Everybody knows about Japan and their samurai. But did you know men weren’t the only ones being trained to kill, lead, and fight with deadly weapons back in feudal Japan? Lesser known than their male counterparts, the onna bugeisha played an important role in Japan’s history and Empress Jingu is perhaps the most legendary onna [...]
America’s 2012 Major League Baseball season is about to begin in a couple weeks. And I must say, sixty-six percent (Oops. I meant, seventy-five percent. Forgot about Kuu, sorry!) of us here in Tofugu-land can’t wait for the season to begin. It is also a headline heavy season for Japanese import players. Yu Darvish, the [...]
If you have been around Japanese natives for a decent amount of time, you’ll start noticing some of their unique quirks. Quirks, such as their behavioral differences, habits, and body language. There is one other idiosyncrasy that I’ve found to be interesting: superstitions. Superstitions are strongly integrated in Japanese society. If anything, I would say Japanese superstitions [...]
Japanese inventions are known all over the world for their ingenuity, inventiveness, and downright insanity. Just look at Dr. Nakamats (if you’re into the awesome insanity part). Chindogu inventions, however, personify most of the strange aspects of Japanese inventiveness and less so their aspects of practicality. For those of you familiar with Rube Goldbergism, Chindogu [...]
There’s a lot of music out there I just don’t really “get.” Everybody has genres of music that they don’t like or avoid, and that’s fine. To each his own. I always try to be open and receptive to different types of music, but one genre continues to confound and fascinate me. Let me introduce [...]
Ahhh, today’s blog post isn’t so much of a post, but an announcement of a new addition to our Guide library. It could easily be its own post, but we felt it is more appropriate to segregate it into a guide. About a month ago, we announced our intentions in developing How-To guides to help aid you, our [...]
For the last couple of weeks, our friend John has been tearing up the Saturday Timewasters, posting tons of music from his favorite bands and artists. I thought that I could step in this week and talk about my absolute favorite musical act from Japan, a DJ by the name of Nujabes. Nujabes was a [...]
