The Japanese Giant Wasp: Evil by association? I’ve mentioned Japanese (Giant) hornets a couple times on Tofugu, but they’ve never gotten their own post. That has made these giant Japanese Hornets angry… and you don’t want to see these things angry, trust me. This post is part of a week long series leading up to [...]
No, that’s not a stuffed animal staring you in the face. That’s Shunsuke, a 9 year old pomeranian from Japan. Shunsuke is sweeping the internet with boatloads of cute and he simply cannot be contained. He even published book as well as a calendar on his own. I’ve even heard rumors that he plans to [...]
It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally finished part 2 of Cat Island for TofuguTV. Whew, I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is! Now I can move on to things like monkeys, rabbits and deer… or *gasp* perhaps something totally not-animal related. There were a few of those, believe [...]
If you’re a super old school Tofugu reader, you might remember back in the day when Erin kicked off a series about mystical Japanese creatures called obake by writing about our large-balled racoon-dog friends, the tanuki. A whole three years later, I’ll be continuing the obake series with a write-up on kitsune. Hey, better late [...]
The most dangerous game. Japan, as a nation, has kind of an obsession with the beetle. It’s true – from real-life beetle sumo wrestling to all sorts of media appearance, beetles play an small but significant role in Japanese culture. The Japanese equivalent of man’s best friend? Not quite, but they’re definitely pretty important.
Welcome back to another Saturday Timewaster! I hope the next couple hours of your Saturday are clear (otherwise, you’ll need to clear your schedule and cancel that totally unimportant appointment). This post is all about Japanese cat videos… The best there is on the web (at least in my opinion).
Like this? You should see Tofugu’s “Studying Japanese With Drama Guide” – it’s like this post, but bigger (and better!). Okay, so I’ve been known to say that people should get off the couch and stop claiming they were learning Japanese from watching anime with subtitles. I think 99% of the time this is still [...]
Ever hear of a hydrozoa? Unless you’re a marine biology major or the Emperor of Japan between the years 1926 and 1989, then you probably haven’t. So what on earth is a hydro-whatsit, and what does it have to do with Japan? Turns out Emperor Hirohito was really into them.
Cat Island Japan. It’s an island covered in hundreds, maybe thousands of cats. People population? Under 100. This island has become a little tourist attraction for people who happen to like cats. You can take pictures of them, pet (some of) them, stay in cat-shaped lodging, and even visit a cat shrine. It’s a little [...]
After a quick night in Saitama, I made my way up to Nagano, from which I was able to go to Jigokudani. This place is known for its hot springs and it’s “hellish” landscape. What it’s really known for, though, is its monkeys, which chill warm up in the hot springs. That’s right. Monkeys. Monkeys [...]
