I visited Kyoto last week and bought an illustrated local map. It cost 324 yen ($2.95 €2.72). It is fun to see it. Unfortunately other language versions are not available.

I visited National Institute of Genetics in Mishima city, Shizuoka prefecture. Today, the institute is open to the public, and anyone can visit the institute without any charge. The institute is open to the public once a year, usually the …

I made a pilgrimage to visit "Tokai shichifukujin seven deities of good fortune" with my local community members. Tokai shichifukujin are stamp places for pilgrims to visit seven deities of good fortune, which consist of seven temples and …

Japanese people set up New Year's decorations at the gate or on the door. Those were originally for welcoming local gods. A common decoration costs 1800 yen ($17.31 €12.68). I bought a cheap one as usual at Seiyu. It cost 498 yen ($4.79 €3…

There is a custom to send New Year's greeting cards one another in Japan. The card is delivered from January 1st to January 7th. Japan Post sells dedicated postcards for it. It costs 50 yen ($0.48 €0.35) per one card. It is not necessary t…

My friend donated money to his local community at the summer festival. Its amount was 15,000 yen ($153.06 €115.38). His family runs their own business. In this case the amount of money is higher than a common resident. The community manage…

At our summer festival, we carry our portable shrines through streets in the community. In the morning from 9 to 11, the smaller portable shrine is carried by kids. There is also the drum car which is pulled by kids. Adults carry the stand…

My son attended his kindergarten class reunion held at the kindergarten today. Its participation fee was 800 yen ($8.00 €6.15). He left the kindergarten 6 years ago. After 6 years, half of kids got reunion. Kindergarten teachers also atten…

I went to Yushukan museum with my son. Its admission fee is 800 yen ($8.00 €6.15). It is free charge for elementary school kids. Yushukan museum displays things related Japanese soldiers, for instance, - many portraits of soldiers who died…

When we visit a shrine, we donate changes to the shrine, dropping changes into a money collecting box. Today my son offered 20 yen ($0.20 €0.16) to a shrine. Black box between poles is the money collecting box. There are thieves stealing t…

Generally we have our family's grave (tomb) in a temple yard. When a common Japanese died, s/he was burned and only bones were kept in the grave. Family's grave is shared from ancestors to descendants. There are several members' bones are …

My uncle died this year at age 100. I attended his funeral and gave condolence money to his bereaved family. I put 5000 yen ($51.55 € 39.37) into a specific envelope and I hand it over to the receptionist. This is a special envelope. The a…

Japan Atlas costs 29000 yen ($311.83 €243.70). I can not afford such an expensive map, so I bought a second hand map at a second hand shop "Book-off". It cost only 500 yen ($5.38 €4.20), but it was an older version and it is not as impress…

March 3rd is the day of Girls' festival. We celebrate it with displaying "Hina dolls" to wish our daughters good fortune. My family bought Hina dolls for 100,000 yen ($1,075.27 €806.45). My friend bought more expensive ones for 400,000 yen…

Weekly newspaper for kids costs 500 yen ($5.38 € 4.03) per month. Every Thursday this 20 page newspaper is delivered to my house. Its target audience is probably 7 years-old to 12 years-old kids. If you want to know something, ask me pleas…