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Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Photos | Images of Japan :: Japanese Band
See images of Japan from top photographers including images of Tokyo, Osaka and the Japanese countryside: band in action in Osaka.

Links for 2009-10-31 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Japan Search Service :: Japan Visitor
Japan search service. Japan Visitor's You Ask For It, We Look for It search service - let us search, find and deliver a product to you from Japan
Site History :: Japan Visitor 2004
Japan Visitor site history - A list of contents on the JapanVisitor.com website in date order of publication

Links for 2009-10-29 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Japan Universities K-M :: Japan Visitor
Japan Universities K-M: see a listing of Japanese universities by prefecture K-M including Kyoto universities.

Links for 2009-10-19 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Gay and Lesbian Japan listings :: Japan Visitor
View Gay and Lesbian Japan listings: bars, clubs, listings, links, useful telephone numbers and Tokyo gay guide.

Links for 2009-10-13 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Kyoto Sightseeing Guide | Temples | Shrines | Museums :: Japan Visitor
Sightseeing in Kyoto: Read a Kyoto guide to Kyoto hotels, Kyoto temples, shrines, museums - sightseeing in Kyoto and surrounding areas, including temple markets, day-trips and other places of interest.

Links for 2009-10-12 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

The Castle of Cagliostro Movie Review :: Japan Visitor
The Castle of Cagliostro - read a review of the anime movie The Castle of Cagliostro by director Hayao Miyazaki.

Iran Population Map

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:51:06 PDT

These new "cartogram" maps from Worldmapper graphically show the population density of Iran.

The largest bulge is around the capital Iran. The gray areas represent areas of low population density on the north of Iran and south east of the country.

The total population of Iran was estimated in 2008 at 65,875,224.

Click on the map to enlarge it.

© Copyright 2009 SASI Group (University of Sheffield)

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Links for 2009-10-03 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Photos | Images of Japan :: Osaka Castle Osaka Japan
See a collection of images and photographs of Japan from JapanVisitor.com - Osaka Castle, Osaka, Japan.

Iranian Weddings

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:11:20 PDT

Marriages in Iran consist of two parts: Aghd - the civil registration of a union and Jashn-e Aroosi the celebratory nuptials of the wedding reception and party.

As in other countries the wedding car is decorated with flowers as the couple drive off to their new life.

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Azadi Grand Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:43:03 PDT

The Azadi Grand Hotel in north Tehran is one of the capital's most luxurious hotels, but distant from most of the sights in Tehran except for the International Trade Fair Ground and the airport. The hotel used to be the Hyatt Hotel in a previous existence in the late 1970s, when it was first built.

Azadi Grand Hotel
Dr. Chamran Expressway - Evin Cross Road
Tel : +98 21 207 3021/9

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Tehran Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:46:37 PDT

July and August are the hottest months in Tehran with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Centigrade.

The weather in Tehran is very dry at this time with little rainfall.

You must have a browser that supports iframes to view the BBC weather forecast

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University of Tehran

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:11:29 PDT

The University of Tehran is the leading university in Iran and one of the top universities in the Middle East. Founded in 1934, the University of Tehran has twenty faculties, with around 32,000 students and 1500 teaching staff.

The student body has a majority of female students and over 300 students from overseas.

The main campus is situated south of Laleh Park east of the north south Kargar Avenue. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the University of Tehran has been the site of Tehran's Friday prayers.

Image by Zereshk

University of Tehran (English page)
Central Administration of University of Tehran
16 Azar Street
Enghelab Ave
Tehran
Iran
Tel: 9821 61113358

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Map of Tehran

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:56:46 PDT

Valiasr Avenue is a main north-south road in central Tehran. Tehran University is west of Valiasr Avenue with Amir Kabir University to the east. The main subway station on Valiasr Avenue is Majlis where it intersects Imam Khomeini Street. Tir Square is to the north west.

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Iran Provinces

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:34:29 PDT

Iran has 30 provinces: Ardabil, Azarbayjan-e Gharbi, Azarbayjan-e Sharqi, Bushehr, Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari, Esfahan, Fars, Gilan, Golestan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Ilam, Kerman, Kermanshah, Khorasan-e Jonubi, Khorasan-e Razavi, Khorasan-e Shomali, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh va Buyer Ahmad, Kordestan, Lorestan, Markazi, Mazandaran, Qazvin, Qom, Semnan, Sistan va Baluchestan, Tehran, Yazd and Zanjan.

