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Category Archives: Japan
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
Noren: Japanese Fabric Dividers
暖簾 (のれん) The kanji for “noren” are 暖, which is used for “atatakai” (warm), and 簾, which is used for screen/ blind in the furnishing sense. Perhaps we should therefore understand the original intent as warmth blinds, blinds intended to … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Japan
Tagged art, blind, culture, divider, fabric, furnishing, hot spring, Japan, noren, screen
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Kaze: The Wind
風 (かぜ) The wind (kaze) is all around us. It can be gentle (yasashii) or violent (hageshii).
No Street Names In Japan?
Here’s a fun post I was linked to. The post is by a certain Derek Silvers. It explains that in Japan, streets don’t have the names, but blocks do. Details – and visuals – at the link. I hadn’t thought … Continue reading
Mecha in Gaming: The Virgola / Setsuko Ohara
Not In An Anime Near You The Virgola is a fictional machine designed as a video game original for the crossover mecha game Super Robot Taisen Z (Super Robot Wars Z). By “original,” we mean that it does not appear … Continue reading
Posted in Gundam, Japan, video games
Tagged gaming, Gundam, Japan, mecha, Setsuko, SRW, suparobo, super robot, video games, Virgola
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Culture Gap: Students Cleaning Toilets
Different Strokes I was reading this story about an American teacher placed on administrative leave for having an unwritten rule requiring students to clean the classroom toilet with paper towels and bleach. Well, there’s definitely a serious culture gap here.
Posted in Culture, Japan
Tagged cleaning, controversy, culture, culture gap, Japan, schools, students, toilets
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