{"id":2909,"date":"2018-04-25T14:18:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T05:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/must-do-activities-to-live-the-japanese-experience\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:35:04","slug":"must-do-activities-to-live-the-japanese-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/must-do-activities-to-live-the-japanese-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Must-Do Activities to Live the Japanese Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Purikura<\/p>\n

The best way to learn about any culture is to immerse yourself in it. For one thing, this involves participating in the same activities as the locals. To live the Japanese experience, all of the following activities need to be on your list.<\/p>\n

Use a Purikura Photo Booth<\/h2>\n

Photo booths may have become close to nonexistent in much of the world, but they\u2019re still a major trend in Japan. Called purikura, these machines allow you to take pictures, decorate them (often using a touchscreen or stylus), and then print them into stickers.<\/p>\n

Participate in a Tea Ceremony<\/h2>\n

The Japanese tea ceremony is called sado, which means the way of tea. It is considered an art form and is only performed in a tatami room, where the host and guests sit in specific places on mats. Everyone who attends must wear formal clothing, usually a kimono. The ceremony uses special utensils, some of which differ according to the season. Serving the tea itself is meticulously choreographed and each movement has a special meaning.<\/p>\n

Visit a Few Temples and Shrines<\/h2>\n

Visiting Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines is a top tourist activity \u2014 and for good reason. The stunning religious architecture plays an important role in the community. In a large city, you\u2019ll find hundreds of temples and shrines, but in even the smallest town there\u2019s always at least one. It\u2019s worth visiting at least a few, as you\u2019ll find that each is uniquely beautiful.<\/p>\n

Attend a Sumo Match<\/h2>\n

Sumo is much more than an exciting sport; it is also an important aspect of Japanese culture. As there are only six tournaments a year, you need to plan in advance if you want to see a match. For the full Japanese experience, you should book a seat on floor cushions rather than for a stadium seat.
\nIf you\u2019ll be unable to attend a match, another option is to visit a sumo-beya<\/a>, which is where wrestlers (called rikishi) live. Here, you can attend the morning training session. Bear in mind that it starts at around 6 or 7 and lasts for three hours.<\/p>\n

Watch Kabuki<\/h2>\n

Kabuki is a highly-dramatic performance art, characterized by heavy makeup and exaggerated acting. It involves acting, dancing, and singing of a historic or contemporary play or a dance drama. Traditionally, kabuki<\/a> was performed as a full-day program of five acts whereas now shorter plays are common.<\/p>\n

Sing Karaoke<\/h2>\n

You may think that you can skip karaoke if you\u2019ve already tried it in your home country. However, singing karaoke in Japan is different from anywhere else in the world. This is a pastime that people take seriously. For instance, they invest in high-quality equipment, including properly soundproofed karaoke boxes<\/a>. Wherever you go, you\u2019ll find a full range of songs in English, meaning you have no excuse not to sing.<\/p>\n

Living the Japanese experience involves understanding both the country\u2019s history and modern-day life. Only by participating in all the above activities will you see the different facets of Japanese culture and feel like part of the country.<\/p>\n

By Pixelms [CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a> or GFDL<\/a>], from Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best way to learn about any culture is to immerse yourself in it. For one thing, this involves participati […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japan","category-miscellaneous"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50766,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909\/revisions\/50766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}