Sistan va (and) Baluchestan is the largest province by area. Gilan on the Caspian Sea coast is the smallest province by area.

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Jameh Mosque Qazvin

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:24:00 PDT

The Jameh Mosque in Qazvin, west of Tehran, is popular place to gather.

Reputedly constructed over a Zoroastrian fire temple, the historic Jameh Mosque has a blue dome and some striking interior relief calligraphy.

Qazvin is west of Tehran on the A01 highway.
There are trains and frequent buses making the two and a half hour journey to Qazvin from the capital.

© Will Yong

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Qazvin Imamzadeh Hossein

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:56:43 PDT

Known for its carpets, Qazvin is west of Tehran on the A01 highway.

The Imamzadeh Hossein shrine (below) is a shrine commemorating Hossein, a son of Imam Reza (765-818; the seventh descendant of the prophet Muhammad) and dates from the 16th century.

The shrine is known for its beautiful geometrical tiles and is set in a courtyard with a fountain.

There are trains and frequent buses making the two and a half hour journey to Qazvin from Tehran.

© Will Yong

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The Remaking of Iran Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:30:03 PDT

Shah 'Abbas - The Remaking of Iran Exhibition is currently showing at the British Museum in London until June 14, 2009.

The exhibition focuses on 17th century Iran during the reign of Shah 'Abbas I (1587–1629).

Long associated with his new capital city at Isfahan, the reign of Shah 'Abbas saw a period of peace and increased trade and prosperity.

The objects on display, many seen outside Iran for the first time, include calligraphy, carpets, ceramics, Qur'ans, mosque lamps, paintings and silks.

The British Museum also has a permanent collection of Persian art.

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Hosein Kaffash

noreply@blogger.com (tadatanome) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:14:22 PST

I

The street was already clear from yesterday’s snow though patches still reflected luminous white from the bare earth of the mountainside. The brushes, tins, knives and rubber heels in Hosein’s wooden cart rattled as its wheels stuttered over the gravel left behind from the salt trucks. A Peykan taxi trundled past in low gear, pulling its thick steel carcass up the hill without complaint like a passive mule. Snow had again not been forthcoming this year, the extended autumn was proving as dry and bright as the summer. Though his grandfather’s orchard in the north had been sold long ago, out of habit, Hosein wondered whether the mild winter would snap suddenly and decisively like the year before and throttle the unripe fruit of the orange trees.

Up ahead, a four-wheel drive attempted a handbrake turn but could only manage a disappointing two metre skid, grinding the gravel into the unrelenting asphalt with a scrape. The gleaming hulk sped away and Hosein could again hear the rattle which attended the wheels of his hand-built cart. He neared the corner where the street turned back on itself and climbed further up the mountainside. He stopped and felt a breeze, chilled by the snowy peaks above, waft down and touch the light sweat on his forehead. He closed his eyes, breathed, and frigid air stung a little on the inside of his sinuses. “Allah-e Shokr”, he whispered to himself, moved by the alternate sensations of heat from the pale winter sunlight and the ripples of cold in the air.

On the last Friday of every month, Hosein the Kaffash brought his work up to this pleasant part of town, perched high on the Tochal foothills, detached from the polluted inner-city air. The neighbourhood knew him well enough by now for many of the residents of the forty or so low-rise apartment buildings to keep any shoes in need of repair at home, anticipating his next visit, rather than carry them to Tajrish Square where two other cobblers plied their trade on the steps by the bank.

Hosein turned and saw that his son had fallen some way behind. “Ali-jaan, come to daddy, come on!” At his father’s call Ali broke into a staccato run. Thick layers of clothing under his puffer jacket made it difficult for his arms to swing and he held them out stiffly to his sides, the yellow woollen bobble on his winter hat bounced with each tiny stride. Now nearly seven years old, Ali was old enough to accompany his father on his Friday rounds, a convenience which gave father and son their only prolonged contact during the week and Mariam some respite at home, though for this Hosein sacrificed his day of rest.

Hosein the kaffash knelt down in front of his son from whose mouth steam-laden breath was pumping out in short gusts. His wide, pebble-black eyes blinked twice and opened to their widest and the boy smiled as Hosein pulled off his hat, dried off his hot brow with a gloved hand and ruffled his son’s matted hair.

