Some more interesting Japan stuff I’ve bookmarked, starting with OMG OMG Suica themed hotel room! There’s a whole blog post at Uramayu with tons of photos of all the details and free gifts. It all looks amazing – I would love to stay there! (Photo by Uramayu)
I found that via RocketNews24 who have a run-down of 21 themed Japanese hotel rooms including Pokemon, Miffy, Hello Kitty, Ueno Zoo pandas and lots of anime.
Adventures After Hours has a great round-up of Cute, Crazy & Incredibly Useful Kawaii Japanese iPhone Apps including photo apps, games and calendars.
Jollygoo posted a guide to her favourite coffee shops in Tokyo, if you want some insider tips.
Die Kirschblütenfee and husband did the maiko and samurai makeovers in Kyoto and Leonie has loads of details and photos. I’ve never really fancied doing this, but there’s plenty information here on the good and bad parts if you’ve been thinking about it.
Tokyo Craft Guide previewed the Handmade in Japan Festival that took place recently. Looks like a fun alternative to the Design Festa if you’re in Japan while the next one’s on.
I’m always looking for reasons to go to Nagoya (so I can visit the bunny cafe!) but the SCMaglev and Railway Park looks well worth a visit either way. It’s basically a railway museum, but it also has a Shinkansen driving simulator and the largest diorama in Japan! (via Muza-chan)
Did anyone else see the documentary about Shinjuku station on Channel 5 recently? It’s disappeared off their website (and who knew Channel 5 had an online player?) but it’s worth a watch if it comes on again. It’s a bit sensationalist being THE WORLD’S BUSIEST STATION and apparently prone to every natural and human disaster ever in a 24 hour period, but there was some interesting stuff too (including the staff that sleep in their own little station bedroom!) and lots of Tokyo feels. Total lack of Suica penguin though.
And finally, if you have a spare hour how about maybe you travel the entire length of Japan? RocketNews24 have a set of 5 videos that some enterprising folk created out of Google Street View data so you can drive your way from Hokkaido to Kyushu. It’s mostly motorways but there’s some lovely views at the coast either end and surely there must be a few glimpses of Fuji-san along the way. Let me know if you watch it all the way through!
