If you've been studying Japan or Japanese for any length of time, then you know that studying a different culture can challenge your basic, everyday assumptions about, well, pretty much everything. Before you started … [Read more...]
This is part two of two for my "Famous Foods of Every Japanese Prefecture" series. In part one, I covered the famous foods of the Central, East, and Northern prefectures of Japan. Now I'm going to cover everything else. … [Read more...]
What's the first thing you think of when you hear the words "American football?" Well, whatever it is, it probably isn't Japan. That being said, some of you may be surprised to learn that there's actually a decent … [Read more...]
There are visual kei bands and then there are visual kei legends. D'espairsRay is the latter. I know I've had a fair share of Saturday Timewaster posts about bands I enjoy, but only once have I made a full post about one … [Read more...]
When I watched Big Bird in Japan as a kid, one scene in particular stuck in my memory, even decades afterwards. In one scene, Big Bird stops in front of a restaurant and looks at the food displayed in the window. He … [Read more...]
Japan loves their mascots and all of us at Tofugu love writing about how much Japan loves their mascots. It's a love-love relationship, really. Anyway, what could be better than a Japanese mascot? How about a Japanese … [Read more...]