2012 was a big year for Tofugu. Besides surviving the end of the Mayan calendar (the universe could still implode, fingers crossed!), we welcomed another wonderful writer and a fantastic illustrator, Fiona and Aya, respectively.
We’ve also posted almost every single day this year, which has doubled the number of posts here on Tofugu. Crazy!
Now that we’re close to the end of the year, we thought that we’d take a look back on the 300+ posts from 2012 and pick out the best. Here are our favorite 10 posts of 2012, in no particular order:
10 Things I Wish I Knew About Japanese Learning When I Was First Starting Out
When you start out learning Japanese (or even while you’re still an intermediate learner), you have a long, scary road in front of you. Fortunately, you’re not the first person, not by a long shot, to go down this road.
That’s why this list by a veteran, Koichi, is so indispensible. Why go through the struggle firsthand when you can learn from another person’s experience? For saving everybody a load of time, this post about Japanese learning tips handily makes the list.
Japan, Why So Kawaii?
For decades, Japan has been known as the land of excessive cuteness — from Hello Kitty to rosy-cheeked Pokémon, Japan has “cute” on lock.
But why is every morning a kawaii morning? Why does everything have to be so damn cute?! For tackling one of the most prevalent phenomena of Japanese culture, this post easily makes the list.
How To Eat Like A Japanese Buddhist Monk
One of the biggest aspects of Japanese culture that brings people together is the food. I don’t think there’s a single person at Tofugu that doesn’t love a big bowl of ramen, some yakitori, or another kind of Japanese food.
What made this series of posts about Japanese monk food so appealing was not only did it talk about delicious, delicious Japanese food, but also because it talked about a type of Japanese food most people don’t ever see, and you get to see as Koichi goes through the process of making all of it himself.
I can tell you that that month of Koichi’s vegetarian diet was a struggle against his urge to eat meat; mostly, delicious, delicious bacon. If nothing else, this series should make the list to honor that noble sacrifice.
Japanese Web Design: Why You So 2003?
As a recent Cracked article pointed out, even though Japan has a reputation for being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, it can be surprisingly low-tech.
There’s no better example of Japan’s bipolar attitude towards technology than the japanese internet, which seems stuck in the past. This particular article on Japanese web design made the list because while we wrote a couple of articles about Japanese web technology, this one perfectly summed up how and why Japan’s internet seems to live in the past.
The 7 Immutable Laws Of Identifying A “Real” Japanese Restaurant
As I said about the Shojin Ryouri post, we love Japanese food; eatin’ it, talkin’ about it, and finding new and exciting places that serve it. That’s why Koichi’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek really struck a chord with us, and a lot of other people.
How can you tell which Japanese restaurants are authentic, and which one serve up orange chicken? Thanks to this article, you’ll know the signs.
Three Strikes And Still Not Out? Sadaharu Oh’s Home Run Record Controversy
Baseball is a huge sport in japan, but it seems like we only hear about it if a Japanese player like Ichiro or Yu Darvish comes over to the MLB. Because of that, I’d never heard of possibly the largest controversy in the history of Japanese sports.
It all surrounds Sadaharu Oh, Beastie Boy subject matter and the man who’s hit more career home runs than any other baseball player, alive or dead. His record has been chased for decades by a motley crew of gaijin ballplayers, but never broken.
I thought this was a great post because it broached a topic big in Japan, but not often talked about here on Tofugu, and did so thoroughly.
Kanji Hates The Ladies
This year was a big year for Tofugu and kanji. I don’t think we’ve even run as many posts about kanji as we did this year, including posts about kanji that look like their meanings, kanji born and raised in Japan and the kanji of the year.
We also debuted our latest creation, a kanji learning web app by the name of WaniKani.
This post about misogynistic kanji made the list not only because it relates back to the bigger theme of kanji, but also because it’s absolutely ridiculous. It really seems like kanji is just misogynistic from the get-go.
Fart Scrolls
The popularity of this post caught me really off-guard. I’d found the scrolls on another site, so I figured that fart scrolls were old news.
Not the case.
Over the course of a few days, traffic to Tofugu skyrocketed as people reveled in the joy of fart humor. I was pleased to see everybody from cartoonists I admire to celebrities sharing a Tofugu post. It even got its own Wikipedia page.
One reaction I didn’t expect was anger — anger that I’d put black bars over the naughty bits. I kinda get why people were upset, but I stand by my decision to block out wrinkly, illustrated cocks.
My girlfriend tells me all the time that fart scrolls will be my legacy to the world after I’m gone, and I hope that she’s simultaneously both right and wrong.
Aokigahara: Japan’s Haunted Forest of Death
Our posts about creepy, scary, and spooky things always seem really popular, but none more so than our post about Aokigahara, the suicide forest at the base of Mt. Fuji. Something about this real-life horror story really strikes a chord with people. The eerie darkness, and odd silence, it makes you want to believe that such a place doesn’t even exist.
For creeping us all the hell out and for being the most-viewed Tofugu post of 2012, this article about Aokigahara more than deserves its place on this list.
Crazy Japanese Horse Racing Simulator. Minus Horses. Minus Simulation.
I laughed uncontrollably for a couple of days after Koichi showed me this bizarre Japanese video game, although I’m not sure if you can really even call it a video game. It’s more like a work of art.
There’s not much you can really control in Japan World Cup. You kinda just press go and hold your breath as to whether the yeti, Trojan Horse, ninja, or dekotora will cross the finish line. Who will win? Who cares!
For being, for my money at least, the best Saturday Timewaster of perhaps all time, this post more than earns its spot on the list.
That’s the best of 2012 from us! We hope that 2013′ll be even better.
Did you favorite posts make the list? What would you liked to have seen on here? Let us know in the comments.