Ah, dogs. (Wo)man’s best friend! My profile picture is of Fionna hugging Cake the Cat, and I volunteer at a cat shelter on the weekend, but here’s the thing: I’m actually a dog person. So, why not write a post about dogs and Japan? Without further ado, I present to you Japan’s most noteworthy dogs! [...]
Today’s post is a continuation of the obake series, which so far has covered kitsune and tanuki. Obake (お化け) is a blanket term for the shapeshifters of Japanese folklore, with shapeshifting being a common trait. Other than that, though, anything goes: besides the animal-like obake, there’s also a plethora of shapeshifting housewares, namely the tsukumogami [...]
Modern day goldfish are believed to have descended from several red mutants of the Chinese funa carp. These mutants, or hibuna (ヒブナ), in turn mutated into the wakin (和金), the first goldfish that were brought into Japan in 1502. Since then, the humble wakin has given rise to dozens of varieties. However, only wakin has [...]
As many of you know, the Tofugu name is a combination of the Japanese words for tofu (tofu, obvi) and puffer fish (fugu). Tofu + fugu = Tofugu. Tofu itself isn’t very deadly, well at least I don’t think so, but fugu on the other hand can be lethal. Fugu are eaten regularly in Japan [...]
Although there have been some pretty big chimpanzees in American show-business, I don’t think I can ever remember one that had a bulldog for a best friend. Nor one that looked so good in overalls. For today’s Saturday timewaster, I’d like to share with you my favorite chimpanzee of all time. He lives in a [...]
Japan World Cup is a horse racing simulator… though the words “horse” and “simulator” should be taken with a grain kilogram of salt. First of all, the riders don’t necessarily ride horses. There’s anything from giraffes, zebras, yetis, elephants, seals, and more. Also, the riders have their own fun quirks. One of them is a [...]
Recently, Japan seems a lot like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. (No, not Psycho, but close.) Over the last twenty or so years, the crow population in Japan has simply exploded. They’re not quite pecking people to death, but they’ve nonetheless become an avian menace. Why have there been so many crows recently? Most people chalk [...]
