People, by and large, can be very good at adopting certain practices of other cultures. Japan does this so well, often adding their own unique twist, that usually whatever they've adopted becomes part of Japan itself: … [Read more...]
Who's fat and jolly and carries around a big sack full of goodies? Santa Claus? Guess again! It's Hotei, the fat man from Japan. More commonly known as the Laughing Buddha or the Fat Buddha in the Western world, Hotei is … [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...]
It's hard to overstate instant ramen's importance in Japan. There are multiple instant ramen museums in the country, and at the beginning of the millenium, the Japanese voted instant ramen Japan's most important invention … [Read more...]
2012 was a big year for Tofugu. Besides surviving the end of the Mayan calendar (the universe could still implode, fingers crossed!), we welcomed another wonderful writer and a fantastic illustrator, Fiona and Aya, … [Read more...]
Even though Japan is the birthplace of crystal meth (which makes me wonder how the Japanese feel about Breaking Bad), it has notoriously stringent drugs laws. Get caught with some marijuana in Japan, you’ll face … [Read more...]