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Bonsai is an art of growing trees and plants in pots by keeping them small and creating an aesthetic shape and an illusion of age, while many bonsai trees are quite old and simply show their age in a miniature form. The roots of the bonsai art date as far back to the ancient Egypt, as the sketches of small trees, grown in pots of approximately four thousand years old, occur in Egyptian tombs. The contemporary art of bonsai originates from Chinese similar art Penzai and was brought to Japan by imperial embassies in the period of the 7th - 9th century.

Booking flight tickets online is the easiest and the most convenient method today, if only you know what search engines to use and what particular airlines to choose. The idea is that Internet resources and offers, concerning flights and tickets, are so abundant that it will take you no less than a month to examine each offer carefully. Therefore, certain knowledge of the major airlines and the best on-line ticket agencies, serving a particular destination, like Japan in our case, is quite helpful here.

Today, when many international restrictions and laws are the past, Japan offers tourists opportunities to spend unforgettable vacations, learning its unique culture and traditions and exploring captivating sites of the largest cities. Perhaps, when planning your travel to Japan, you have already defined the places and cities to visit. However, your visit to Japan will be incomplete if you do not include the city of Hakata into the list of your major Japan destinations.

Japanese love and comprehension of the nature is fascinating. The fascination and almost the intrigue start with such arts as bonsai and ikebana and, perhaps, do not end with the Japanese garden design and plants. Japanese skillfully interfere with the nature, though you will never notice any distortion; they create miniature copies of a huge natural oasis, but you will never say that these are human creations; their imagination has no boarders and it will never stop its development.

Most bonsai are not indoor plants and if kept indoors, they will most likely die. Certain trees, particularly tropical, will flourish if kept indoors, while those, based on outdoor shrubs or trees (like conifers, maples, larch, etc), require a cold dormant period during which they store energy for a spring growth. These outdoor trees must be protected from wind and drying effects in the winter, though must be kept cold and in a generally darker environment. Hobbyists and artists often use in-ground cold frames, unheated garages, porches and the like for this particular aim.

A Japan vacation is not only a tour of its wonderful attractions and acquaintance with one of the most intriguing cultures in the world; it is also an opportunity to become acquainted with hospitable, friendly and inventive Japanese people. The hospitability of the Japanese does not lie only in their politeness, but also in the way they welcome their guests. The tourists are offered the best services, the best offers and the best accommodation in the finest world's hotels.

We love flowers, the Japanese understand them; we know some of their meanings, but in general do not pay attention to these meanings; the Japanese create bouquets that are supposed to send a message or evoke an idea. Hence, we appreciate flowers for their aesthetic appearance and flagrant aroma; the Japanese see them deeper and appreciate them according to the essence they carry. The Japanese ancient art of ikebana reflects the magnificence of the nature and its display.

The Japanese bathing culture gives rise to many stories, legends and misconceptions. There is one that men and women bathe together, which is definitely wrong. The other stories, describing the Japanese bathing as an entirely different phenomenon than that of the Western culture, are quite right. The Japanese bathing has a more religious background and a clean body means a clear soul. Many Japanese devote at least half an hour daily to bathing and Japanese baths have many varieties, including hot spring baths, open air baths, steam baths, mud baths, 'baths', where you are buried in hot sand, and waterfall baths (a bath and a massage in one).

Sakura is a name for a cherry blossom in the Japanese language. It is an unofficial national flower of Japan and, perhaps, the most beloved flower among the Japanese. Cherry blossoms are often depicted in art and are associated with samurai and kamikaze. There are folk and popular songs, entitled "sakura", and sakura is often represented on various kinds of consumer goods, including kimono, dishware and stationary. The cherry blossoms are symbols of a promising future and the Japanese associate them with purity, melancholy and transience.

Since the Japanese archipelago is located in an area where several continental and oceanic meet, there are frequent earthquakes and many volcanoes and hot springs across Japan. If earthquakes occur below or near the ocean, they might trigger tidal waves or a tsunami. Many of us, who live in tectonically quiet regions, would consider it strange to keep a survival kit for the case of emergency. However, every household in Japan does so.

Hokkaido is the second largest island of Japan. Although it is quite cold in winter here, Hokkaido stands for the best and an outstanding island in Japan. Its unspoiled nature and land resources, amazing national parks and reserves, hot spring resorts and stunning snow festivals make the island attractive for both: foreigners and inhabitants of other islands of Japan.

Obviously, a developed highway communication in Japan appeared in the early years of the 17th century, when Japan was united under the feudal government of the Tokugawa family that had its residence in Edo, five hundred kilometers east and north of the capital region around Kyoto. The Japanese had to establish a communication system that would allow moving quickly and efficiently messages and messengers, diplomatic missions, spies and important goods to and from Edo. They built five highways at that time among which the Tokaido remains the most famous, while the Nakasendo still keeps its original form of the road right from the seventeenth century.

