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Japan can be a melting pot of choices for anyone, no matter what interests they have in terms of passion and hobbies. For the anime fan, visiting the East Asian country and legendary places like Akihabara is just like going to heaven. There are hundreds of toys and figures that a collector would find it a dream to be found with. However, one might not notice a nice attraction located in a small town just minutes away from the busy heart of Japan. The quiet town of Mitaka is home to a museum that was erected by the legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki. The Ghibli Museum is a place that any true fan of the genre must go to.

Created with the image of the original Ghibli studios in mind, the museum also contains numerous memorabilia that one might recognize from the movies. Well known throughout the world with anime fans, films like My Neighbor Totoro spawned many copycats and disciples within the genre. The success generated by the films have led to Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki being crowned one of Japan's cultural icons in the industry. With the museum, everyone would be able to understand and experience why this is so.

The attraction has gained immense popularity since its inception. This initially led to large crowds descending in hordes and it was more than the museum could handle. Unusually for such an establishment, the management decided to make it harder for anyone getting tickets to the Ghibli Museum, in an effort to curb the crowds. It also prevented the exhibits from getting worn out or abused due to too many visitors within a short period of time. It was also a move that initiated regular maintenance in order to keep things fresh for visiting fans.

Upon entering the museum, anyone will be swept aside by feelings of awe and wonderment. If there is one place or thing that could convince anyone of the magic that exists in cartoons or animated films, it would be the Ghibli Museum. The exhibits are pure technical genius that have science, mathematics and creativity all blended into one. Those who would like to experience a studio for an animation artists can head straight to the second floor of the museum. One will be pampered by the great number of options in the two souvenir shops that the museum houses.

Despite the restrictions placed on the number of daily visitors, not many people are put off from making the journey to the town of Mitaka for the museum. Many fans do not take for granted that they have plenty of time to make the trip anytime. It is also one of the most recommended places to stop by for anyone visiting Japan, especially within the city of Tokyo. Going on a Ghibli Museum day tour definitely provides one of the highlights for many a traveler who made the effort to venture there. Even if one were not a fan of the culture, it can still provide plenty of thrills and spills in every way.

“We may simply have lost our appreciation of hand-crafted goods.” Igarashi san has been making chochin paper lanterns in his little shop for his whole life. His father too, and his grandfatherand great grandfather and even great, great grandfather. The tools & hardware that surround him today, in reality, have outlasted his ancestors, their wooden surfaces worn smooth with age. Since the start of the Meiji age ( 1868 – 1912 ) Kanazawa citizens have been buying Igarashi chochin from the store, in the guts of old Kanazawa’s merchant district, close to the back of the castle. The shelves are stacked high with superbly decorated lanterns – vibrant bursts of colour peppering the dusty confines of the small workshop.

Chochin lanterns have a reasonably long history in Japan – there is evidence of them being used in churches in the 10th century – and were used primarily as a transportable method of lighting. Only often used within, they typically hung outside a house, temple or business or else in the entrance, prepared to be postponed on a pole and carried before anyone going out at night. Igarashi-san reckons that at a previous point they were so generally used there would have been around forty or fifty chochin shops just in Kanazawa. Today there remain only himself and one other local craftsman in the trade and the other fellow (Matsuda-san) has long since diversified, making standard umbrellas his mainstay.

Making a chochin is a fiddly, fairly delicate procedure despite the attractively the attractively straightforward appearance of the end result. And, when asked what are the most important qualities in his profession Igarashi-san replies, his bright eyes dead serious, “patience and concentration.” The average sized lantern according to Igarashi-san, at about 30 cm across, can be produced at a rate of roughly 2 a day by one man including the majority of the painting. However some actually huge ones have left the Igarashi shop over time – his largest was a matsuri monster measuring five shaku ( one shaku = 30.3cm in the old Eastern measuring system ) in diameter with a complicated year of the rabbit design on it. The old lantern maker is realistic about the fact that people want cheaper, mass-produced, plastic covered lanterns these days – he even sells them himself – but he is assured in the certainty that a well-made paper lantern is a nice thing, superior in several paths to these garish modern impostors.

“You can repair a good chochin,” he tells us, “you can replace one rib or fix a hole in the paper no problem.” “Plastic lanterns have no internal frame and can not be patched.” A paper lantern regardless of how well made lasts only about a year ( natural beauty is always fleeting ) while a plastic one might last twice that and cost half as much. On top of that, we as a society may have simply lost our appreciation for handmade products. Price has become our main motivation as purchasers. We do not care to know how things were made nowadays, or who made them, or else Igarashisan would be the prosperous head of a chain of shops.

The walls of the Igarashi Chochinya and his ready-to-hand scrapbook sport countless monochrome pictures and press clippings showing a proud, broad-shouldered young man with robust, thick arms and a fetching grin showing off stylish paper spheres with matsuri lights glimmering in the background. Modestly showing us them, his warm, friendly smile only slips slightly as he tells us that he’s going to be the last of his folks line making lanterns here.

How would you like to see the top 100 wonders in the world? Visit famouswonders.com and browse through the top destinations in the world and be sure to check out Fuji mountain.

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Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in East Asia with her many attractions and sights of nature such as park, lakes, majestic mountains and quiet countrysides. They provide both an urban charm and natural seductiveness, and nothing illustrates this best than the parks in Japan. There are many that are tucked within cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, while others can only be reached when one goes to the countryside or relatively rural areas.

Most tourists to the country will always include a visit to the national parks as a must-do item on their travel itinerary. As we all face the pressures of the modern world, it is a simple but pleasurable experience to travel to faraway destinations that allow us to escape from that if only for a moment. What could be better to provide that than visiting the many amazing gardens and park in Japan that symbolize a fusion of both the East and West?

There are a total of 29 national parks in Japan which occupy more than five per cent of the total land area in the country. While locals are an ever present in terms of visitors, there is an increasing number of foreign tourists who are eager to have a taste of what the nature of Japan has to offer. Many have regarded the Shiretoko, Nikko and Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Parks as the most popular ones in Japan.

Nikko city is the town that leads one to the National Park, and it has a surprisingly small population. However, visitors arrive non-stop to see for themselves the scenic beauty of the area. From the serene and tranquil Lake Chuzenji to the majestic Mount Nantai, the park reaches far and wide over a total of four prefectures. Even visitors on a budget Nikko National Park day tour would be able to enjoy other highlights that include the large Kegon waterfall as well as the Toshogu shrine that has become a recognizable landmark for the city itself.

Mount Fuji can safely be said to be the one sight that everyone associates most often with Japan. However, the area in which it is found has an understated elegance of its own - the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. It is even larger in size compared to the park in Nikko, especially when one considers that it borders Mount Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes, amongst many others. Even tiny islets are included within the region, illustrating perfectly why it is often regarded as the biggest park in Japan.

Perhaps one of the most understated parks in Japan is Shiretoko National Park. It is a true natural haven untouched in the most part by civilization or commercialization. In fact, there is no way one can get there on wheels. There is much to see in terms of wildlife that might not be possible in other parts of Japan. The Shiretoko National Park also has a huge variety of flora and fauna, prompting UNESCO to designate the area as a World Heritage Site and it is a source of pride for the advanced industrial country.

Whether it be an adventure to the wilderness in Shiretoko, an experience with national symbols in Fuji-Hakone-Izu or visiting Nikko National Park on a tour package, Japan’s national parks have so much to offer for the eager and willing traveler. One will never cease to be amazed by a country that has an advanced and modern metropolis in its city centre of Tokyo, while surrounded by such extensive and beautiful nature.