II

Ali stood mutely observing a mean-looking black and white tomcat while his father climbed the steps of another of the three-storey blocks. The cat pleaded at regular intervals with a persistent howl issuing from the depths of unfulfilled hunger and lust. A middle-aged woman with no headscarf appeared at a second floor window to toss down a plastic bag of chicken bones. The bones half spilled onto the paving stones and the sound of the mesh screen sliding shut scratched the prevailing hush. Hosein rang the first floor buzzer and could hear the cat pawing at the plastic bag for a few seconds before the click of the intercom and a woman’s voice.

“Yes?”

“Good morning miss, I’m the kaffash. If you have any shoes to shine or repairs for me I’m at your service.”

“Oh, I see…. Let me ask my husband… Mehrdad!”

Another click and the intercom fell silent. Hosein rang the second and third floor buzzers but no answer came to disturb the greedy, hollow sound of the cat’s hard teeth on bare bones. Hosein shifted his cart into a bright triangle which the sun threw over the steps up to the entrance. From it he withdrew a tattered square of coarsely woven stuff cut from the thick material of a motorcycle saddlebag which he placed on the first step where he would sit. A man he recognised from previous visits emerged wearing a long overcoat over a casual t-shirt carrying a pair of black leather shoes in one hand.

“Salaam Agha, I’m sorry but it’s just these today. You repaired them the last time you were here, may your hands not hurt! If you could just shine them for me and leave them inside the front door when you finish.”

He handed the shoes down from his place on the landing and opened his wallet. He drew out a crisp two thousand toman note and both men’s eyes held the folded blue rectangle for a shared moment from opposite sides of a great divide.

“It has no value, I’m at your service.” Hosein offered his ta’arof, the ritual refusal to be payed, but the money was already in his hand. The shoes had lost little of the shine that Hosein himself had put on them a month before and with every stroke of his brush he fought off the sense that he was in league with the mendicant accordian players and street sweepers who rang the same doorbells for small change. His eyes narrowed on the smudged outline of his own face which was beginning to emerge on the shoe in his blackened hand.

The door of the next block opened and an amply-proportioned female form emerged, draped in a pale grey floral print chador. She edged sideways to plant her feet on the first step, directly opposite where Hosein was sitting, one hand holding the moulded concrete bannister and the other cradling a tray against her bosom.

“Ali, go and help the lady. Quick!”

Without a word, the boy ran to the bottom of the steps, slipping and saving himself from a fall with both his hands. He beat his gloves free of the still fresh snow.

“Careful now, Ali.” Hosein observed the handover with as much care as the woman and young Ali executed it. “May your hands not hurt, you’ve made so much effort, thank you ma’am. Say thank you Ali,” to which Ali responded with a straightforward, “merci.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’m so ashamed,” the woman replied with a self-deprecating chuckle. She had a round face and a turned up nose. With her arms concealed under her grey chador she looked comically like an owl. “I’ll ask my grandson if he has any work for you,” she said.

Calling on Imam Ali for strength, the old woman hauled herself back up the steps with the same determined effort with which she had descended. Hosein rested the tray on his wooden cart and as father and son shared the unfamiliar tasting food, the relentless mewing of the vagrant black and white cat began once again. Hosein tossed him a scrap which did nothing to silence him.

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Ashura 2009

noreply@blogger.com (tadatanome) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:11:21 PST

Short Cuts: Ta'arof

noreply@blogger.com (tadatanome) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:49:29 PST

The two men ordered their kebabs and the waiter motioned for them to sit at a simple formica table. The tiny kebab restaurant was busy this evening on the eve of Eid-e Ghadir.

Outside the first snow of the year was falling gently on the glossy black streets. One of the men adjusted the position of a steel frame chair and sat. It was a tactical slip which allowed his friend to open the play in a classic ta’arof gambit.

“Right, so why don’t I go next door and get us some fresh juice, what’ll you have?”

Taken by surprise, the seated man had no option but to come back at his friend with a rather cliched rejoinder, “thank you sir, but please be my guest.” His predictably vain attempt to get up and beat his opponent to the door was stopped by his friend’s outstretched arm.

“Come now, I won’t hear of it, let me this time, melon? pomegranate? These are on me,” the standing man said as he turned and made for the exit. Perhaps his move for the door was a fraction of a second premature.

“Ok, ok,” the seated man replied, seeing that the only way to keep his chances alive now was to feign surrender and come back with a different approach, “I’ll come with you, I can’t decide what I want until I see what they have.”

The two exited the restaurant together. Both men fingering their wallets.

(c) William Yong

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Recycling in Tehran

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:40:49 PST

Collecting recyclable materials in Tehran for money is undertaken by a small army of economic migrants from Iran's outlying regions and neighbouring nations such as Afghanistan.

