Growing up in a computerized world, I’ve never really thought too much about the problems faced by people using typewriters. It’s pretty damn hard to make a Japanese typewriter (known in Japanese as a 和文タイプライター). Instead of the simple 26 letters in the English alphabet, Japanese has 48 hiragana, 48 katakana, and thousands and thousands [...]
Note: Tofugu and its staff are not responsible for any changes to the fabric of time that may directly or indirectly negatively affect you or someone you know. All time travel was done without malice and for research purposes only. Some names have been left out to prevent time-travel-related problems in the future. Please refer [...]
Japan and vegetarianism have kind of a strange relationship. Buddhism is deeply intertwined with Japan culture and, with it, the respect for all life. The most devout Buddhists observe this reverence towards life in their diets, avoiding eating meat entirely. As we’ve covered before, there’s even a type of vegetarian cuisine meant just for Japanese [...]
Last time I wrote about the beginnings of Japanese baseball. That’s where it all started, and what an interesting story it was. Now I want to talk about the post-war years, when Japanese baseball really started to become good, as in, can-beat-an-American-team-sometimes good. Japan has really come into its own on the world baseball stage [...]
There’s no arguing that a lot of what we consider stereotypically Japanese actually came from elsewhere. Japan has China to thank for the Japanese language, which is also where ramen is from. Tempura, konpeito, and castella cake came by way of the Portuguese; likewise, curry was introduced by the British. The gakuran and the sailor [...]
As the World Baseball Classic comes to a close, I think it has become clear that Japan is indeed a force to be reckoned with in terms of the world of baseball. Sure, they didn’t win it this year, but another trip to the championship round after winning it all the previous two Classics isn’t [...]
Shinto is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people and it is as old as Japan itself. Today it remains Japan’s major religion alongside Buddhism and Christianity. Most people who have any interest in Japanese culture are aware of this, but how many people actually know the intricacies that make up Shinto and its beliefs? [...]
