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Category Archives: Culture
The Resilience of the Japanese People
A Nation United by Disaster The March 11 (“3/11”) earthquake and tsunami disaster striking Japan has brought into sharp relief the basic resilience and sense of unity of the Japanese people. Whatever the faults of Japan, this is one of … Continue reading
Phantasy Star Online 2: Adventures in Fansubbing
So, I’ve Been A Busy Boy. This is not for the faint of heart, but I did the lion’s share/ heavy lifting for a fansub (“fan subtitled video”) of a “media briefing” (in the vernacular: press conference) for the still-in-development, … Continue reading
Some Things Just Snowball
A Comparison In Pictures A Daruma (doll). A group of yukidaruma . Yuki means “snow,” and “daruma” means, well, what you saw just above. Yukidaruma is Japanese for “snowman.” Japanese snowmen traditionally have one big snowball for the body, rather … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Japan, Japanese
Tagged daruma, Japan, Japanese, snowman, Yuki, yukidaruma
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Using Sushi to Teach Japanese
A Matter of Taste Last Tuesday, I was finally able to implement a plan for a Japanese lesson I’d had my heart set on: using sushi to teach Japanese vocabulary. It was a strong success. Somehow, people just remember things … Continue reading
Japan Cooking: Creamed broad beans and chicken
So sue me – I’m actually using Twitter for once. Thanks to that, I saw this at Asahi.com (the Asahi Shimbun being Japan’s leading paper IIRC) presenting a Japanese recipe for the above dish… in English. Check it out here. … Continue reading
Drama: Cutting Off One’s Hair In Japan
An Old Tradition One theme that arises in Japanese drama, be it film or anime, is a character dramatically cutting off her hair. This is signals some kind of dramatic, life-altering change.
The Japanese Art of Storytelling
I’ve written my thoughts about this before, to a point, but one of my enduring reasons for liking Japanese culture is the deep tradition of high quality storytelling that I have discovered within it.
Gaijin At Japanese Baths: One Woman’s Story
This isn’t a story of mine; rather, now that the Hiragana Times is following me on Twitter, I looked at the site (I vaguely recalled the publication) and saw this story about a Western woman’s outbreak of shyness and reluctance … Continue reading
Identity: The Group and the Self
A Difference In Perspective Culturally and linguistically, Japan and the West come from different starting points, even though the people on both sides often talk about the exact same things. In the West, when you are selfish, you prioritize yourself … Continue reading