Garbage in Tehran amounts to approximately 70% of the total waste produced in Iran. Plastic accounted for over 9% of this total in 2003 and is growing as a percentage of the whole. 2,355,740 tons of solid waste were produced in the capital in 2003, with much of it dumped in the Kahrizak landfill.

© Iran Visitor

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Kermanshah

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:12:00 PST

Kermanshah is the capital of Kermanshah Province. The city of Kermanshah is situated 525km west from Tehran about 120 km from the Iraq border.

The main places of interest in the province are the historic gardens of Taq-e Bostan and the bas relief carvings at Bisotun.

The Greek hero, Hercules, is carved into the rock at Bisotun and is believed to date from 148BC and the Seleucid dynasty. Earlier are the Bisotun Inscription and a bas relief of Darius.

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Hosseinieh

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:23:00 PST

Hosseinieh are like religious clubs.

They get especially packed during the Ashura festival when men pack in to pound their chests while listening to intense, repetitive music.

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Tehran Joob

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:10:03 PST

Water which flows from the Alborz Mountains runs through Tehran in a network of joob, which are deep gutters that line most north-south running streets. Plenty of trash gets dumped in on the way and they often get blocked.

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Thursday Night at the Bakery

noreply@blogger.com (tadatanome) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:47:44 PDT

I’m sitting on the step in the last of the evening light, waiting in a queue of around five. It’s mostly men in the evenings, wives will be at home preparing dinner. It’s also the first day of the weekend, so tonight, demand for fresh “naan sangak” - a wholesome flat bread cooked on hot pebbles - is high.

Little brother scoots past my knees carrying a bundle of separated newspaper pages, ready for customers to grab to wrap their hot bread. The family business starts from the littlest one up on this Thursday evening shift. Inside, a boy not much older retrieves the cooked bread on a spatula as it appears on the revolving stone plate which carries them through the oven. The lad’s stout frame suggests he’s the older brother of the chubby little newspaper boy. His advantage in years puts him one step closer to the production end of the family business.

At peak times you won’t find a single Tehran bakery without waiting customers spilling into the street outside. Mass-produced bread is available at supermarkets but the reaction at home when you bring back a still-warm armful from the local bakers’ speaks of a link between man and his staple food that plastic packaging somehow comes between.

There’s a dull clang of wood on metal as the twenty-year-old baker’s apprentice drops the long palette handle into its holder. Even before it stops rattling his hands are in the aluminium trough to grab another slick, wet pat of dough. He’s the hard-running fly-half of the operation, the living link between the raw stuff and the furnace. If he wants to run his own bakery one day he’s got to serve his time at the oven door.

While the midfield dynamo continues to hum, the master baker’s assured eyes are on the doorway, watching the fading light of the evening. He’s transferring the last of the dough from the big aluminium mixer to the trough for the apprentice to work with. Pulling out a larger lump of the gloopy raw stuff than I think two hands can handle, I worry that the dough which is lolling over and around his wrists, is going to fall onto the floor. But his hands know the consistency of the stuff of his trade better than that. They guide the lump into the half-empty trough and it falls in with a slap.

The lanky understudy with his Roman nose watches as the master baker gives his last orders and departs. I imagine the young man’s thoughts are on the possibilities of the weekend as he continues to eye the doorway with his hands in the dough.

“How many do you want?” the apprentice asks a youth standing in line.

“Seven,” the boy answers. He’s no more than a teenager but the stains on his clothes, tanned neck and arms and world-weary expression suggest he’s already spent more than a little time working to pay his keep. Perhaps he’s one of the hundreds of young men who dig around in trash cans to collect recyclable materials for cash.

“You can have seven ‘nun-e salavati,’” the apprentice motions to the pile of bread kept aside for those who don’t have the money to pay.

“No,” the boy answers stoically.

“Take them, they’re fresh,” the apprentice insists. According to Iran’s tradition of ta’arof a genuine offer is never made only once.

But with an upward nod of the head which Iranians employ to express an outright objection, the pauper boy insists the issue is closed. He turns his back and rejoins the rest of the customers waiting in line.

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Milad Telecommunications Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:51:32 PDT

The Milad Telecommunications Tower (Borj-e Milad) opened this week in Tehran. At 435m, the tower is the 4th largest in the world.

Designed by architect, Dr. Mohammad Reza Hafezi, the tower is part of the new Tehran International Trade and Convention Center. The tower has restaurants at the top with amazing views of Tehran below.