The Japanese love bathing and they love not only common bathing in an indoor tub. Outdoor baths are perhaps even more popular and revitalizing. Hot springs, or onsen, hot water bubbling from underground are the results of numerous volcanoes in Japan, many of which are still alive. In 1990, there were about two thousand and three hundred hot springs in Japan and this number is increasing annually. Hot springs are twenty five degrees or hotter and full of sulphur, calcium, sodium and other minerals, the water of which is efficacious against a high blood pressure, rheumatism, diabetes and other illnesses. In fact, the medical effects of hot springs are known from the 8th century.

Japanese martial arts are objects of admiration, a constant research and studies in the whole world. One of them, Jiu jitsu, is a Japanese martial art, a sport and a philosophy. If to define Jiu jitsu narrower, it is an "unarmed" combat system, used to defeat or control an enemy, who is similarly unarmed. However, the techniques and tactics of Jiu jitsu are so much developed that it is also often described as an "unarmed" combat system, used to defeat and control the enemy, who is oppositely armed.

A flower arrangement or the ikebana art, practiced in Japan, is far more different from Western bouquet compositions. There is a number of schools in Japan, which learn and teach ikebana, where each follows its own ancient trends and traditions of the ikebana design. Therefore, there are differences in flower arrangements according to this or that school proclamations. However, there are certain principles that the majority of schools follow.

Japan is a motherland to many martial arts and an adapter and innovator of many foreign combat systems, many of which are of Chinese origin. Today, these arts are spread all over the world and are popular sports, as well as profitable career paths. Furthermore, Japanese combat systems develop the practitioners' body and mind, their self-belief and ability to defend themselves and their near ones.

The most known and seducing to the Westerners part of the Japanese fashion is the Japanese street fashion. It is represented in a multitude of Japanese street fashion magazines, such as ViVi, NONNO, CanCan, Elle, Ray and JJ, and the main feature of this Japanese fashion, meant only for "walking in the street", is to create a total look of completeness. A young girl or a man, dressed according to the Japanese street fashion, looks chic from head to foot with each particular detail, complementing to the look of another.

Japan is not only the country with an intriguing art and culture, but it is also the state of genius technologies. The Japanese auto industry annually impresses the world with new inventions and achievements. Japanese vehicles are ones of the world's most widespread, most demanded and the cheapest in addition. To say that Japanese vehicles are excellent is to say nothing about them.

During the period from the 1950's and to the 1980's, the Japanese auto industry boomed one of the world's leading auto manufacturing countries. Although today the Japanese see the slow down in their auto industry, they still continue to produce quality cars at considerably affordable prices that continuously place an increasing pressure upon American manufacturers to achieve the Japanese standards.

Visiting Japan can be enjoyable in every season of the year if you are not afraid of a nasty weather that we sometimes have in any part of our planet. The Japanese distinguish the period of a nasty weather, rains and typhoons as a separate rainy season, additional to the common four seasons of the year. For all that, Japan is a temperate region with an average temperature 30°C for the summer time and 4.7°C for the winter.

For many people Enka means nothing except the combination of sounds. We are not familiar with either a term or a phenomenon it is used to denote. Nevertheless, you will enlarge considerably your knowledge of Japanese music and culture if you get acquainted with Enka and its performers and diversify your home music collection if you download or purchase some Enka compositions.

Kyoto, located in the Kansai region of Japan, is the country's seventh largest city, with a population of one point four million people. The city is home to nearly one quarter of Japan's national treasures, countless shrines and temples, and UNESCO recognizes seventeen sites of Kyoto as World Heritage Sites. Japan's capital city and the emperor's residence from 794 to 1868, Kyoto, is known throughout the world for its dazzling beauty and ancient charm. The Kyoto Imperial Palace is one of Kyoto's most impressive sites.

From 794 to 1868 Kyoto was Japan's capital city and the emperor's residence. Today the city stores an ancient beauty of the Imperial Palace, majestic temples and magnificent statues, and takes care of blooming, once upon the time belonging to the emperors, gardens and parks. The combination of modern comforts and old traditions makes Kyoto a perfect destination for visitors, who want to explore a millennium history of Japan.

It takes time to understand Japanese art. Whether you admire Japanese ikebana or listen to Japanese music, they can appear either strange or too much intricate until you know what each aspect of this particular art reflects. Although Japan is considered to assimilate many foreign cultures, their own arts bear neither resemblance nor imitation of the origins, since these cultures have acquired new forms and ideas in the Japanese rearrangement.

For many centuries singing and dancing were the only entertainment at Japanese parties, celebrations and festivals. Hence, many traditional Japanese dances are still popular in Japan along with modern Western style forms and a ballet. Numerous Western schools in Japan cover a classical ballet, avant-garde styles, a jazz-dance and a modern dance, while during the festivals, people dance their national Bon dance or So-ran Bushi.

