It’s always strange to see which Westerners are famous in Japan yet unheard of in their own homelands. Aside from foreigner tarento who appear on TV shows, commercials, and magazines today, there are a lot of historical figures who are basically unknown in their home countries, even centuries after their deaths.

We’ve written before about the American man behind the Japanese phrase “Boys, be ambitious,” and the father of the Japanese word for hotchkiss “stapler,” but their contributions to Japan were pretty shallow. It’s definitely cool and interesting that these Westerners made contributions to the Japanese language that are still around today, but it’s not as if they really affected the culture or history.

One Westerner who made a major impact on Japanese history is not only pretty much completely unknown in his native land, but people will probably mistake him for a fast food clown. The man I’m talking about is, of course, Ranald MacDonald.

Before Ray Kroc began serving billions and billions worldwide, there was Ranald MacDonald. Blissfully unaware of how laughable his name would become in centuries to come, MacDonald was a significant figure in opening Japan to the world and bringing the English language to the country.

Lemme back up a bit. MacDonald was born in Tofugu’s home state of Oregon in the early 1800^s during a time when Japan was more or less closed to outsiders. The mystique of the closed country mixed with MacDonald’s supposed Asian ancestry and encounters with Japanese castaways lead him to an intense interest in Japan.

Determined not to let a little thing like the Tokugawa shogunate stop him from visiting Japan, MacDonald eventually found his way over to Japan. Instead of trying to get into Japan through negotiations or official channels, MacDonald did the only logical thing: intentionally shipwreck himself.

Dramatic recreation of MacDonald’s landing

MacDonald joined up with a whaling ship sailing past Japan and more or less just hopped out on his own ship when he was close enough. He landed in Hokkaido and, after being taken in by the Japanese, found his way down to Nagasaki.

Back in the Edo Era, Nagasaki was the one city in Japan where foreigners were allowed, and usually only Dutch traders at that, so MacDonald was a rarity in a big way. Japanese officials, sensing the value of the English language, tasked MacDonald with teaching English to an elite few.

After several months of teaching English to samurai, MacDonald was shipped back to America, where he lived out his life more or less uneventfully. For the rest of his life, he had nothing but good things to say about Japan and, supposedly, his last words were Japanese.

In a lot of ways, MacDonald is the father of the English language in Japan. In a time when only the Dutch were permitted to have anything to do with Japan, English was more or less non-existent in Japan before MacDonald. He unwittingly started the long, beautiful tradition of English teachers coming to Japan and leaving after a year. Maybe they should rename JET?

MacDonald was an ALT before JET was JET

More importantly, MacDonald lay the foundation for the English speaking world to communicate with Japan. Some of MacDonald’s students were directly involved in the negotiations with Commodore Perry when he and his black ships landed on Japan a few years after MacDonald’s visit.

You could argue that MacDonald was the first of what would become many foreign advisors to help Japan through the Meiji Restoration, but unfortunately MacDonald rarely receives that recognition.

At the very least, MacDonald’s legacy isn’t completely tarnished by a fast food clown; at least, not in Japan. The McDonald corporation’s mascot is known as ドナルド マクドナルド, or “Donald McDonald” in Japan, leaving MacDonald’s name untainted.

But if I find out that there’s a Japanese historical figure named “Hamburgler,” I’m just going to give up on everything.

Wallpapers/GIFs

Here are some bonus wallpapers and animated GIFs (that’s “GIF” with a hard G) courtesy of our very talented illustrator, Aya!

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Instead of a regular post today, I wanted to post up a few things. To be fair, one of the sections of this post is about a ginormous guide that was originally going to be this post (but was too guide-y), so if you’re looking for your regular dose of Japanese content, just jump to the link in section one and have yourself a fine ol’ time.

How To Count Anything In Japanese (The Guide)

I wanted to write a guide on Japanese counters that was a little different than most guides out there. We already have a very basic Japanese counters guide up in the Guides Section, so obviously I didn’t want to just do that again. I think one of the problems with Japanese counters guides is that they don’t really contextualize things very well. Sure, 一匹 means “one small animal,” but… what is a “small animal?” What isn’t a “small animal”? What is sometimes a “small animal” but sometimes not a “small animal?”