The Milad Tower is designed to withstand earthquakes of 7.5 on the Richter scale.

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South Khorasan Province

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:12:07 PDT

South Khorasan Province is located in the extreme east of Iran bordering Afghanistan. The main towns of the province are: the provincial capital Birjand, Ferdows and Gonabad.

The previous province of Khorasan was the largest province of Iran until it was divided in 2004 into North Khorasan, South Khorasan and Ravazi Khorasan.

Birjand has a population of approximately 160,000 inhabitants and Birjand Airport has flights to Tehran and Mashhad.

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Iran Collection British Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:52:45 PDT

The British Museum in London has some of the finest pieces of ancient Persian art outside of the National Museum in Tehran.

Many of the pieces were excavated by Robert Gordon from Persepolis in the early 19th century.

The citadel of Persepolis was constructed by Darius I around 500 BCE and the iconography of the sculpures and relief works included influences from Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia. Persepolis was destroyed by the Macedonian invader Alexander in 330 BCE.

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Iran-Japan Relations

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:51:27 PDT

When President Khatami visited Tokyo in 2000, he was the first Iranian leader to visit Japan since King Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1958. At the time, he and the Japanese premier, Mr Mori, made plans for friendly relations and greater economic cooperation.

According to official Iranian statistics, the volume of bilateral trade between Japan and Iran reached US$14.3 billion in 2007 and this is expected to increase to US$20 billionin 2008 as a result of rising oil prices.

At the people-to-people level, things look positive. There are 5,227 Iranians officially registered as living in Japan and around 300 Iranian students. According to Ambassador Araqchi, academic exchanges between the two countries 'play a vital role for further deepening of our relations.' Culturally, there has also been some interesting collaboration in areas such as cinema - for instance, the 2003 movie 'Kaze no Jutan' (The Wind Carpet).

Japan is also active in Iran holding events such as Noh theater performances and recently hosting a ceremony at its embassy in Tehran at which it presented equipment for a charitable project, for the benefit of children with intellectual disabilities.

Ambassador Araqchi is optimistic for the future, declaring: 'We would like to expand our regional and international cooperation with Japan. At the same time, we are looking forward to seeing further expansion of economic, technological and cultural cooperation with our Japanese partners.'

This is a shortened version of a longer article on J@panInc

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Ardabil Province

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:55:10 PDT

Ardabil (also spelled Ardebil) Province is located in the north west corner of Iran, bordering Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. The city of Ardabil is the capital of the province.

Being cooler than the rest of the country, Ardabil attracts many tourists especially in the hot summer months.

There are flights from Tehran and Tabriz to Ardabil Airport, 11km from downtown Ardabil. There are buses from Ardabil to Tehran, Tabriz (4 hours), Qazvin (7 hours) and Rasht (4 hours).

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Sistan and Baluchestan Province

noreply@blogger.com (Soccerphile) — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:06:29 PDT

Sistan and Baluchestan is the largest of Iran's thirty provinces by area. Sistan is the area to the north and Baluchestan lies to the south bordering Pakistan.

The province as a whole has a population of over 4 million people and is one of the driest and poorest areas of the country. Zahedan, with over half a million inhabitants, is the provincial capital and it is possible to pick up visas here for both neighboring Pakistan and India.

Zabol (pop. 132,000) is an exotic and dangerous border town with Afghanistan to the north of Zahedan.

There are flights to both Zahedan (daily) and Zabol (weekly) from Tehran. There are shared taxis (savaris) from Zahedan to Zabol.

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Baluchestan and Iran

noreply@blogger.com (tadatanome) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:06:49 PDT

IranVisitor recently took a trip to Baluchestan is a pretty traditional place compared to Tehran. Wherever we were received as guests women and men were strictly separated. I attended a wedding without even seeing the bride.

When I saw women and girls in the streets they were often wearing black chadors loosely draped over outfits like these. But the black covering never fully hid the bright colours beneath. It was just one of so many ways that Baluchestan reminded me of India and showed me more clearly than ever that Iran is a diverse country and is essentially nothing without this diversity.

Baluchis are not separatists by any means. The Baluchi people are a relatively new ethnic group and accept their position sandwiched between the two great civilisations of Iran and India. Baluchis from Pakistan seem to have no problem crossing the border into Iran where they find plenty of work and higher wages. Unfortunately, some of the lawlessness of Pakistan also makes it over to Iran and there have been some high profile kidnappings of foreign tourists in the area and a bomb attack on Iranian soldiers in Zahedan.

More on Baluchestan soon...

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