Japanese whisky, Yamazaki, is well-known around the world. Especially, “Yamazaki 55 year old” is known as a rare and most valuable Japanese whisky. 100 bottles of Yamazaki 55 were sold on June 30, 2020 for $31,000 USD each. They were sold by lottery, and only to residents of Japan. Furthermore applicants were required to write three essays to discourage people from buying a bottle only to resell it. Still, more than 200,000 people applied. Later in 2020 one of these bottles was sold in Hong Kong by auction by one of those 100 lottery winners for about $800,000 USD and another one was sold in NY by another auction for $600,000 USD in 2022.
There is a temple in Kyoto called Yanagidani Kannon Yōkokuji (柳谷観音楊谷寺) that started decorating chōzuya with flowers and leaves from their garden in 2018-2019. They called this Hana chōzu. Since the COVID19, many shrines and temples in Japan prohibited the use of chōzuya, but some places also took up the idea of hana chōzu, and started to decorate their chōzuya. Nowadays Hana chōzu have become very popular. It is definitely a tool to bring people to their shine or temple.
Chōzuya is a hand and mouth cleansing spot in a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple. Usually it is placed near the entrance. Due to the COVID pandemic, it may be still off-limits depending on the shrine or temple. A chōzuya is a place to purify yourself and we use it prior to visiting the main hall to pray to a God or Buddha.
The government in Japan has decided to lower the age for becoming an adult. Currently the age is 20, but starting 4/1/22 it will be 18. However, there are still some things that you are not allowed to do until you are 20, so the law will be a bit confusing. You still must be 20 to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, gamble, etc. But now at 18 you will be allowed to sign a legal contract for housing, opening a credit card, purchasing a mobile phone, etc. without your parents’ agreement. Until now men had to be 20 and women 16 to get married, but now that age will change to 18 for both men and women. Another change will mean bad news for young people who hold dual citizenship. Currently you have until age 22 to decide if you want to keep your Japanese nationality, but starting 4/1/22 you will have to decide this by age 20. Lastly, what will happen to the coming-of-age ceremony? It seems like it will depend on the area you live in. Some areas are thinking about changing the name “coming of age” to “20-year-old gathering”.
Temples are for Buddhism, whereas Shintō shrines honor Shintō deity. Japanese people often say that you can make a wish at a shrine but not at a temple. Actually, strictly speaking, it depends on the temple’s denomination. For example, temples of the Jodo‐shin and Zen Buddhist sects are not places where you go to make a wish, but there are many other Buddhist sects where making a wish is fine. In fact, many esoteric Buddhist temples will offer up special prayer ceremonies for you just as Shinto shrines do. The most popular shrines and temples for hatsumōde (please click here for details) in the Tokyo area are 1. the Meiji Shrine, 2. the Narita-san Temple, and 3. the Kawasaki-Daishi Temple.
Hatsumōde is your first visit to a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine in the New Year. You generally wish for health and good fortune in the new year, buy new omamori (charms or amulets), and return old ones so they can be burned.
The beautiful Tokyo Tower was designed by Tachū Naitō (1886 – 1970). Tachū Naitō is well-known for designing earthquake-resistant structures. When the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923, both the Industrial Bank of Japan building and the Kabuki theater building survived, whereas many other buildings around them were destroyed. Tachū Naitō was the one who designed both of these buildings.
In 1885 Shibuya Station was only on the Yamanote Line, and had an average of 34 users per day. At that time Shibuya was more of a rural area and survived through the Great Kanto Earthquake 1923 when the downtown area was destroyed. But later many people moved their businesses to Shibuya and more subway lines were added to the station. There was no central plan however, and more train lines were just added one at a time in a disorderly fashion as the area became more and more popular. As a result the Shibuya Station became a colossal labyrinth that had insufficient earthquake resistance and flooding issues. Finally in 2006 the government decided to rebuild the station to make it safer and less confusing and ever since then they have been remodeling it without closing down the entire station. In order to do this workers have to practice their techniques at a simulated location so that they can minimize construction time on the actual worksite. The Shibuya Station upgrade is supposed to finish in 2027.
The number of railway lines in Tokyo is the highest in the world. There are 42 Japan Railway lines, 91 private lines and 15 subway lines in Tokyo. The average number of riders is forty million per day, and there are 655 train stations in Tokyo. Wow! . It is also known as the most punctual system in the world. They make an announcement and apologize even when they are running behind their schedule by only 20 seconds.
Chika 
