JNTO FamTrip 2015: Shodoshima

In late September and early October, Unique Japan Tours joined a familiarization trip organised by the Japan National Tourist Organisation. The purpose of these trips is to introduce new, unique places in Japan to promote trips there. The familiarization trip (or "famtrip") we joined took us from Okayama and Kurashiki, down into Tokushima, to Shodoshima and finally to Himeji.

Of course, we knew most of these places already, and we've sent many of our clients to these places to. But we always want to learn more, look deeper and see what's new and exciting. Over the next few blog posts, we're going to explore the areas we visited, introduce them to you, and share some of our pictures.

Today is part three, where we spent the day on Shodoshima Island.

JNTO FamTrip 2015: Iya Valley & Tokushima

In late September and early October, Unique Japan Tours joined a familiarization trip organised by the Japan National Tourist Organisation. The purpose of these trips is to introduce new, unique places in Japan to promote trips there. The familiarization trip (or "famtrip") we joined took us from Okayama and Kurashiki, down into Tokushima, to Shodoshima and finally to Himeji.

Of course, we knew most of these places already, and we've sent many of our clients to these places to. But we always want to learn more, look deeper and see what's new and exciting. Over the next few blog posts, we're going to explore the areas we visited, introduce them to you, and share some of our pictures.

Today is part two, where we’ll talk about the Iya Valley and Tokushima.

JNTO Familiarization Trip 2015

In late September and early October, Unique Japan Tours joined a familiarization trip organised by the Japan National Tourist Organisation. The purpose of these trips is to introduce new, unique places in Japan to promote trips there. The familiarization trip (or "famtrip") we joined took us from Okayama and Kurashiki, down into Tokushima, to Shodoshima and finally to Himeji. 

Of course, we knew most of these places already, and we've sent many of our clients to these places to. But we always want to learn more, look deeper and see what's new and exciting. Over the next few blog posts, we're going to explore the areas we visited, introduce them to you, and share our pictures.

Today, we're just going to give a brief overview of the tour. First off, we'd like to extend our sincerest thanks to the JNTO for organizing and inviting us on this FamTrip. It was a lovely trip, we enjoyed it, and most importantly, we learned a lot and can't wait to incorporate it into our tours!

Celebrating O-bon in style

Traditionally, Japanese people like to take their holidays on mass. One of the biggest holidays of the year is O-bon or the Festival of Bon, which normally falls around mid-August of each year.

A Japanese Buddhist custom held in honour the spirits of one’s ancestors, O-bon has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years. Lasting for around three days, it is customary for people to take time off from work to celebrate the festival. This is done by returning to your ancestral family place, and then visiting and cleaning your ancestors’ graves. During this time the spirits of the ancestors are believed to revisit the altars.

One of the most fun aspects of O-bon is its accompanying dance, Bon Odori.  Said to have began around the 15^th century as public entertainment, over the centuries its religious significance has faded into the background so that now the dance is associated with summer.

Each region in Japan will perform the dance slightly differently, creating its own distinctive regional twist. Usually what happens is that people – usually women wearing yukata (summer kimono) – will line up in a circle around a high wooden scaffold called a yagura especially made for the festival. The dancers will then proceed to move either clockwise or anti-clockwise around the yagura, or sometimes close to it and further away. Sometimes they sing while swinging their arms in the air – all of which is done in unison. Traditional Japanese music often plays in the background, which adds to the overall fun!

One of the biggest and most popular Bon Odori in the whole of Japan is the Tokushima Awa Odori that takes place on the island of Shikoku. Unique Japan Tours offers a trip to see the Awa Odori as part of its fabulous Lost in Japan Small Group Tour. However, please be careful if you do decide to go: You will be so excited that you won’t be able to stop yourself from joining in the festivities!!

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