even for Japan. They have multi-layered petals and are collectively known as Goshiki Zakura, or five-coloured cherry blossoms. 37 varieties grow in this public park run by Adachi City in Tokyo and produce buds at different times, within a one-month period. (Channel NewsAsia)

Tokyo's Haneda airport and Japan Airlines topped the on-time arrival lists for airports and airlines in 2009, according to a recently released report by U.S.-based information services company Conducive Technology Corp. According to the report covering 48 airports and 40 airlines, 90.78 percent of passengers traveling to Haneda airport and 90.95 percent of flights operated by JAL arrived no more than 15 minutes later than scheduled. (AP)

Japan on ¥1,000 a day? It's certainly possible by cycling and camping on this Okinawan isle Thinking that Japan is too expensive for them, many budget travelers eschew this archipelago for Southeast Asia. But with a mountain bike and a tent, it's quite possible to travel in Okinawa on ¥1,000 a day - and enjoy it - especially on Zamami Island. To pull off this 21st-century pleasure coup, I simply rolled up with my bike at Haneda Airport in central Tokyo and paid Skymark Airlines an extra ¥1,000 to transport my bagged-up vehicle to Naha along with myself. Then, while others were waiting for trains and taxis at the airport there, I simply reassembled the bike and pedaled off across town to the Tomari ferry terminal. (Japan Times)

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to limit the number of visitors to the tuna auction at Tsukiji fish market to 140 a day, according to sources. The new rule will take effect on May 10 after the Golden Week holiday season, the sources said. In recent years, the number of foreign tourists visiting the early morning tuna auction has soared. Accordingly, the number of incidents in which visitors have touched fish and caused a nuisance to market traders has also increased. (Yomiuri)

Seibu Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it will close the 55-year-old Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, known as "Akasaka Prince" or "Aka Pri," in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward at the end of next March due to the aging of its facilities, which require massive renovation. After it is closed, the facilities including the 40-story building designed by the late architect Kenzo Tange will be demolished but an old building with historic value will be preserved. (AP)

After exploring the finest eateries of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, the Michelin Guide has set its sights on three more Japanese cities, publishers of the French food guide said Thursday. Yokohama and Kamakura, both south of the capital, will be added to the 2011 edition of the Michelin Guide Tokyo to be released in November, while Kobe will be added to the Kyoto-Osaka guide. Michelin last year anointed Tokyo as the world capital of three-star restaurants, scoring 11 such prizes in the 2010 edition, against 10 in Paris. (AFP)