I’ve been really surprised lately. I’ve gotten a few emails from people that ask me why kanji is necessary. “Kanji is sooo hard” they say. “Why do Japanese bother learning kanji when they could just use a phonetic alphabet? I mean, they have hiragana already, why would you need kanji when hiragana does the same [...]
Having taken (and nearly failed) more chemistry courses than I would like to remember, I’m usually not particularly enthusiastic about molecular engineering. However, a recent news story caught my eye this morning. Apparently, Masayuki Nakao, a professor at Todai, has just debuted the smallest bowl of ramen known to man.
The other day I came across a copy of the video I made (with a few other folks) for my Japanese final at the end of high school. I’m probably wrong, but I feel like video finals in Japanese high school classes are very common. It’s something that links us all together somehow. Our video [...]
Today (in some time zones) is one of our Tofugu authors’ birthdays. Can you guess who? She’s the only female, she’s one of the top three writers, and she’s somewhere in that photo up there. The other two Tofugu writers would like to wish Erin a happy and safe twenty-first birthday! Thank you for writing [...]
Now that we’re safely out of winter, it’s time to lighten up! Put away your fuzzy scarves and down-filled jackets and opt instead for floaty fabrics and bright colors. Below are a list of some of the more popular styles being featured in Japanese fashion magazines this season. Unfortunately, I don’t usually read men’s fashion [...]
Last night, Steve Carell participated in one of the funniest SNL Digital Shorts I have seen in a long time. Now, it’s kind of a stretch, as far as Tofugu’s “Japanese Culture and Language” theme goes, but I feel that it’s interesting enough to warrant a post. Here’s the video, after the break:
Surprisingly, this morning I learned that it was Buddha’s birthday. The cool Frood is turning 2,571 years old today, so make sure you sing him a song (video comments, anyone??) and dip him in some ama-cha to clean him off (he only gets one bath a year). In celebration of today, I thought I’d do [...]