The only way to figure that sort of things out is by experience, so I wanted to create a guide that would give you some of that experience by listing things that can be counted by various counters. In my Japanese counters guide, I list the counter, its reading, and its meaning. Then, below it, I wrote out a list of things that can be counted in that way. Read that list to understand and contextualize how the counter works. It’s not just a “small animal,” it’s a dog, a cat, a mosquito, a frog, a tortoise, etc.

Go To: How To Count Anything In Japanese

I hope you enjoy this guide and I hope it is helpful to you over the next couple of months / years of Japanese study. Don’t try to learn it all at once, but definitely use it as a reference to understand counters you’ve learned but don’t completely understand yet.

“Project Kuma”

Like I mentioned before, “Kuma” (it won’t be called Kuma, but this is like a super-secret code name) is a site that will have Japanese materials that intermediate / advanced level students of Japanese can use to use to study and bridge that gap between advanced and fluency. It will be flexible, allowing someone to use the materials to focus on things that they need the most help with. Most important of all, the materials will be more interesting than the standard Japanese language resources, hopefully making it more fun to learn.

My “minimum viable product” version of “Kuma” is nearly complete, which means I’m going to be sending out emails to Forever members on TextFugu soon. If there are enough unicorns in the air and if you collect and send to me all your tears, maybe the first invite will go out later this week. If there’s not enough magic, then the first part of next week is looking pretty good. It won’t be everything at once (because things will surely break), so if you are a Forever member on TextFugu and don’t get one right away, don’t fret too much. They’ll be rolling out to you soon. And yes, just like I said last time, TextFugu Forever members get “Kuma” Forever subscriptions on the house. So a big grizzly thumbs up to you.

After that I’ll open things up and have some kind of special Alpha pricing. Anyways, that’s the update on that.

Tofugu Summer Internship 2013

Recently we got all fancy and got ourselves an office. That means we can have real, live interns (not that they’re usually dead, I just mean in-person). This year we’ll be doing just that. We’ve mainly contacted Pacific Northwest area schools, but I know that there are a decent number of Washington and Oregon State Tofugu reader students out there who may or may not be interested in this position. If you are indeed one of those people, please pop on over to http://jobs.tofugu.com to learn more about the summer internship program that we’re offering.

Bonus Wallpapers!

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Last week I wrote a post about how male-female cohabitation is viewed in Japan and the concept of share houses came up a lot in the comments. Two weeks ago I knew very little about the Japanese concept of share houses but now that I’m more informed on the subject it seems like something worth exploring, especially if you’re thinking of moving and living in Japan at some point. So what makes share houses worth living in and what sort of people would you expect to find in one? Let’s find out.

The Concept

Share houses are pretty similar to dorms or big hostels/apartments. A handful of people all live under the same roof and share common living areas, the kitchen, and bathrooms. At the very least they’ll have a bedroom to themselves which can be stocked with their own mini fridge and television. That way the most private of folk can pretty much live out of their bedrooms. But if you’re that private, you probably shouldn’t be living in a share house in the first place.

Like apartments, there’s some sort of landlord or administrator overseeing things at the share house so if any disagreements arise during your stay, you can always take it up and work it out with the landlord. Since you don’t really know the people you’ll be living with, chances are something will come up at some point.

Share houses are most common in city areas and can range from pretty basic set ups to lavish living arrangements. Some even come pre-loaded with cutlery, appliances, and furnishings.

Who Are They For?

While there are no restrictions on who can live in these share houses, they seem to be most popular with people in their 20s and 30s, mostly students and young adults new to the workforce. With the average stay being anywhere from a month to a year, share houses don’t seem to be all that popular for long-term housing. However, they’re great if you’re staying in Japan for longer than it would make sense to live out of a hotel but not so long that you’d actually want to rent or buy a house or apartment.

There are also these so-called “gaijin houses” that are basically share houses geared towards foreigners living in Japan. Those would be better if you’d like to live with people who (most likely) speak English, but where’s the fun in that? Nowhere. The answer is nowhere.

Pros and Cons of Share Houses

Share houses are great for those living on a budget. Most don’t even require deposits or initial fees of any kind as is common in the United States. Even when a share house does have initial fees, they’re usually pretty low. Costs of living can vary greatly depending on the location and condition of the share house and you should expect to pay between 40,000 to 100,000 yen (~$395-$985) per month per person, depending on the share house in question.

Living alone in Japan can be expensive. Add in the fees you have to pay before you actually move in and all the furnishings and appliances you have to purchase and you’re spending a lot of money. Share houses are definitely a lot cheaper than living on your own.

