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!
A lot of people have this misconception that you have to be smart to tackle big undertakings like learning Japanese, or anything else for that matter. The idea seems to be that if you’re not smart enough to be immediately good at something, then it will be an uphill battle the whole way. But surprisingly, [...]
Alcohol is viewed a little differently in every culture in the world. Here in the US, we start (legally) drinking later in life than most countries, and our attitudes towards alcohol isn’t always healthy. And then there’s Japan. Drinking is a huge part of Japanese culture; whether it’s going out to a bar with your [...]
Ever wonder what makes Japanese food taste the way it does? It absolutely has a very distinct flavor, but how would you describe it? A hundred years ago, the distinct flavor of Japanese food lead to the discovery of a brand new flavor: umami. The Four Basic Tastes Image sources: 1, 2, 3, & 4 [...]
Sometimes it might be easy to think that all Japanese science and technology is all poop motorcycles and brain-powered cat ears. Sometimes, all we hear about out of Japan are the wacky, off-the-wall inventions and inventors. But in fact, Japan is a well-respected member of the scientific community that makes serious contributions to many fields. [...]
Japanese scientists have figured out a way to control your hand through electrical stimuli. Now, this has been done before, but it’s never been done so well using something that’s on the outside of your hand. Normally this sort of thing requires some surgery and isn’t particularly safe. This one involves putting a couple of [...]
Ever hear of a hydrozoa? Unless you’re a marine biology major or the Emperor of Japan between the years 1926 and 1989, then you probably haven’t. So what on earth is a hydro-whatsit, and what does it have to do with Japan? Turns out Emperor Hirohito was really into them.
