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Category Archives: Japan
Early Japan: Ritualized Duels
What’s Wrong With Ritual? In doing a little research on the history of the yari, the Japanese word for “spear,” I came across a mention that battles in early Japan, circa 700 A.D., were highly ritualized affairs with lone warriors … Continue reading
On Excuses and Apologies
A Culture of Politeness One of my formative lessons in Japanese culture was an old National Geographic article about the cranked up, high stress, high velocity fresh fish business during the mid-80’s, when Japan was booming. It explained how no-fault … Continue reading
Blog Love: Onsen Meijin
I was looking around for some new blogs to look at, and I hadn’t yet discovered Onsen Meijin. A recent poster to my own blog pointed out that “meijin” (名人) means master, and has nothing directly to do with fame/ … Continue reading
Posted in Blog News, Grammar, Japan
Tagged bathing, culture, hot springs, Japan, onsen, Onsen Meijin
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Sushi, Diabetes and Frivolous Lawsuits
Overreach Here in the LA Times we have a story about a man with Diabetes who refused to eat the rice in an “all the sushi you can eat” special offer at a sushi restaurant, wanting only the fish. I … Continue reading
Random Oriental Wisdom, 2-24-11
Wisdom Comes In Various Forms The enemy of my enemy is my cannon fodder. – Random blog Seen in the context of a review of Star Driver episode 20, here. I found it quite amusing… and of real application in … Continue reading
Japanese: Places, Names, Fame and Renown
A Rose By Any Other Name What’s in a name? Today’s subject isn’t any particular place name; it is a term used for famous places as described in an essay on viewing Japanese prints, like ukiyo-e. There is, after all, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Japan, Tourism, Ukiyo-e
Tagged famous places, history, Japan, Japanese, Japanese prints, language, Tourism, ukiyo-e
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Origami
折り紙 The word “origami” is formed of the verb 折る (oru), in an infinitive form, and 紙 (kami), turned to “gami” as the second part of a compound word. I maintain that such pronunciation changes exist simply to make it … Continue reading
On Wars and Japanese Emperors
Losing The Plot So, I was reading another article in the Japan Times, this time on a playwright who is doing a play that examines the origin myth of the Japanese imperial line (which would be the Yamato line, for … Continue reading
On Japanese Popular Culture
Rejecting A Restrictive View In reading an article in the Japan Times about popular culture in Japan, the article takes a position that is overtly or covertly taken by many purported conveyors of wisdom about Japan: the position that popular … Continue reading
Extra! Extra! Gundam Exia Survives Gundam 00 Season 2
“Sighted” Via Twitter Some fans of Gundam 00 had wondered if Gundam Exia had even survived the end of the second season in some form, or if it had been completely destroyed, never to be utilized again in any way.