Numerous witnesses claim that it was awful, the water battered Japan’s coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes and everything on its way.

The following pictures show how terrible the situation really is.

God bless and help this country!

I think it is a nice idea to solve the problem of road jams – to build new roads in the sky. Just have a look at those pictures, a road can go through the building and occupy its whole floor.

I don’t think we will ever have at least a road like this. I think my head will go round!

Iwakuni looks like an old Japan with its numerous narrow streets, old-fashioned buses, quaint shops and old houses. The city is surrounded by mountains and just one walk through the graceful Kintai Bridge charms most tourists. But our destination is an Iwakuni Castle that is situated in Kikko Park.

Kintai (Brocade Sash) Bridge is 210 meter long, and five meter wide and it draws millions of tourists every year to take pictures of such beauty. It took almost a year to build the bridge in 1673. Its main attraction looks like amazing wooden arches, what is more there are no nails or bolts in the bridge. The arches are replaced every 30 years but the technology of changing them is still the same. Kintai Bridge is amazingly illuminated at night.

Iwakuni town is nothing without a magnificent Kikko Park, that is also a home to one more natural wonder – white snakes and they can be found only in Iwakuni. The reconstructed Iwakuni Castle traces you back into old Japan, since it is situated at the top of a small mountain, and can be reached only foot or by cable car.

Don’t forget to enjoy traditional Japanese sushi!!!

To tell the truth, there are many kind and types of different cherry trees in Japan, and, as a rule, they bloom for just a couple of days and only in spring. The Japanese adore spending these days while enjoying hanami (cherry blossom viewing) parties held under the blooming trees. A lot of people gather together (I mean families, friends, and make big and tasty picnics, which can last till the evening.

What the Japanese hate the most, that they have to fight for the popular hanami spots, so if you want to enjoy hanami, you have to wake up early in the morning and to come to the spot, spread there your own picnic mat, then leave a note with your viewing time and name of your group. It is possible to find in the Web titles of the most popular spots.

Enjoy incredible pictures of sakura!

There is no strict and commonly approved classification of volcanoes, but I will try give a list of some most dangerous volcanoes as to their explosive history and closeness to populated locality.

• Mt Vesuvius in Italy

I think you hardly find a person hasn’t heard about Mt Vesuvius. Mount Vesuvius belongs to one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. It’s eruption cycle is more than 20 years, the last eruption occurred in 1994. Millions of people live near it. Namely eruption of this volcano destroyed Pompei in 79 AD.

• Popocatepetl in Mexico

It is the highest active volcano in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2001 its flows travelled 8 km from the volcano itself and caused glacial melting. In 1996 its eruption killed climbers.

• Merapi in Indonesia

Merapi contains active lava, that adores producing pyroclastic flows (travell 6-10 km from the volcano and velocity of the flow is 110 km/hour). Eruptions happen once in 3-5 years. This volcano is active for already 10,000 years.

• Unzen in Japan

Unzen is not a single volcano, it is a huge complex of 3 volcanoes. It is dangerous and has already taken lives of many people and destroyed 2,000 buildings.

• Galeras in Colombia

Really dangerous one with a lot of eruptions. Took lives of tourists and scientists. Galeras is a volcano complex. 

This time, the Japanese-inventors tossed a challenge to our Mother Nature. Actually, their cool beach is just a huge Ocean Dome (approximately 6 football pitches, it can house 10,000 tourists), that allows everybody to lie on the artificial beach, among artificial palm-trees and enjoy the sound of artificial tide.  The real beach is only 300 meters away and it looks really lonely, since if failed to win in this extremely stiff competition.

Ocean Dome is situated on Japan’s southernmost Kyushu Island, 1,500 kilometers south of Tokyo. It has  a 85-metre long shoreline and many many shops. There are a lot of attractions on this beach:

• the weather is always great, sunny and warm;
• lush green tropical forests without rainfalls and humidity but with parrots songs;
• nice, white beach with crushed marble pebbles without any bugs and sun burns;
• chlorinated salt-free water;
• every 15 minutes the volcano becomes active and every hour it produces fire;
• incredible waves for surfers;

The fee is rather expensive – more than $50 for adults, plus various entertainments. Many visitors are pleased with such a beach, they considered it  to be clean, modern and safe.

Artificial beaches gain popularity in the whole world. We can see them in Monaco, Hong Kong, Paris etc.

We’d like to add, that because of you, dear readers, a lot of posts were written and some of them provoked great discussions or got a lot of page views, so the hottest posts of 2007:

• The Most Dangerous Roads in the World
• Japan Honeymoon Travel Tips
• Top ten the most romantic cities

See you in 2008! Happy Holidays!

So, Akihabara is a stylish and digi-center of Tokyo, having a lot of electronic stores, namely there the Capsule Inn Akihabara is located. It goes without saying, that Japan is a country of progress, innovations and technics. In order to save space, the Japanese people created an unusual type of accommodation – a Capsule hotel.

As a rule,a Capsule hotel consists of 2 parts: a public lounge space and a private space (with sleeping capsules). A typical sleeping capsule is a place made of reinforced plastic with the following amenities: TV, alarm clock, radio, special lighting and blinds (just to add privacy). Every device is possible to reach in a sleeping position.

It is a very unusual Inn and it if you want to feel yourself like in a cockpit or in a mortuary, you must try it, but, please, forget your beloved one sleeps with her head on your shoulder (unless you are two very small people!). This hotel is very popular among people of any ages and among those who travel or in Tokyo on a business trip.

Main Features of Capsule Inn

• Fixed rates.

  One price for all rooms! No painful surprises!

  

• Separate floors.

  Forget about spending a night with your beloved one, but you can spend a night among girls and wear simply a night-gown without thinking about aftermaths!

