Category: Japan
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Review of Wataya Risa’s “Keritai Senaka” / 綿矢リサの「蹴りたい背中」
Winner of 2003 Akutagawa Prize Wikipedia page on Wataya Risa Excerpt of translation by Morgan G. A few weeks ago, I finished reading Wataya Risa’s second novel, 『蹴りたい背中』 (“The back I wanna kick”). For me, it was a minor milestone: it was the first Japanese novel that I have read in Japanese. I’ve studied the […]
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Maid Cafés in Japan
Pinafore Maid Cafe The witch bar unattico-sttrega January 15th 社会研究調査 As part of a societal cultural research learning field trip, Benkei and I went with a friend of his to the Pinafore Maid Cafe. We went on a Wednesday evening, in the rain. This actually turned out to be pretty important, but more on that […]
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Nationalism / Isolationalism in Japan and perception of foreign crime
I read a few blogs, and an interesting post over on What Japan Thinks about a survey on crime in Japan (and how foreigners are a large contributing factor) pointed me to another very interesting post over on Debito.org on a Japanese magazine about foreigner crime. It is definitely worth taking a look at both […]
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Happy Cheap Chocolate Day!!
Today is one of my favorite days of the year. The day after Valentine’s Day. Cheap Chocolate Day. When I stopped into 7-eleven this morning for my morning yogurt and bottle of lemon water, they were running 50% off of their Valentine’s Day Chocolate. Valentine’s Day is pretty big here in Japan, even more so […]
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Best little bar in Jiyugaoka
I just wanted to drop a link to my friend Ahmadu’s (spelling is almost positively incorrect) bar, Saraba. It is a bar and art gallery in between Jiyugaoka and Kuhombutsu, so it is right on the way home for me. I’ve been stopping in there lately for a nightly glass of wine. The bar is […]
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Interesting post on Japanese marriage statistics
I read a few Japan-oriented blogs every once a while, things like what japan thinks, and they came across an interesting post over on mutant frog about Japanese marriage statistics. I’m surprised that more Japanese men marry foreigners than Japanese women, that was exactly the opposite of what I had always assumed to be the […]
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Let’s pound rice together (not a euphemism)
Rice pounding set. Rice Pounding Festival Free Sake! Kids enjoy pounding rice! Last weekend, on Sunday I left my apartment to get something for lunch and ran into the local rice pounding festival. I guess these festivals are common during the New Year, since they are basically about making that delicious Japanese pounded rice treat […]
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First drive in Japan
(日本語版はこちら) Yesterday I went on my first drive in Japan with a friend. We weren’t too sure where to go at first, but in the end decided on Chiba. One of the really cool things about cars here in Japan is that many of them have these in-car navigation systems that can plot out a […]
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First First Temple Visit
Kuhombutsu Main Gate Temple Interior People lining up Kuhombutsu Temple Bell Happy New Year from Kuhombutsu! Happy New Year! This was my first ever New Year’s Eve in Japan. Last year, I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia celebrating the New Year with my friend Gyn Ian Yap, and back in the States the year before […]
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Followup to “More Becky on Japanese TV”
This is a follow up to a previous post of mine about a Japanese drama I’ve been watching. I finished watching “Anna-san no Omame” the other day, and in general thought it was ok. The show has a very exaggerated comedic style, and can’t really be taken very seriously, but is fun for what it […]