When I came home back to California, I wanted to dig a little deeper into tanuki, so I watched Hayao Miyazaki'sPom Poko. It helped me gain a deeper understanding of how tanuki are perceived in Japan – as lazy, funny, resourceful, tricky creatures that remind them of their rural past. ...
Designed by artists Kazuo Kikuchi and Kiyoshi Ikebe, this monument is devoted to Sadako Sasaki and all the child victims of the nuclear… See on map Canal City HAKATA ,…@z tanuki Canal City Canal City Hakata is a large shopping and entertainment complex in Fukuoka, Japan. ...
I was talking recently with an editor about how much we appreciated the human editorial curation of manga magazines as we lamented the decline of manga magazines here. Reading is still a pretty popular pastime in Japan, and people are still buying those books, but they’re buying fewer of ...
As his father is the leader of a cult religion, Yukito Urabe is often at the mercy of his whims. One whim sees him tossed into the ocean with the belief that their god, Mitama, will save him. As he drowns, Yukito wishes to be reborn in a world without gods and religion. His wish...
Japan before big-box shopping centers began to sprout up. There are a few other interesting shops in Sanjokai but mostly it offers a look into the prosaic lives of regular folks’ shopping habits. Sanjokai is quite long, running the distance between Horikawa and Senbon Streets on Sanjo ...
What Is a Mao Suit? Also known as the Zhongshan suit (中山裝,zhōngshān zhuāng), the Mao suit is the Chinese version of a Western business suit. The Style A Mao suit is a polyester two-piece suit in gray, olive green, or navy blue. The Mao suit includes baggy pants and a tunic-...
Kaiju– 怪 (kai, mysterious) + 獣 (ju; beast), meaning “monster.” Most of Japan’s famous yokai are kaiju. Godzilla is a dai-kaiju, or “great monster.” Choshizen– 超 (cho; super) + 自然 (shizen; natural), meaning the supernatural, including mysterious natural phenomena. ...
Yakushima is undoubtedly best known in the popular imagination for its role in inspiring the forests of Hayao Miyazaki’sPrincess Mononoke. The forest is also featured in a number of Japanese cartoons, video games, and comics. Although Yakushima is very popular, it is remote enough that it is...