People have always had boundless creativity when it comes to doing harm to their fellow man – and a certain morbid appetite for watching them suffer. Nowadays, we get our (considerably tamer) kicks from hazing … [Read more...]
The word tebori (手彫り), literally “hand carving” describes the technique of tattooing by hand which first arose during the Edo period. There are still tattoo artists (彫師, horishi) that practice tebori today, but … [Read more...]
Any keen fisher(wo)men among our readers? Nowadays just about every phone is also a camera and a camcorder, so keeping a record of your latest catch is a trivial matter – and of course you’d want to, if only … [Read more...]
Japan owes a lot to China, there’s no doubt about that. Almost all Japanese kanji were adopted from Chinese characters. Even hiragana and katakana are just random modified bits of Chinese characters. … [Read more...]
Ikebana (生け花), literally “live flowers,” is the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. Its deceptively simple name hides years of history and cultural upheaval that began during the Meiji Restoration. … [Read more...]
Imagine this: You leave work at 3 am yet again, glumly thinking I’m going to become another karoshi statistic. The nearest capsule hotel is just a half-hour walk away, but you’re knackered and you know … [Read more...]