Starfield Library (별 마당 도서관), Starfield COEX Mall (스타필드 코엑스몰), Seoul, South Korea

The spectacular Starfield Library in Seoul, South Korea was a sensation from the moment it opened on 31 May 2017 and I visited soon after on 10 Nov 2017. The library is a massive two story, 2,800 square meter (over 30,000 sq. ft.) space full of light and glass, with 70,000 books and 600 domestic and foreign magazines in three towering bookshelves, each standing 13 meters (about 43 ft.) tall.

What makes this library unique is that it is located in Asia's largest underground shopping mall, the Starfield COEX Mall [1], and is credited with increasing traffic to a mall that had been losing shoppers. [2] The Starfield COEX Mall is located in the Gangnam district of Seoul, where you can find a large number of stores and restaurants. Besides the normal shops and restaurants that you would normally find in a mall, the mall is part of a complex consisting of COnvention centers, EXhibition halls, two hotels, two food courts, an aquarium, a large multiscreen cinema venue, and office towers.

The mall is directly connected by underground passages to two Seoul Metro subway stations, making it easy for shoppers to visit. The mall is also directly connected to a large Hyundai Department store (for those who live in the USA, think about Nordstrom's on steroids) and the City Air Terminal, where you can check-in to your international flight and go through Korean Immigration and Customs (Incheon Airport only) before taking a bus to one of Seoul's two international airports: Incheon and Gimpo.

Continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about the Starfield library, the COEX Mall, and to see more photographs.

Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse (ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ, Nebuta no ie Wa-Rasse), Aomori, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Aomori Station and the museum.

It's been a while since my last post. While international tourists are currently prohibited from visiting Japan due to the pandemic, here's a museum located in the northernmost part of Japan's main island that's possible to visit if you are staying in Tokyo. I highly recommend taking the journey once international travel to Japan becomes possible again.

I visited this museum on 26 Nov 2017, which is in the city of Aomori, located in the northernmost Tōhoku region of Japan's main island of Honshu. The museum contains some of the spectacular illuminated floats (nebuta) used in the annual Aomori Nebuta Festival held from 2-7 Aug. If you can't attend the festival, visiting the museum is the next best thing.

Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse (ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ, Nebuta no ie Wa-Rasse) is a museum dedicated to the city's famous Nebuta Matsuri. The museum is housed in a unique building covered in red metal slats and stands along Aomori's waterfront district just a short walk north of Aomori Station. The Nebuta Warasse museum attempts to capture the spirit of the festival and gives visitors a taste of its lively atmosphere, history and traditions. [1]

Please continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about the Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse and to see more photographs of my visit.

Lin Mao Sen Tea Company (林茂森茶行), Taipei, Taiwan

Top: High Mountain Oolong Tea
Bottom Left: Chrysanthemum Tea
Bottom Right: Oriental Beauty Tea

Updated 05 Sep 2021:

Added tips when ordering by email and that English is spoken at both stores mentioned in this article.

Original 27 Sep 2020 article:

I am not a coffee drinker, having never acquired the taste. Consequently, I have always consumed Asian tea both by itself and with meals. When I was growing up, the tea choices were Oolong (烏龍茶), Jasmine (茉莉花茶), and Bo Nay (博奈茶; a type of Pu-Erh (普爾) tea). You poured boiling water over the tea leaves to make the tea. The teas were purchased at the local Chinese market and the main criteria for selection were quantity and price, with taste and fragrance never being a consideration. If you think of tea in terms of purchasing wine, the tea I grew up on was the equivalent of "2-Buck Chuck" (for those not familiar with this term, this phrase is used to describe the US$2 bottles of wine that can be purchased at a famous food specialty chain store in the USA). Like tea, there are better and more expensive bottles of wine, but for everyday use, "2-Buck Chuck" is perfectly acceptable.

As with wine, Asian teas have distinct flavors, fragrances, and are graded, with a wide range of prices. Making tea does not always mean always using boiling water, but choosing the correct temperature to maximize the flavor and fragrance depending upon the tea. Also making tea is not limited to just the physical act of making tea, but is elevated to an art and is part of a long standing Asian tea culture, with one of the most well known arts being the Japanese Tea Ceremony (茶道, chadō, "The Way of Tea").[1]

In Japan and Taiwan (among other places in Asia), a full range of tea varieties and prices are available for purchase at local tea specialty shops, some having been in operation for over 100 years. The quality of the teas available in Japan and Taiwan far surpass any Asian tea that can be purchased in the USA. Tea in Asia is bought depending upon fragrance, taste, and freshness. One of my favorite tea shops in Taipei is Lin Mao Sen Tea Company (林茂森茶行). Established in 1883, the shop sells a full range of graded Taiwanese teas at various price points. Due to the global pandemic, international travel to Asia is not possible from the USA. Since visiting Taiwan is not an option, ordering and purchasing tea is still possible since Lin Mao Sen Tea accepts remote orders and ships overseas.

Please read the rest of the article to find out more about buying Taiwanese tea and this tea shop in Taipei.

Yasurai Matsuri (やすらい祭, Yasurai Festival), Imamiya Shrine (今宮神社, Imamiya-jinja), Kyoto, Japan

This article was updated on 20 Sep 2021 to correct rail pass information.

