Download your free printable 2009 Japan Calendar from The Nihon Sun. It’s a small way of wishing you and yours a happy holiday season and a great year to come!
Put one on your desk and give it as a gift to those who love Japan. The Nihon Sun 2009 Printable Japan Calendar will allow you and your friends to ponder a new image of Japan each month in 2009.

Hotei is one of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukjin) and is the closest thing that the country has to Santa.   Hotei is know of as the God of Happiness, or more commonly the Laughing Buddha, and like Santa, he is magnanimous and known to be generous with the gifts that he carries slung over his [...]

Ishikawa, Nagano and Niigata Prefectures are just three of the nine prefectures that make up the Chubu region of Japan and are the subject of A Closer Look at Chubu Part 2.  Last week we took a closer look at Aichi, Fukui & Gifu Prefectures and Shizuoka, Toyama, and Yamanashi will round out our closer [...]

The Chubu region of Japan lies in the center the country’s main island, Honshu, and has coasts on both the Pacific Ocean and the Japan Sea.  The region is home to more than 21 million people and is made up of nine prefectures.  Due to the size of the region, the Closer Look at the [...]

Tohoku is Japanese for “northeast” and the region occupies the northern area of honshu, Japan’s main island.  Hokkaido is Tohoku’s neighbor to the north, while Chubu lies to the southeast and Kanto to the southwest.  Six prefectures (provinces or states) make up the the Tohoku region: Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.  Part 1 [...]

The Nihon Sun recently highlighted the tourism websites of the various regions of Japan in the article “Traveling to Japan? Look Beyond The Usual” and we will follow that with a series that will provide more travel planning resources and information about each of the eight regions.  The series will be called Japan: A Closer [...]

This past weekend my husband and I made the almost two hour trip from Chiba Prefecture to Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture.  Nicknamed “Little Edo” this town is famous for it’s traditional architecture and a quaint old fashioned atmosphere.  We spent an enjoyable afternoon wandering about the town and ended up at Kitain Temple where 540 [...]

As my husband and I begin preparing for a brief winter break from Japan the subject of souvenirs and holiday gifts have been the topic of many a conversation.  Although many of our friends and family are fascinated, and even a little envious, of the opportunity that we have been given to live in Japan [...]

No matter where you are, or what you think about Japan, one thing can be said with certainty – people are watching Japan – they want to understand it and they want to emulate the best it has to offer. Today it is fashionable to pick up sushi at a 7-11 in California, to read [...]

From the Karakuri doll to an eco-friendly robot that improves the efficiency of today’s assembly lines and factories and from the Makyoh or "Magic Mirror" that protected Christians from persecution to a machine that ensures the quality of today’s silicon chips.  These are just two examples of modern technology based on ancient art forms perfected [...]