Archive for 'Places'
Crazy Delicious Japanese Rice Paddy Art
Posted on 05. Jan, 2009 by koichi.
This is pretty old news, but something I only came across today while browsing JapanSoc. Apparently a village in Japan called Inakadate (田舎館) has a ridiculously awesome festival where hundreds of people help out and plant different varieties of rice that grow up to be different colors (and thus create images like the ones you see above). They started doing this to reinvigorate the town, and it’s done quite well! In 2006 there were 200,000 visitors alone. That has to do something good for their economy. Let’s take a look at some of the rice paddies they’ve made up till now! (more…)
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Obama-City, Japan Celebrates for some reason
Posted on 06. Nov, 2008 by koichi.
I’m not sure why, but the city of Obama (Japan) is celebrating for some reason…did something happen recently that I’m not aware of? Who the heck is this guy in the picture anyways?
I kid, I kid. It’s no secret that Japan loves Obama (not to mention most of the modern world), but if the name of your city is Obama, then that means you’ve got to jump on this opportunity to make your city a little famous, and possibly get a few tourist dollars out of it as well (er…maybe not dollars. Nobody wants those anymore). (more…)
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Jesus’ Life, Family, and Death (in Japan)
Posted on 17. Sep, 2008 by koichi.
Forget that bible thing. Someone must have edited out the good part. You know, the part where it says that Jesus came to Japan when he was 21 to study theology, returned to Judea at the age of 33 to preach, and then got crucified…or so we all thought! (more…)
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Plasticky Crêpes
Posted on 03. Aug, 2008 by Viet.
Let’s change up the pace a bit. Enough with the language lectures; let’s talk about crêpes!
What is so interesting about crêpes you might ask? Not a whole lot. I’m just salivating for a crêpe at this very moment, hence a small reason I’m writing this article. What does it have to do with Japan? (more…)
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Nara’s Super-Creepy New Mascot wants you to Win a Japanese Textbook!
Posted on 10. Mar, 2008 by koichi.
This Contest has been extended to April 9, 2008!
Nara-City, the capitol city of Nara prefecture, is known for it’s beautiful temples and overly aggressive biting deer monsters. This year, Nara Heijo-Kyo Capitol is celebrating its 1300th year anniversary, and will be holding a big a event. Usually when this kind of thing happens, whoever is running the event comes up with an over the top mascot that cutes you into coming. This year, the Association for Commemorative Events seems to be taking the opposite approach.
Perhaps the event is expecting too many people, and Nara is too small to support them, so they are trying to scare visitors away? What’s he doing with his hand? Trying to touch you in inappropriate places? He kind of looks like Buddha…except for the fact that he has antlers coming out of his head. I would never spend any time alone with this guy. In fact, I wonder how he eats, because no restaurant I know of would let someone with no shoes and no shirt in, even if summers do get warm. Also, I know what the thing on his forehead is supposed to be, but honestly, it just looks like a third nipple (actually, his only nipple from the looks of things) smack dab between his eyes. Nara Association of Commemorative Events, what were you thinking? (more…)
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Customizable Cup Noodles
Posted on 04. Nov, 2007 by Erin.
Come lunchtime sophomore year of high school, all the cool kids were eating Cup Noodles. I wasn’t cool, unfortunately, but I loved them as well—with an instant ramen in my hands, I looked very much like that kid in the picture up there: excited, elated, and full of MSG-goodness.
Towards the end of the school year, though, the novelty of eating freeze-dried foodstuffs was wearing off, and that urban legend about the guy with the waxy stomach started going around, so Cup Noodles went the way of Twinkies and Spaghetti O’s—I just kind of stopped eating them, and eventually I forgot them all together. That is, of course, until I discovered the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum, which has rekindled my love of all things Nissin. (more…)
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Putting the “hu” in Tofugu
Posted on 14. Sep, 2007 by Erin.
I recently had a discussion with my friend Max about the nuances of Japanese pronunciation (maybe not so recently; it was when I was back home in Hawaii). One of the more interesting things we talked about was the fact that, in Japanese, there’s no “f” sound. This is a result of the fact that Japanese people don’t fold/bite their bottom lip when pronouncing it; they shape their mouth almost as if they were blowing out a candle (go on, give it a try). So, in Japanese, the “f” in fu (ふ) is pronounced more like an “h”, and the sound becomes hu.
Consequently, Japanese words that have been incorporated into the American vocabulary (such as tofu, futon, or Mt. Fuji) are not really pronounced the way most people think they are. For example, it’s not “tofu”, it’s “tohu”. Of course, when the Japanese word for “bean curd” (とうふ or 豆腐) is romanized, it’s still written as “tofu” because… well, just because. It’s traditional, maybe. (more…)
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Storytime: Mori Building, Tipping, and Coldstone Japan
Posted on 12. Aug, 2007 by koichi.
A little while back, the Tofugu team went on an excursion to Japan. One of the things we really wanted to see was the Mori building. More specifically, we wanted to ascend the Mori building and then look at everything not inside it. Being one of the best city-views Japan had to offer, we thought we’d give it a shot; unfortunately on our way there, we were accosted by an overly friendly Coldstone employee who helped us find our way there…by physically leading us to the foot of the building. At this point, we knew we had to go back and get some ice cream goodness. The guy helped us out, right?
On our way back to Coldstone, we started up a discussion. Like most Coldstones, do they accept tips in exchange for singing? Normally, the answer to this would be easy. (more…)
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Japan’s Top Producer of Ugly Women: Gunma*
Posted on 06. Aug, 2007 by Erin.
*Paraphrased translation of 「ブスの産地」日本一は「群馬県」 from the Shukan Shincho website.
According to a recent online poll conducted by Livedoor, a Japan-based internet service provider, the women of Gunma Prefecture (群馬県) are the most unattractive in Japan. Ouch. That’s right, out of Japan’s 47 prefectures, Gunma, located in the middle of the Japanese archipelago, placed dead last.
Of course, the men of Gunma had something to say about the poll. Some “were not surprised about the results”. One college student observed, “Now that you mention it, there aren’t many pretty women in Gunma”. Others, such as those who work in the Gunma Prefectural Government, found the poll to be a bit more upsetting.
One such official dismissed the unofficial results, speculating that (more…)
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Restaurant: Ninja Akasaka
Posted on 29. Jul, 2007 by Erin.
I came upon this Ninja Akasaka’s website while planning a trip to Japan with the Tofugu team; when I presented the idea of going there to the boys, they were excited, to say the least. Even when I started to have second thoughts and tried to talk them out of going, they wouldn’t hear of it. They pouted, they whined, they eventually won me over. Ok, so only Koichi pouted.
So it was, one chilly Tokyo winter night, we found ourselves in Akasaka (赤坂), anxiously awaiting our dinner. “I will be very disappointed if we come out of this restaurant alive,” said Viet. (more…)
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