• The only capsule inn.

  Actually, it is situated in Akihabara, a large tourist center. 

• Wireless Internet connection.

  In the lounge wireless Internet connection is available, also, there is a free-of-charge access to 2 more computers.

• Open all day

  Without comments, just remember about check-in and check-out time.

   

• The lounge area is a nice place to have rest and to drink a cup of coffee.
• Service of luggage storage.

  You don’t have to carry all your 5,6 … suitcases with you while travelling in Tokyo, you can leave them there.

View more details here.

So, I have already written a lot about honeymoons, but as for me, this theme is always very urgent and can be of great help to a lot of people, so, today main point of my concern is Honeymoon in Japan. This trip can be made all year round and I choose one itinerary (but there are a lot of them and you can cut your coat according to your cloth). Price of each journey varies from £2100 and to… price includes flight, transfer to hotel and accommodation.

So, what can be said about Japan? It is a marvellous country, a picturesque one, it is a country of amazing contrasts and paradoxes: it occupies leading points in economy growth and many other issues, Japan is a perfect combination of traditions and incredible sightseeings.

According to this itinerary, your attraction will be drawn to the historical and old part of Japan, its sightseeings and culture. Japan is a special country, here you will feel the calmness of the world, it is full of romantic location and cozy places, they will tempt and charm you. In Japan you can find extremely different places of interest: the beaches of the Pacific Sea, marvellous landscapes of the countryside, bright neon lights of the cosmopolitan megapolis etc.

The first place you can stay at or just visit is:

• Tokyo

  What can impress you there? First of all – buildings and their cutting-edge design, the stage of modern-technology development and in contrast to this – historical monuments (Meiji Shrine), ancient palaces and unsurpassed tea ceremony houses. So, I advise you to visit Tokyo for sure and now I am going to give you a,list of the other attractions of Japan honeymoon:

  

• Mount Koya

  What for? Only visiting it you will understand the essence of Japan and penetrate into the heart Shingon Buddhism – it is one of the most popular Japan Buddhist sect founded in 805 by Kobo Daishi. There you will find enormous number of temples, that located on the top of the mountain covered with trees. There you can spend a night at a temple (taste hojin ryori, make a morning praise and to enjoy the holly calm atmosphere. Price – 9,500 Yen including a dinner and a breakfast);

  

• Kyoto

  Kyoto is famous for its marvellous gardens and … Geishas. While staying in Japanese Inns you can taste delicious kaiseki cuisine and enjoy bath rituals;

  

• Heiwadai Park

  Heiwadai Park is a natural miracle that will capture your attention and you won’t be able to forget about it, it has the Peace Tower (that was built 67 years ago), from it you can see a splendid view of Miyazaki city;

  

• The Nichinan Coastline

  It is amazing. Don’t forget to rent a car and make a driving along the coastline, I am sure you will remember it till the rest of your life: the scenery is adorable, smell of flowers is dizzy…

Generally speaking, honeymoon in Japan will leave only positive emotions! Visit Japan, you won’t be disappointed.

Fortunately, I don’t know a single person, that doesn’t like tea! people spent hours each day drinking tea. Nowadays, it is not right to interpret the meaning of “Tea time” only to drinking of tea, it became a tradition, a holly rite. We drink tea in the middle of working day, at home, with friends, at cafes. Because there is no other drink, that can make us feel more relax and comfortable in the middle of big city hustle-bustle. A cup of hot tea can calm down your soul un any situation, helps to return balance and good mood. People drink tea for various reasons, some are fond of it, for some it is a perfect excuse to meet with friends and spent some time with them. And some countries, like: Russia, Japan, China still has tea ceremonies. I like Russian tea ceremony, as a rule, they drink tea from special pots, called samovar or sometimes in order for tea not to cool down, the Russians can put a special fabrics doll on it. Also, while talking about Russian tea ceremony we can name a special double-teapot, one serves a tea-packet. Tea is put there and another is a some kind of reservoir. As a rule, the Russians prefer black strong tea to green tea, they drink it with such a herb, as mint.

Recently there were named best places for tea-drinking. Namely, The Dorchester Hotel got Top London Afternoon Tea Award 2007 as one of the most appropriate places for tea-drinking. Why? There were a lot of other perfect hotels, cafes etc. But, the Dorchester Hotel has incredibly high standards multiplied by excellent food and a great variety of teas. Moreover, tea drinking is a rite here, everything is served in a perfect way. Each day The Hotel is full to capacity while afternoon tea-time. Most of people like their atmosphere of piece and calmness, here you seem far away from the problems of world that is situated beyond the walls of this hotel. Slow and pleasant music of piano tunes you onto everlasting rest, you sink in a fluffy sofa and forget about everything, here you can have a table-talk with friends and just enjoy delicious tea.

A typical Dorchester afternoon tea consists of tea itself, tasty finger sandwiches, fresh scones, jam and clotted cream. Sometimes you can have French pastries. Also, enjoys the popularity Dorchester High Tea (time of serving from 4.30pm until 6.30pm).

The next ideal place for tea-drinking is a Peacocks Tea room that got an award Top Tea Place 2007. What is it popular for? no doubts, for delicious teas, relaxing atmosphere, excellent location. Their menu provokes a special interest – first of all, it is very big, than contains a lot of useful information and tips for tea-drinking. When the season is warm, you can sit in the marvellous garden around the Tea room and enjoy the sounds of nature. One more specific feature, this Cafe has a special tea library, any visitor can take it and widen their knowledge about tea.

it is no doubts, that tea is favourite beverage of the Britain and it quickly gains popularity throughout the world. Enjoy tea-drinking – it is amazing procedure!