According to a poll taken in the year 2000, the Japanese believe their best invention of the 20th century was instant noodles (the second best was the Walkman). In 2010, it is estimated approximately 95 billion servings of instant noodles were eaten worldwide. It all started in the sleepy town of Ikeda located in northern...Read More
We all know the Japanese are “very polite.” In Japan being polite goes beyond just saying excuse me or thank you. In Japanese, the word is “teinei.” Teinei goes beyond the English word “polite” because it applies to far more than just people and their actions. Additional meanings of the Japanese word “teinei” include courteous, careful,...Read More
Sake making began about two thousand years ago when rice planting was introduced to Japan. Fushimi is one of the biggest sake producing areas in Japan. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the lord of Osaka Castle, built Fushimi Casle in the late sixteenth century, the sake industry in the surrounding city of Fushimi flourished. Many sake breweries...Read More
Happy New Year! Akemashite Omedetou in Japanese! Christmas displays at department stores, grocery stores and train and subway stations are changed to New Year displays over night. The changes are made quickly but thorough. To the righ, you can see a display where various colored chrysanthemums and plum branches are put into bamboo stems, and...Read More
“Tora Tora Tora” (Tiger Tiger Tiger) is a Japanese party/drinking game played by Maiko with their clients. The game is another version of “Jyan ken pon” (the Japanese name for Rock, Paper, Scissors). The game is played between two players who start on opposite sides of a wall, or as in this case, a rice...Read More
Paths Paths are generally constructed of beaten earth that can be left plain or covered with sand or fine gravel, on top of which stepping stones can be placed. Irregular, flat stepping stones were used in the tea roji to guide the visitor to the tea house. Later stepping stones were introduced into other gardens....Read More
We continue our discourse of Japanese Gardens with this discussion of some of the elements commonly used in Japanese gardens. Waterfalls Waterfalls are used to indicate where water enters a pond, to highlight a scene or to provide a focus. The decorative use of rocks, another important element of Japanese gardening, can be found in both...Read More
Japanese Gardens 101 – Part 2: Japanese Garden Types We continue our garden discussion with a brief description of some of the common Japanese garden types. It should be noted that few gardens will be just one these types. Most gardens could be classified into two or more of these types. Pond Gardens The idea...Read More
Anyone who knows me can tell you that I love movies. Of course, it is only natural that I love Japanese movies. When thinking about Japanese movies, the name of Akira Kurosawa will always be mentioned. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Kurosawa directed 30 films. He is widely regarded as one...Read More
There is no doubt the Japanese have an extraordinary sense of aesthetics. This is evident from their traditional, colorful, silken kimonos to their trend-setting modern clothing designs, the stylized theatrical arts of Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku and their elegant but simple Ikebana floral arrangements. But perhaps this sense of aesthetics is no more evident than in...Read More
