Picture of the day
May 05th 2010
These are picture taken not far from my house in kobe, I do pass in front of this house a lot and always loved the wall so I had to make it the pic of the day!
If you’re a gaijin living in Japan, going to shop at Ikea should be on your to do list, in the first week of your arrival in Japan. Why? Simply because you will be able to find a lot of product and furniture that you might need to comfortably live in Japan at a price that will not kill your wallet on the spot.
Ikea was introduced in Japan in 1974, the company launched a franchising deal in 1974, only to beat a retreat in 1986. The exact reasons of the retreat are not clear but it is mostly said that it was because the japanese housing market really did not match the company products. The Ikea CEO said; ” He attributed IKEA’s failure two decades ago to the fact that the company was not ready for the demanding Japanese market — and that Japanese customers were not ready for the do-it-yourself style that defines IKEA.”
20 years past and extensive reasearch were done by the Ikea corporation, to first understand the Japanese life style and also the Japanese needs.
So with all that the first modern Ikea store was open in Funabashi in 2006 followed by the seconde one in Yokohama also in 2006 and 3 other location in 2008: Kobe port island, shin-Misato Saitama and Tsuruhama. All stores are a massive 40,000 m2 which in Japan is incredibly big for a store.
IKEA in Kobe
To all my friends and readers
I would like to apologize for not posting often lately, only Japanstyle2010 has being posting in the past weeks. The reason for that is: I’m getting married next month and I have so many things to take care of.
But be sure to know that I will resume posting 4 or more post a week around mid May. Plus i will bring even more things to gaijinlife.com
Thank you all for your support
Yugo
Well, the cherry blossoms are blooming all over Japan right now, and I was lucky enough to get myself to Kurume Castle just the other day. The city of Kurume is located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu and interestingly, it is also the home of Brigestone tire company.
Little remains of Kurume Castle today, just sections of its stonework and moat. No matter its current state, the castle ruins look stunning with its flowers of Spring, under the blue sky.