Japan Dreaming? Stop By New York’s Grand Central Terminal March 6-8

Japan Week 2014 Grand Central Terminal

If you are dreaming of a trip to Japan, like I am, you may want to stop by Grand Central Terminal in New York City for the annual Japan Week events March 6th through 8th, 2014.

The theme this year is “Discover the Past and Future in the Present,” a celebration of Old and New Japan.  

Japan Week is a public-private partnership organized by the Japan Tourism Agency and Japan National Tourism Organization, supported by the General Consulate of Japan in New York.

The festival will take place at Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall from March 6 – 8, 2014.  Half of Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal will transform into early 20th century Japan, and the other half will represent Japan’s present and future.

The event aims to introduce people to the unique features of Japan via cultural events, technology, art and music exhibits, food and beverages.

There will be a virtual reality theatre to guide visitors through Japan’s culture heritage, and a special appearance by a master of amezaiku, who transforms candy into marvelous sugar sculptures, and who is one of only a few people left in Japan who still perform this art.

There is also sweepstakes for free roundtrip tickets to Japan from JFK to Narita, sponsored by Delta Airlines, that you can enter online.

The only aspect of the festival that requires tickets is the Pop Up Bar, a replica of a 100-year café with servers dressed in Taisho era costumes, featuring exclusive sake from regions throughout Japan.

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Free Lonely Planet Guide to Northern Honshu, Japan

Lonely Planet Japan Guide

There is a prepublication offer from travel publisher Lonely Planet for a free download of a chapter from its forthcoming 2013 guide book to Japan.

The chapter covers the northern third of Japan’s main island of Honshū. This region of Tōhoku experienced the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and the meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

The chapter covers not just the typical tourist attractions — it also offers information on how to volunteer in the recovery effort.

Lonely Planet writer Rebecca Milner visited the region to research updates to the Japan guidebook.

She reports that area of the coast hit by the tsunami is still in rubble, but that the inland areas that were affected only by the earthquake have largely recovered.  Of course there is still a 20-km exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant.

Milner reports:

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