Known colloquially as “kafunsho” (花粉症), allergic rhinitis is one of the most common allergic diseases in Japan. Known to us westerners as hay fever, this epidemic is responsible for sneezes, runny noses, plugged ears, and itchy eyes all over Japan. And with mid-February fast approaching, the time for hay fever hell is nigh. So what’s [...]
That covers all the news for this week. Did I miss anything? What did you think of the new format? Please let me know in the comments! Every week we gather up all the Japanese news that other people have written about and put it here, in our “Sunday News” column. Although this news may [...]
For the last couple of weeks, our friend John has been tearing up the Saturday Timewasters, posting tons of music from his favorite bands and artists. I thought that I could step in this week and talk about my absolute favorite musical act from Japan, a DJ by the name of Nujabes. Nujabes was a [...]
Legendary competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi made headlines once again this weekend when he emerged victorious at the annual Wing Bowl. In front of a screaming crowd of 20,000 fans, winning $20,000, Kobayashi smashed all records when he devoured 337 chicken wings in 30 minutes. At a little over ten wings a minute, Kobayashi can eat [...]
Japan is known to for their bizarre and over-the-top festivals. A few that come to mind are the 裸祭り (はだかまつり, Naked Festival), the かなまら祭り (かなまらまつり, Penis Festival), and the 御柱 (おんばしら, festival with the extreme log riding). Not all of their festivals are conceptually odd. It may surprise some of you that not all Japanese activities are [...]
Military forces all over the world are constantly trying to think of the next great weapon, the one device that will help them turn the tides of battle in their favor and crush the enemy. In World War 2, the Japanese thought that weapon would be a new battleship, bigger and greater than anything that [...]
I love food movies (especially when they’re cold food movies) but there is absolutely no (food) movie out there that’s better than the 1985 film Tampopo (タンポポ). Even when we’re rating outside the “food movie” spectrum (is there an Oscars category for that?), I’d still put this movie in my top 10 (and I bet [...]