Share houses are great for those who enjoy living with others and like to socialize. Or maybe you’re a foreigner and just want to be around Japanese people to practice speaking with all the time. However, all this social exposure isn’t for everyone so if you are a very private person or can’t handle sharing a bathroom or kitchen, share houses obviously won’t be your thing. And then there’s all the usual roommate issues, plus you don’t really get to pick who you live with in share houses so you might get stuck with a few weirdos.

Share houses can be co-ed but some offer male only or female only houses as well. Some people aren’t so keen on living with the opposite sex, so that’s definitely something to keep in mind if you’re looking for a share house. This seems to be more geared towards women who don’t want to live with males, but I’m sure there are some guys out there who would prefer not to live with lady roommates as well.

Also, share houses aren’t available everywhere. Most of them are concentrated in the big cities and their surrounding areas so you might have some trouble finding one out in the country.

How to Find a Share House

Speaking of finding a share house, what’s the best way to find one? Well, the internet is here to help. Since they know that share houses/gaijin houses are popular with foreigners, a lot of these share house websites will also be in English. Like with any sort of living arrangement, there are big firms owning many share houses and smaller ones that don’t own many and will require more searching around for.

If you Google “Share House in Japan“, or “シェアハウス“, you’ll get plenty of results to browse through. It all depends on where you’re planning to live or visit, but you should be able to find something suitable to your needs. It also helps a great deal if you can read Japanese, especially for those intimidating results from that second search.

Most of the pictures I’ve seen of share houses look pretty nice. They definitely seem like a great option if you’re looking for a short to medium term living arrangement while in Japan and you enjoy the company of others. If you’re thinking of spending some time in Japan, I’d recommend giving these share houses a healthy consideration.

So tell me, have you ever lived in or visited a Japanese share house? What do you think of them? Would you ever live in one yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Every Sunday we gather the week’s weird and interesting Japanese news and present it to you in our Sunday News column. It might not always be hard-hitting news, but we hope that it still informs and entertains you. Enjoy!

Japanese artist Mari Miyazawa plays with her food. Like, a lot. As a parent, she sent off her kids with homemade bento lunches, that much is normal; but where Miyazawa differs from most mothers is that her bento creations are works of art.

They’ve been featured in photo exhibitions and on TV shows in Japan and abroad. You’ve probably seen bento art before, but Miyazawa is maybe the most prolific and skilled of the many bento artists out there.

Bento art is called キャラ弁 in Japanese, a combination of the word for “character” and “bento,” and Miyazawa is a master at creating different characters using lunchtime materials.

Bento Theater

Not content with just her amazing bento box art, Miyazawa has dipped her toes into animation as well. Her YouTube channel is full of what she calls “Bento Theater.”

You can find a whole playlist here.

Do It Yourself

Maybe the best part about Miyazawa’s YouTube channel is the instructional videos; she’s kind enough to show us all how she whips up her amazing culinary works of art.

Putting together these dishes might not be especially easy or practical for you to do. Still, Miyazawa’s artistry is inspirational and might be enough to encourage me to

• Official site
• YouTube channel
• Facebook page

via Metafilter

More than sushi, okonomiyaki, or any other recognizably Japanese food, ramen is arguably the most popular food in Japan. It’s inexpensive, you can find it virtually anywhere in Japan, and everybody seems to have their own take on it.

As you might have guessed from my Ramen Survival Guide, between all of the different broths, styles, and toppings, you can find a ton of different varieties of ramen in noodle shops in Japan.

For most people, that variety is enough; but some ramen shops go completely off the map to push the limits of ramen and entice customers with novelty dishes. Strange toppings and unusual broths help noodle shops stand out from an increasingly saturated market.

The strangest thing of all? Most of these strange dishes are actually really, really good. Here are some of the strangest ramen dishes that Japanese noodle shops have cooked up in recent years:

Tequila Ramen

Unsurprisingly, Japan makes notoriously bad Mexican food, so I was a little apprehensive when I first heard about the tequila ramen at Kouno noodle shop (麺や河野). But against all odds, the Tokyo restaurant’s concoction of lime, a shot of tequila, and cilantro work well together.

Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that the combination tastes good—after all, Vietnamese phở also uses lime and cilantro as garnish, so maybe throwing in some tequila isn’t that radical after all.

