Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa Tokyo

Asakusa is probably the most popular place in Tokyo for foreign and Japanese tourists alike. Located between the other tourist hotspots of Akihabara and Tokyo Skytree, Asakusa is a great place to visit for its temples, shrines and traditional shopping streets.

Every year in late May the Sanja Matsuri (Three Shrine Festival) is held, and is regarded as one of the top 3 Shinto festivals in Japan. The festival celebrates the 3 founders of Senso-ji , the well-known temple in Asakusa. Participants carry mikoshi (little portable shrines) around Asakusa, while they chant, sing and play instruments.

McDonald’s Japan World Cup Menu

The soccer World Cup in Brazil will start this week and McDonald’s Japan has celebrated this great event by releasing some World Cup menu items. McDonald’s Japan is offering several burgers based on nations expected to do well at the World Cup. The nations represented are Brazil, Germany, Spain, France and Japan.

In total, McDonald’s Japan will release 14 new World Cup themed menu items starting from May 27.

Tonkatsu McBurger McDonald’s Japan

McDonald’s Japan earlier this month introduced its latest creation called the Tonkatsu McBurger. It went on sale from May 7 and features Tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) which is a popular meal here in Japan. They have used a blend of both fine and coarse breadcrumbs to coat the pork cutlet giving it a crispier coating. The pork used is rosu (ロース) or pork loin, which is soft and juicy. It comes with shredded cabbage, which is the traditional accompaniment to a Tonkatsu meal in Japan. The burger is also topped with mustard and McDonald’s own special sweet Tonkatsu sauce, which contains grated onion, carrot, tomato and apple. All of this goodness is contained within bran buns.

Mister Donut Croissant Doughnuts

Mister Donut Japan has released a new range of croissant doughnuts. The doughnuts went on sale on April 1 and are called “Mr. Croissant Donut”. The doughnuts are made from croissant dough that is fried and then oven baked. We like that sound of that! This gives the doughnuts a very light and flaky texture.

The Mr. Croissant Donuts come in three different flavours:

McDonald’s Japan Avocado Burger

McDonald’s Japan is offering a new limited edition avocado burger that is surprisingly good. The burgers come in three varieties: Beef, Chicken and Ebi (Shrimp). All the burgers feature large chunks of avocado and Italian style ciabatta bread. The beef version contains a spicy wasabi soy mayonnaise sauce, while the chicken and shrimp contain a Cobb salad style sauce.

The burgers went on sale April 17th and cost around 399 yen (USD$3.90) each. They will be available through late May.

10 Things You Need to Know Before Moving to Japan

Japan is an amazing country to live and work with polite, friendly people, fast modern & convenient transportation, fantastic service, and a high standard of living. It is also a mysterious ancient land that can bewilder many first-time visitors to the country. There is a lot you should know before moving to Japan and after contributing to an expat tip campaign, run by HiFX, I thought I would pass on some handy tips from my 10 years’ worth of experience of living in this land of the rising sun.

Here are some insider tips to help you quickly settle into Japan.

Golden Week 2014 in Japan

Golden Week in Japan is fast approaching. The end of April through around May 6th is called “Golden Week” in Japan and is a collection of four national holidays in the space of seven days. Golden Week in 2014 is based on two separate holiday periods from April 26 to April 27 with April 29 and from May 3 to May 6.

This time in Japan is a celebration of spring and the end of winter with a lot of festivals and historical events taking place.