Shinise Rouho traditional shops and stores in Japan, tradition Japanese culture

老舗 or a traditional store refers to a specialty crafts, food, store that has been continuing a tradition for quite a while. Other words, it is a treasured historic location. Japanese has a special sentiment towards these kind of shops. And often they are associated with special craftsmanship. For example, in Kyoto, one can find traditional tofu shops that have been in operation for more than 100 years, called 老舗豆腐 or shinise tofu. You can bet the owners and the family members take a lot of pride in operating these shops. Everyone of them is managed like to the sushi ya in Jiro dreamed of sushi. After all, these have been time-tested veteran shops, must be something extraordinary that they have been doing right for centuries.

Nishi Tetsu Inn Shinjuku 西鉄イン新宿 near Nishi Shinjuku station, Japan travel information

 The Nishi Tetsu Inn or "west rail inn" is reasonably priced and conveniently located almost right outside the Nishi Shinjuku station. The Nishi Shinjuku station is only one station after the very busy Shinjuku station.

The hotel is so convenient and literally outside the station, it only took one minute walk to the lobby. We highly recommend this hotel to people who just arrived in Japan for the first time, and need a hotel that is very close to a convenience station. Specially if you are arriving at night and tired, this hotel is very easy to find.

We used the hotel as a touch base point when we landed in Tokyo. And headed to Hakone the very next morning via Shinjuku station's Odakyu Romance Car. 

The Shinjuku station is so crowded and the place was so large it was very difficult to find the right exit and entry points, we preferred Nishi Shinjuku station. 

Just like all other Japanese hotels, this place is small by American Standard. It may even be a bit cluster phobic with all your luggages and two people. Nevertheless, it is a good hotel that is convenient, reasonably priced even during the Japanese New Year's, and clean.

Wagashi Japanese sweets desserts and Japanese snacks

和菓子 pronounced wagashi is a general name for Japanese bite-size sweets. These are extremely intricate, colorful snacks that are so much more than just mochi cakes (mochi cakes have been popular in the US). 

Dango, rabbit manju bread bites, Sakura mochi cakes etc. These are essentially powdered sugar combined with mochi, red bean pastes (and other fruits variations), and flour. 

Maneki-neko Japanese Fortune Cat in restaurants and stores

It's a Japanese culture to place 

Maneki-neko 招き猫 at restaurant and store counters to bring good luck and fortune to the location. The beckoning cat waves its arm to invite guests in.

Melon Pan Melon Bun Bread, Japanese Food and Snacks

Have you seen how gorgeous the Japanese melon pans (melon buns or melon bread メロンパン) are? They are beautiful, puffy, perfect half spheres. The green color may be alarming at first but the filling is so juicy, rich, creamy and delicious, it's totally worth the try. You can only get such kawaii or cute bakery sweets in Japan! Another blog post covered just how 贅沢 zetaku or luxurious melons are in Japan. They have the status of special occasion gifts, can be priced for $100 and up, and is a well received high end fruits gift! If you're not visiting Japan soon, you can Google Japanese melon pan recipes and make your own at home!

Fruits and Fruit Sakes in Japan Japanese Food and Snacks Wiki

(Peach flavored sake)

Californians visiting Japan can be surprised by the price tag of Japanese fruits and how sweet and concentrated the juices are in Japan. The grape juice tastes more like a very sweet and flavored grape soda. It may even be frustrating finding fresh fruits and juices in Japan. It's simply too much of a luxury to enjoy fresh fruits in a country with very limited farmland resources. However, one may be delighted by the delicious varieties of fruit flavored soda, bubble gum and even Suntory sake (yes the alcohol brand from lost in translation the movie) and wine in Japan! There are many varieties of such sweetened drinks!  They can be purchased easily from vending machines at hotels and nearby street corners (the canned or the pet bottled versions). Basically no one will check your ID. Even if they do, the drinking age is much lower in Japan than most of the western world.

One may also be fascinated by how pretty the packaging is! Each small portion of fruits are packaged and decorated to the point that they sparkle! It's also a land where are many "noble" extremely pricey varieties of honeydew melon! The Japanese varieties of melons are more yellow, greener - brighter in color, more fragrant and sweeter. In fact, they are so pricey that they can be presented as a special holiday gift such as for the Japanese New Years. Japan is also the country of square shaped melons.

Amazake sweet sake flavored candy Japanese Snacks Wiki

These soft slight chewy candies are amazake or sweet sake alcohol flavored candies! Amazake is a sweet alcoholic drink made from fermented rice. It's a celebratory new year drink too! Some Japanese stores and hotel distribute free cups of Amazake甘酒 to guests and visitors during New Years in December and January!