When we visited Japan earlier this year, we visited the famous Jigokudani Monkey Park (which you can read more about here), a place where Japanese macaques bathe in natural hot springs. I thought it was pretty funny that the monkeys were so spoiled in such a human way; the monkeys bathe in the same kind [...]
Japan, more than any other country, seems to have mastered the art of using adorable pets for internet fame. In the past we’ve covered some of Japan’s greatest cat videos (including the incomparable Maru), and the adorable combination of an old Japanese lady and her odd-eyed cat, and a little Japanese boy and his best [...]
Despite only owning a cat, I’ve always considered myself a dog person. More specifically, a Japanese dog person. Yes, I’m totally dogist against non-Japanese dogs (okay, Chow Chows and Malamutes are alright). On top of that, small dogs freak me out (so puntable). There are a couple of problems with loving Japanese dogs, though. First, [...]
The “Hibagon” (ヒバゴン), also known as “Hinagon” (ヒナゴン) is a mythical (or is it?) cryptic hominid hailing from the Bigfoot / Yeti family, though it lives in Japan. Although similar to these other creatures, it has some unique features of its own either making its existence more or less believable (I’ll let you decide). Having [...]
Unlike a lot of people, I’m not really big on going to the beach. I know that there’s this idyllic vision of sun and sand and fun and that sort of thing, but what people fail to realize is that the beach is the gateway to the ocean, home to some of the most terrifying [...]
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 to avoid having to insist “I swear it was this big!” to disbelieving friends and family. [...]
The more you study kanji the more (and less) they start making sense. A method to all the madness begins to develop and you begin to notice things…dangerous things, perhaps (or perhaps not). One of those things I came across recently was a sort of “sound attachment” to animal-related kanji. This isn’t something that always [...]