Japan is the world's second largest economy that impresses scientists and economists of the world and gives rise to numerous researches of its methods and tactics to achieve such a considerable economic growth. The Japanese society is known in the world for accomplishing an astonishing economic growth in the post-war period and the more astounding fact is that the country, subjected to regular natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunami, taking many human lives and large expenses, is capable of restoring its economic resources at such a fast rate.

Japan appeals much to tourists for its unique and inimitable nature. This mystic Land of the Rising Sun, consisting of volcanoes and hot springs, scattering across the country, is composed of over three million islands. As several seas and the Pacific Ocean surround Japan, a seaside landscape makes one of its most famous attractions with several seaside parks, nestling along the Japanese coastal line.

The history of Japan is captivating in its all periods, while the postwar period is of special interest for many historians and amateur readers. After World War II Japan was devastated like many countries that participated in the war. However, the country managed to rise to its full height at much faster rate than the other countries did. Consequently, in less than ten years after the war, Japan emerged as a global economic power, even more mighty than it was in the prewar period. What was happening in Japan after World War II?

Japan, the country of peculiar culture, captivating history, enchanting views and inventive people draws people from all over the world to explore fascinating Japanese miracles. The type of travel predetermines the accommodation type that can be different, depending on whether you are on a vacation, business trip or honeymoon holiday. Japanese hotels are abundant and many of them are suitable for any travel occasion, meeting the highest world standards of tourist accommodation.

Traveling by bus in Japan is an excellent alternative to a train travel for any distance. Japan's islands are covered by a dense highway network of over 7, 000 kilometers that can bring you to any close or distant destination you may choose. Long distant buses are provided with all the necessary equipment for a comfortable and enjoyable travel. Certainly, highway buses (kosoku buses) and long distant buses (chokyori basu) are slower than express trains, but they are somewhat twenty or fifty percent cheaper.

Since the late 19th century a Western-style dress has become popular among Japanese men, and since the 1920s, it has come into everyday wear among women. However, kimono, traditional Japanese clothes have not disappeared or lost its value and role in Japan's modern life. Today, kimono is not everyday clothes as it used to be until the beginning of this century, but it is traditional clothing for special occasions, such as the coming of an age ceremony (the 19th birthday of a woman) and a wedding.

Japanese capital is a huge cultural business and political center that actually is not a city as many can think, but the whole region, consisting of dozens of cities, towns and villages. As the center of all activities, Tokyo has the highest concentration of business headquarters, financial institutions, universities and colleges, and other important establishments. It is also the place to meet immigrants and tourists from all over the country and the world and the considerable percent of Tokyo's population is not native to the region. This extreme concentration of businesses, cultures and people have made Tokyo's elaborate transportation system meet the highest world standards.

The Japanese like parties and entertainment, they do not feel embarrassed to sing or dance in front of the others, and since ancient times, each party has been accompanied by someone's singing or dancing. If a singer goes out of tune, it makes a Japanese party livelier and arouses laughter. In fact, the Japanese like singing and it is unnatural for many of them only to listen to those, who sing. This is the background for the karaoke appearance and popularity.

Aichi Prefecture is Japan's leading producer of manufactured products and the heartland of many world top brands in different business spheres. Some, but a few companies, which have their headquarters in Aichi, include Toyota, Makita, DENSO, Brother and Noritake. Being a center of the world's industries, Aichi is also a maintainer of campaigns, dealing with the nature protection and the balanced coexistence with nature.

Traveling around rural Japan is an excellent option, for you can enjoy the unique Japanese nature with its huge mountains, famous hot springs and live volcanoes and at the same time do not waste large sums on the hotel accommodation. However, you should know what types of accommodation are common to the Japanese countryside so that you can define the most suitable for you. If you do not know Japanese, nobody will be able to explain these things to you, since rural inhabitants often do not speak English at all. Therefore, you should be well informed, prior your countryside trip.

The Japanese love onsen, as the Westerners enjoy a spa massage today. Many hot springs in the open air comprise ones of the major attractions in Japan, since the visitors have started to find it enjoyable to experience a traditional Japanese bathing. Many hot springs are very old and become famous for their age. The others are considered sacred and belong to the holiest springs in the country. In any case, they are worth visiting if you love Japan and want to learn more about its special nature and original culture.

Mount Fuji is the highest peak in Japan with an elevation of 3,776 meters and it is a national symbol of the country. It is located on Honshu, the largest of the Japanese islands, and on a clear day the locals can see it from Tokyo and from Yokohama. The Japanese see Fuji as a sacred mountain and it has always been and is still the destination for pilgrims. Fujiyama is a subject of many Japanese paintings and poems, singing praise to the mountain's beauty and deity.

