More often than not, I think the neighborhood I live in is sublime. I walked around my neighborhood with my new found friends the other day and one of them turned to me and said “you have such a opulent walking course” and I had to agree.
Stinky, Slimy, Savoury, Succulent and So on… One get a mixed reaction from many of the Japanese, and uniform abhorrence of this miracle food from foreigners.
You could consider Akie Nakata to be a rock star of sorts, but not the one that usual comes to mind.
A new concept of those of the western mindset. The Japanese have an interesting 4-character compound used to describe the weather just around Cherry Blossom season, "san kan shi on".
What may look like just a gigantic party in Japan, is actually something that has much deeper meaning and significance to the Japanese. The time when cherry blossoms are bloom is when the Japanese gather to reflect on just how fleeting and ephemeral life can be, all the while sitting, eating, drinking, and some times singing and dancing as they congregating beneath the majestic cherry trees.
Of course the party always starts with some long winded speech by a couple of “important people”, of the group. These speeches tend to drone on and every one wants them to shut up and start the party. There’s always an amazing array of delicious food and lots and lots of “junkatsu yu” or social lubricant.
What can you do with a single sheet of paper? Plenty when your name is Masayo Fukuda, who, after seeing her art I now refer to her as Sensai Tensai or “delicacy genius”.
At the beginning of every March there is the spectacular Girls Festival here in Japan. As you can see, the ancient cultural of Japan is alive and well in modern Japan today.
One's wise wife often chides when the Occxie savage, who stinks of butter, has unthoughtful things to say.
There is a very interesting and long running TV program that has been running since May 15, 1966, called laugh point (shoten). In fact, the show has been going so long that I am on my 3rd host since coming to Japan.
Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in Japan, and has its origins in a Chinese custom introduced to Japan in the eighth century.
Every year near our house there is a very interesting, if not somewhat bizarre festival ,which takes place at a historic shrine, . This shrine was established in year eighteen of the Jinmu-tennō reign, which began in 660 BCE.
Personally, I don't eat things that are becoming endangered, but that is just me. However, the Japanese are at it again, expensive seafood, really, really expensive seafood.
Snow Monkeys Of Hell's Valley An incredible natural phenomena is happening in the Land Of The Rising Son as we traveled to one of the largest…
We had the once in a life time opportunity to enter the Imperial Palace Grounds and see the incredible structure assembled for this rare event know as "Daijōsai".
Last week we talked about the 9-year old drumming prodigy Yoyoka Kaneai and her original appearance on ellentube. She was invited on the show for a second time (first for Japanese citizen) to find out what happened in that most amusing original encounter.
My father came to Japan in 1968, at the invitation of Nissan Motor Co Ltd., and wore this hat. Datsun was the export brand of Nissan Motors cars.
What does a 9-year old Japanese child have to teach what is arguable one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful person in American show business? A little of the Japanese Way from Yokoka, the 9-year old drumming sensation to her very powerful and most gracious host.
The Beckoning Cat (maneki-neko) Often times, when you are going into a shop, you will see a cat with a paw raised up beckoning you into their store.
Last year this company also bought the prized itsukiboshi crab for a mere ¥2 million, and has now smashed its own Guinness book of World Records for the highest price ever paid for a crab.
The meaning of this important event is to celebrate the survival of their children, because as we all know historically understand, the mortality rate for young children in most parts of the world was very high. They pray to the Shinto Gods for the continuing healthy growth of their children in the coming years of youth into adulthood.
One attended a high school cultural festival and was highly intrigued by the haunted house assembled by the one of the grade 12 classes.
The Japanese never fail to amaze me when it comes to KAIZEN. As I'm sure many of you already know as fans of Japan, the Japanese take things from the outside world, and refine them to an extraordinary degree and make them uniquely Japanese.
The enthronement ceremony for Emperor Naruhito took place on October 22, 2019 (). I talked about the importance of the emperor to the Japanese in my first podcast back in May. If you care to listen to this podcast you can do so here ().
