Japanese sparkling water beer is the medicine that helps the salaryman endure their boss’ off pitch karaoke during the frequent work parties. It is the refreshing, crisp drink that gets the common Japanese red-faced in only half a pint. Those who have had the pleasure of drinking the more popular “dry” variety can probably describe them as [...]
In Japanese and Asian cultures, there are many physical traits that are considered to be attractive. A lot of the attractive traits are universally true across most cultures, but there are a few that are more specific to Japan. For instance, yaeba (snaggle tooth), anyone? Photo Source: Smosh Unfortunately, I’m not here to talk about [...]
The Gregorian system is the internationally accepted calendar system. Japan officially adopted a variant of the Gregorian in 1873. Before the adoption, Japan primarily used a seven day calendar system lunisolar system for roughly 1200 years. Some of the elements of the system carried over to the Gregorian. Have you ever given thought about the [...]
It may come as a surprise to many of you that Japanese doctors generally don’t tell the truth. You are probably asking yourself, what does this author mean? It means exactly as how it sounds. Japanese doctors have a reputation of not being transparent in their actions and holding back pertinent information about your health. [...]
There is plenty of drama that exists between Japan and the international community. Japan and its whaling? Japan’s and Korea’s fight for territorial islands? The bad blood between Japan and China post Asian Pacific Wars? The list goes on and on and on. There is so much drama that it would make the self-proclaimed “We [...]
America’s 2012 Major League Baseball season is about to begin in a couple weeks. And I must say, sixty-six percent (Oops. I meant, seventy-five percent. Forgot about Kuu, sorry!) of us here in Tofugu-land can’t wait for the season to begin. It is also a headline heavy season for Japanese import players. Yu Darvish, the [...]
Many of you may heard of 棒倒し (botaoshi, literal: knocking-over pole), one of many fine activities to come out of Japan. Is it as awesome as yukigassen or as dangerous as onbashira? How about a little of both? The best way to describe the sport is its mix of capture the flag, rugby, and king of [...]
If you have been around Japanese natives for a decent amount of time, you’ll start noticing some of their unique quirks. Quirks, such as their behavioral differences, habits, and body language. There is one other idiosyncrasy that I’ve found to be interesting: superstitions. Superstitions are strongly integrated in Japanese society. If anything, I would say Japanese superstitions [...]
Ahhh, today’s blog post isn’t so much of a post, but an announcement of a new addition to our Guide library. It could easily be its own post, but we felt it is more appropriate to segregate it into a guide. About a month ago, we announced our intentions in developing How-To guides to help aid you, our [...]
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 [...]