The Mount Fuji is not only prominent as the highest and sacred mountain among the Japanese. The mountain's geology, location and activity are also of particular interest for Japanese researchers and for those, who are simply interested in the volcano origin and life cycle. Many observations have been made to provide the reliable data for Fuji's history and activity of its volcanoes.

The Hyogo prefecture is located in the Kinki region on the Honshu Island, Japan. The capital of Hyogo is Kobe, a popular tourist destination. It is one of Japan's major ports along with the ports of Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata and Tokyo. It was one of the first cities to open for trade with the West in 1868. Today, the port city has a population of over forty five thousand foreign residents from more than hundred countries and symbolizes the contact with the Western world.

Kyoto, the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, is considered a cultural center of Japan. It makes a wonder how during World War II, when the firebombing was conducted throughout the country, Kyoto and its sixteen hundred Buddhist temples, four hundred Shinto shrines, palaces, gardens and architecture were left untouched. Therefore, Kyoto stands as one of the most preserved cities in Japan.

Hundred years ago there was a tiny fishing village, consisting of hundred houses and lying in twenty nine kilometers (eighteen miles) of Tokyo. In the middle of the 19th century, the Japanese government selected this small fishing village to be opened for the international trade and it has gradually transformed into one of the most important Japanese gateways. Yokohama subsequently grew into a large and multicultural community, first assimilating Western goods and services and building the largest futuristic district in Japan.

Perhaps, World War II became for Japan an even more horrible tragedy than for the other countries that participated. Two atomic explosions turned two Japanese flourishing cities into ashes, while victims were innumerous. Even the people, who managed to survive, continue suffering from late effects to this day. Today, highly faithful Nagasaki inhabitants pray that this experience will never repeat on our planet.

The capital of the Aichi region, Nagoya is Japan's fourth-largest city after Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka. Nagoya is famous for its great industrial centers, though it is often overlooked by tourists. However, Nagoya is home to many historical sites, including Osu Kannon, Nagoya Castle, the Tokugawa art museum and Atsuta Shrines. In addition, there is a number of hotels, comfortable for the tourist accommodation, and Nagoya is easily accessible both from Tokyo and Osaka.

Nagasaki is the city of more than one thousand year-old history and a famous port of Japan. We primarily associate the city with the events of World War II, when Hiroshima and Nagasaki citizens became the first human targets ever in the world subject to atomic bombing. However, in Japan, Nagasaki is also famous as the oldest and the most influential Christian community, founded by Francis Xavier in 1550.

The Sea of Japan is a sea area, located along the northeastern part of the Asian continent. The Japanese Archipelago and Sakhalin separate it from the North Pacific Ocean. The Sea of Japan is a semi-enclosed sea with an area of nearly one million square kms, a volume of one point seven million km3, and a mean depth of one thousand three hundred and fifty meters. It is connected to the Sea of Okhotsk, the Northern Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea through four shallow straits.

There are more than eight hundred and fifty beaches along coasts, rivers and lakes across Japan that are available and good for swimming. Therefore, your vacation to Japan will be incomplete without enjoying the sun and water on one of them. Many beaches provide excellent opportunities for surfing as well, while in many coastal waters, open to the ocean, the winds build out waves almost everyday that is especially important for surfers.

Ishikawa Prefecture is located in the Chubu region on the Honshu Island, Japan. The most popular destination of Ishikawa is its capital city, Kanazawa. Kanazawa fascinates its visitors with old historical sites, cultural traditions and spectacular views of the Sea of Japan, the Japan Alps and two national parks, surrounding Kanazawa. Ishikawa capital stands as a fascinating amalgam of modern refined designs, ancient architectural monuments and unsurpassed nature in all its forms and expressions.

Perhaps, everyone has experienced the pleasure of making paper airplanes or ships in his childhood and never thought that it is the art of paper folding. In fact, you can create any object by simply folding the paper and it will be a form of art, called origami. You can make origami gifts to your friends that they will keep them as souvenirs. It is also a joy to make something together with your children.

Although Japan is world-famous for its economy, we still know little about all intricacies of this country. Travel literature primarily covers major tourist destinations, while the world is mainly speaking about Japanese vehicles and technologies. We know that Japan is a highly mountainous area and that Fujiyama is the highest mountain and a symbol of the country, but many of us do not know that there are crowds of professional and amateur hikers on these very mountains, especially during the summer months.

A today's visitor to Hiroshima can never think that once the city has been in ruins. The spectacular city with modern buildings is peaceful daily and bright on joyful events that are abundant. It welcomes tourists with a number of world-class hotels and restaurants. If only there were no the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the Peace Memorial Museum, the Memorial Cenotaph, the Flame of Peace and the Atomic bomb Dome...