travel to japan
January 2nd-5th – For the best New Year bargain sales (Hatsuri) in all of Japan, Sendai is the place to be. People travel to Sendai from all over Japan to buy what is called fukubukuro (bags with presents inside). You won’t find deals better than these anywhere else in Japan. Thousands of people line up in the early hours of the morning to rush into the department stores. The best bargains are usually gone by the midday of the first day so it pays to be in early. Items on sale range from clothes and souviners to cars and houses! Anything left over usually stays on special for two weeks.

Held mid to late Autumn Sendai’s Yosakoi Festival is popular among Japan’s youth. Old meets new in a combination of loud beats and traditional dance movements. It apparently originated in Shikoku but I haven’t seen it anywhere else as yet. I like the Japan hotels.

In Japan, you can no longer ring overseas on grey telephones, which are now domestic only. You can use green IC phones. Unfortunately, I couldnt find any IC phonecards and many of these phones do not take coins. I bought two domestic phonecards by mistake but could not use then for overseas calls. It’s now very frustrating if you want to ring overseas from payphones!