Ramen Burger

Japanese fast food chain Lotteria is notorious for cooking up some strange, strange hamburgers; past hits have included the oversized shrimp burger named in honor of Japanese comedian Sugi-chan, and a nine patty burger to celebrate an anime movie.

More recently, Lotteria teamed up with ramen restaurant Menya Musashi to create a ramen burger. A batch of ramen is fried up in the shape of a patty, then pork and mayonnaise or added before it’s placed between two buns.

Not quite the traditional way that you see ramen served, but more or less par for the course for Lotteria.

Ice Cream Ramen, Colorful Broth

If you’re looking for strange ramen, look no farther than Tokyo ramen shop Kikuya (菊や). Kikuya offers unusual ramen dishes in all varieties, using all sorts of ingredients and tricks to interest even the most dyed-in-the-wool ramen eater.

For one, there’s the color selection:

At Kikuya, you can get ramen with broth of virtually any color, including purple, red, and sky blue. While it looks pretty unnatural, the colorful broth is anything but; the color comes from natural ingredients like red cabbage, and clever mixing.

Kikuya also offers a ramen dish topped with an ice cream cone slide down the middle. According to ramen lore, a child came into the shop on a hot day and asked for ice cream, joking with the chef that an ice cream ramen would be ideal.

Being the genius that he is, the owner decided to turn this joke into a reality. Before long, Kikuya’s ice cream ramen became its signature dish.

The strange menu at Kikuya is way too long to go through in full here—between the colorful broth, ice cream ramen, and other oddities like cheese (think Kraft singles) ramen, cocoa ramen, and battery (think alkaline) ramen, you could spend weeks sampling Kikuya’s unorthodox offerings.

Pineapple and Strawberry Ramen

Ramen is a very savory dish; you don’t grab a bowl of ramen when you’ve got the hankering for something sweet. Because of that (and the fact that you don’t find too much fruit in ramen to begin with), the sometimes sweet dishes from Tokyo ramen shop Papapapapine (パパパパパイン) are a little surprising.

Papapapapine’s most famous dish is its pineapple ramen, which comes complete with chunks of pineapple and a pineapple-based broth. You can see Papapapapine’s pride in its specialty dish from the pineapple-shaped lantern hanging outside of the shop, its pineapple-yellow counters, and the ceramic pineapples adorning the restaurant.

Aside from its signature dish, Papapapapine also offers a strawberry ramen, aptly named Susususustrawberry. Like the pineapple ramen, Susususustrawberry has chunks of fruit floating in the soup, and the broth is strawberry-based with a little cream.

You can add condensed milk to taste, for a combination that seems more like a dessert than a meal. Despite the unorthodox combinations, reports are that both dishes are actually pretty good.

Taco Ramen

Ivan Orkin is a New Yorker who’s famous around the world for being one of the few gaijin to open a successful ramen business (アイバンラーメン AKA Ivan Ramen) in the fiercely competitive Japanese market.

While being a gaijin has been more than enough to make Ivan Ramen stand out, Orkin’s uses some unusual. In addition to using rye, an unorthodox ingredient by Japanese standards, to make the noodles themselves, a few years back Orkin created his own take on taco rice—taco ramen.

Taco rice is actually a pretty common dish in Japan, but it’s unusual for ramen to be used as a substitute for rice, and Orkin, an American from New York City, adds his own American touch to the dish.

In addition to the house-made noodles that Ivan Ramen has become known for, the taco ramen has lettuce, tomato, and beef with taco seasoning. No broth whatsoever, nor any of the typical toppings you’d see on your average bowl of ramen.

It was a seasonal special a few years ago, so you won’t be able to get it anymore; which is unfortunate, because it sounds delicious (and would probably go well with the tequila ramen).

Ramen has changed a lot over the last century as it’s come to almost dominate Japan’s culinary landscape. New techniques and approaches, like miso and double soup ramen, have become commonplace.

So while you probably won’t find chunks of pineapple in purple broth in your typical ramen shop anytime soon, I think that it’s great that ramen chefs across Japan continue to dream up new dishes that push the boundaries of ramen.

Chances are, if you’ve ever been to a Japanese or Chinese restaurant, you’ve probably seen one. Their happy looking eyes. Their little paws that beckon you towards them. That cute mouth that just seems to say “Hey you! Buy some egg rolls!” Yes, I’m talking about Japan’s beckoning cat, maneki-neko. They’re common in restaurants, stores and anywhere else where bringing in people means bringing in the money.

