In the early 90s, Kyoto University had a problem. A statue on campus kept getting vandalized over and over, without any sign of stopping. Students kept making their own additions to the statue of educator Hikoichi … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Religion in Japan sometimes seems like a big spiritual buffet. At different times in your life, you get your choice of different religions; a bit of Shinto here, a dash of Buddhism there. More and more, you'll see a pinch … [Read more...]
When the Tofugu team was in Japan earlier this year, we were very lucky to have the Gakuranman drive us around to places that might be hard to get to otherwise. We rented a car, and I was a little confused by a big, green … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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. … [Read more...]