The Yasurai Matsuri (やすらい祭), or Yasurai Festival, started in the Heian Period (794-1185) and is now held every year on the second Sunday in April at Imamiya Shrine (今宮神社, Imamiya-jinja). The festival is considered to be one of the three most unique Kyoto festivals (the other two being the Uzumasa Bull Festival ((太秦牛祭, Uzumasa Ushi Matsuri) and Kurama Fire Festival (鞍馬の火祭り, Kurama no Hi-matsuri)). The purpose of the festival is to suppress evil deities who are believed to appear in this season and spread infectious diseases. [1]

Kyoto hosts hundreds of festivals, both large and small, throughout the year. The largest and most well-know festival in Japan (not just Kyoto) is the Gion Matsuri (祇園祭), which occurs every year in July with events scheduled for the entire month. Unfortunately the 2020 Gion Matsuri has been cancelled due the pandemic, but when the festival is held, all hotels in Kyoto and the surrounding area are fully booked, and it is impossible to travel around Kyoto due to closed streets and the thousands of people coming to see the festival. On the other hand, the 1000-year old Yasurai Matsuri is not well known (despite being labeled as one of the three most unique of Kyoto's festivals) and is more of a local neighborhood festival that attracts fewer outsiders. The 2020 Yasurai Matsuri was also unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. I believe that attending these small festivals gives a foreigner, like me, a better view into Japanese traditions and local life. I have to say that this festival was one of the more memorable experiences I have had in Japan, so I would urge you to consider attending for a more intimate festival experience if you're visit to Kyoto coincides with the annual date.

I attended this festival on 10 Apr 2005, over 15 years ago. Please continue reading the rest of this article to find out more about my experience and to see more photographs.

Tower Knives Osaka (タワーナイブズ大阪 新世界の包丁専門店), Osaka, Japan

This article was updated on 02 Aug 2021 to include the 10 minute video interview with the owner of Tower Knives Osaka rather than the expired link to the original full length video from NHK.

As some of you might know, I also have a recipe blog (https://ducksoupeasy.blogspot.com/) that preceded this travel blog. While it has been a while since I posted a new recipe, I continue to cook. I had always used a Chinese cleaver whenever I prepared meals, but now use Japanese knives. Since I often travel to Japan and whenever I am near Osaka, I always stop by this Japanese knife store located in an area known as Shinsekai (新世界, lit. "New World"), located in the southern part of the city.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to see a video about the store and its founder, and to see more photographs.

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (大宮盆栽美術館), Saitama, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Toro Station and the museum, and to add the link to The Railway Museum article.

Saitama, Japan is just a 40 minute train ride north from Tokyo. The major rail station is called Omiya and is the first major junction outside of Tokyo for the Shinkansen when traveling to the northern parts of the main island of Honshu. Two major tourist attractions are located in Saitama: the first is the world-class Railway Museum (鉄道博物館), run by the non-profit foundation of East Japan Railway (better known as JR East) and the second is the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (大宮盆栽美術館), which is publicly run and a short walk from Toro Station, one station north of Omiya Station on the JR Utsunomiya Line. I visited both places on 02 Nov 2018 while I was staying in Tokyo. The Railway Museum article can be found at:

• https://ducksoupeasytravel.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-railway-museum-tetsudo-hakubutsukan.html

Bonsai (盆栽; lit. 'tray planting') is a Japanese art form using cultivation techniques to produce, in containers, small trees that mimic the shape and scale of full size trees. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penzai or penjing from which the art originated. The Japanese tradition dates back over a thousand years. [1]

While I'm not a fan of gardening, I am fascinated by Japanese bonsai since the creation and growing of these works of living art is something I personally have never tried and probably will never attempt. So to come to Japan and view this small museum dedicated to a unique Japanese art was on my list of places to see. Like any good museum, the "exhibits" are constantly changing and whenever you visit, there's always something new to see besides the permanent collection. The museum draws many Japanese and foreign tourists, so the exhibits are well labeled in both Japanese and English. An audio guide in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean is also offered.

The picture above was a work of bonsai art created by Kimura Masahiko (木村雅彦) and was displayed in the museum's lobby as the introductory work to the exhibit. The tree is a Japanese yew (taxus cuspidata) collected in Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost main island) in April 2018. The estimated age of the tree is 1,000 years! From the description:

"From the tree's root base to the rising trunk, it looks like a dragon spirit rising up. The sturdy trunk fold and turns with a superior sense of movement. This is the first time that this bonsai is being exhibited. According to Kimura, the tree is a rare world class material. The final form is yet to come, yet a thing to look forward to."

Please continue reading the article to find out more about the museum and to see more photographs.

MOA Museum of Art (MOA美術館), Atami, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Atami Station and the museum.

There are many museums and opportunities to visit them in Japan, especially in the major cities frequented by overseas visitors, such as Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. However, outside of the major tourist cities, there are many large and small museums that are also worth making a trip to. There are many national, prefectural, city, and private museums that have exhibits ranging from the traditional (art, history, cultural) to the bizarre (the Meguro Parasitological Museum in Tokyo comes to mind). The MOA Museum of Art (MOA美術館) in Atami, Japan is easily reachable from Tokyo by Shinkansen and local bus in about 50 minutes. The museum is located on a mountain hillside overlooking Sagami Bay and requires seven escalators inside the hillside to travel from the museum's entry to the main building exhibition area. Please continue reading to find out more about this art museum, see more photographs, and how to access the museum.