But what is the deal with these little felines? Why would you get a cat to welcome people? How come some of them are holding yellow kanji flashcards? And no matter how you look at it, those cats are definitely waving, not beckoning, right? For the answers to these questions and more, we’ll begin with the humble origins of the maneki-neko. Hang on to your cat; we’re travelling back to the Edo era.

Origins of Maneki-neko

In 1633, a daimyo by the name of Ii Naotaka was out and about, doing the sorts of things daimyos did back then. On his way home, he was caught in a rainstorm and sought shelter under a tree. Nearby was an old, rundown shrine, whose owner had a pet cat. Naotaka noticed the cat beckoning him over to the shrine. He figured whatever a cat had to tell him was important enough to risk getting a little wet, and hurried on over to the temple.

Then, as if on cue, Naotaka’s former shelter of a tree exploded into a twisted mess of splinters and post-lightning fire. Shocked that the cat had just saved him from getting a much larger shocking, Naotaka decided to return the favor, making sure the temple, and its beckoning cat, never had to worry about money again. The temple was renamed Gotokuji Temple after Naotaka’s posthumous Buddhist name, and is, to this day, filled with beckoning cat statues. The tradition of maneki-neko was born.

Another legend tells of a cat loving geisha by the name of Usugumo. One night, her beloved pet cat began to pull at her clothes. Usugumo tried and failed to get the cat to stop and, not wanting it to claw up her fancy kimono, called for help. The owner of the establishment misunderstood, and thought that the cat was possessed. He pulled out his sword and quickly cut off the head of the cat. The cat’s head went flying through the air and, in one last act of loyalty, bit and killed a snake about to attack Usugumo.

Realizing that the cat was trying to warn her about the snake, Usugumo became depressed over the loss of her pint sized protector. To cheer her up, a customer created a wooden statue of her cat, with a paw raised in warning. And the tradition of maneki-neko was born. Again.

A third legend tells of an old woman and her pet cat. The old woman was very poor and, without any daimyos around to save from lightning, was forced to sell her cat. The cat later comes to her in a dream and instructs her to create a clay model of it. The old woman follows the cat’s slightly egotistical advice, and finds that someone wants to buy it. She creates more statues, which become extremely popular, turning her cats into cash. And, for the third time this article, the tradition of maneki-neko was born.

Yes, But What Does It All Mean?

But wait, a cat with its paw up doesn’t look like its beckoning, right? Well, that depends where you live. In Japan, the gesture is reversed, with the fingers downward (as demonstrated by Koichi in this video). There are also westernized maneki-neko with the paw facing the opposite direction, mimicking the western style of beckoning. These maneki-neko are sometimes depicted with coins with dollar signs on them, earning them the name “dollar cats.”

Of course, if western maneki-neko are holding western money, it only makes sense that the classic maneki-neko of the east are holding classic money of the east. Many maneki-neko are seen holding a ryo, an old form of currency from the Edo era that was worth quite a bit of money. Additionally, many of the ryo that maneki-neko are labeled 千万両, meaning “ten million ryo”. Then again, since 千万 can also mean “a great many”, it’s possible that these maneki-neko simply cannot count particularly high.

The maneki-neko is said to be beckoning for different things, depending on which paw it’s using. A maneki-neko with its left paw up is inviting people, while one with its right paw is inviting money. Although, if you’re a shopkeeper, you probably want people to come to your store and buy things, so you may want one of each. Or, better yet, one with both paws raised.

Now, if something as little as which paw is up has meaning, it’s reasonable to expect color to play a big part, too. Yes, just like how the color of candy tells you its flavor, the color of a maneki-neko tells you what that cat’s talent is.

The classic calico design is the most popular, and brings its owner fortune. Likewise, an all-white cat is also for luck. A black maneki-neko is useful for warding off disease and evil. A gold maneki-neko performs as you may expect, and brings in the money. A red one is used for both protection from disease and demons, and bringing its owner good health. Pink is used for inviting love. There are other various colors, such as yellow or green, that are sometimes linked to feng shui.

So, have you had any experiences with maneki-neko? Have you seen any strange or rare ones? Do you own a maneki-neko? Personally, I have a little one that sits by my computer. It doesn’t bring luck or money or anything, but I’ve never been attacked by any snakes while it’s around, and that’s gotta count for something.

GIFs! Wallpapers!

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