Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the Tohoku disaster so I thought it appropriate to waste your Saturday with some “Drive for Tohoku” CMs from Toyota. Toyota has played a large role in funding Japan’s recovery project and these new CMs have Kitano “Beat” Takeshi and Kimura Takuya driving around Fukushima for the sake [...]
Foods from other cultures can sometimes weird people out. It’s a typical response to be confused and/or repulsed something that’s not normal in your culture, but it’s always a good idea to try to understand it before you completely dismiss it. Case in point, one Japanese food has caused more controversy than any other: whale [...]
Japan has always been at the forefront of technology, whether it’s developing complex new robotics, or useless, useless crap. But I don’t think most people realize that when it comes to space technology, Japan is right up there with the United States and Russia. Though of course, Japan’s space program has its unique quirks that [...]
Japan is a delightful place to get your drink on. The drinking age is 20 and public drinking and intoxication are perfectly legal. Not surprisingly, alcohol is a huge part of Japanese culture. Proper drinking etiquette was briefly touched on in my Japanese Etiquette: How to Save Yourself from Embarrassment in Japan post, but I [...]
Japan is known for their crazy advanced technology the world over. And one thing that the Japanese have enjoyed for years that has yet to catch on in America is ridiculously complicated and awesome toilets. Take the poop-powered motorcycle for example. And some toilets even include games for you to play while you relieve yourself. [...]
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 [...]
Does riding down a hill on top of a giant log at high speeds sound a little bit dangerous to you? Good. Then you’ll probably want to be in the audience if you ever make it to the Onbashira-sai festival, held every six years in the Lake Suwa area of Nagano, Japan. The last one [...]
