Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Locals, citizens, and politicians continue to clash regarding the proposed relocation of a U.S. military base to the Henoko (辺野古) district of Nago City, Okinawa. A recent movement to oppose the base sought to gain support from famous Japanese people, including (sort-of) retired Studio Ghibli Director, Hayao Miyazaki.
We recently had the opportunity to attend the delightful reception “Celebrating Worldwide Recognition of Washoku and Rice” aimed to present the appeal of rice and its importance in Japanese cuisine (washoku). In our first article covering the event, we gave you a round-up on the talks and demonstrations made by three guest speakers during the first part of the evening’s program, including the serving of a traditional Japanese meal prepared by a master chef. Now, it was time for us to get active and try our hand at a bit of sushi rolling!
In this, the second and final article in this two-part series, we’ll attempt to create a special futomaki sushi roll known as Futomaki Matsurizushi (“thick roll festival sushi”) like the one made by Ms. Eiko Ryuzaki, president of the Chiba Traditional Local Cooking Study Group, in one of the presentations earlier that evening.
Okay, so we weren’t going to be able to create an entire plate of colorful festive futomaki rolls like the display in the picture above, but we were excited about the chance to make even just one pretty little roll! So, were we ready to get our hands sticky with rice? You can bet we were!
Give any kid a piece of chalk, and they’re likely to draw some quick doodles on the board. Some stick figures; the logo of some group or team they’re especially fond of; perhaps even a wang or two if there are no adults around. But some kids will use that same piece of chalk to create veritable masterpieces that are so good, you’ll never want to erase them.
You won’t want to miss this collection of impressive chalk art after the jump! Here’s celebrating the talented work of artistic Japanese students.
If asked which traditional Japanese arts are female-only, the first thing that comes to mind for most foreigners is probably geisha. Following that, most people might guess tea ceremony, ikebana (flower arrangement) or calligraphy. But tea ceremony and ikebana had connections to Buddhism and were started in Japan by Buddhist priests. Still today many masters in these two disciplines are men. Calligraphy was brought over from China and both men and women practiced by copying Chinese letters. Only later did Japan develop its own form of calligraphy which is still practiced today by both sexes.
In this article, we introduce five strictly female Japanese arts, a couple of which you may have never heard of before. In addition to everyone’s favorite, the geisha, we introduce the world’s only all-female revue, naginata swords for women, itako female fortune-tellers and the mysterious naked sea nymphs: the ama pearl divers.
As an adult, I never really find myself attached to one particular hairstyle. Every time I get a cut, that’s a one or two-month commitment at best before I get to change it around all over again. But for kids, the barber can apparently be a pretty harrowing experience. After all, especially for younger kids, they’ve been rocking the same ‘do for almost their entire lives. Also, it probably takes some learning to overcome the instinctual aversion to sharp objects being brandished near your face.
Not that I have kids or anything, but I’ve heard taking them to the hair salon can be… let’s just say a bit of a handful.
That’s why many Japanese salons have decided to go the extra mile and give kids the VIP treatment:
Walking down the street in Tokyo, you never know what you might bump into, especially if you happened to have been around Aoyama Itchome Station in Minato Ward on 14 November. During the afternoon, a masked palm civet was seen darting around the streets by several witnesses.
The masked palm civet was connected to the SARS outbreak about a decade ago and unleashes an anal spray when threatened. But that didn’t stop passers-by from trying to get the best photos for their Twitter feeds… Not at all.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Japan currently has a pretty severe butter shortage and it’s been going on for a long time. For months grocery stores around the country have been limiting customers to one box of butter at a time, and even then, people are paying hugely inflated prices.
Generally, Japanese cooking doesn’t really use that much butter, so what is all of this stuff being used for exactly? Cakes and cookies. With Christmas just around the corner, and the butter shortage expected to continue for the foreseeable future, a new and very important question has arisen: Will we still be able to eat Christmas cake?!
Hatsune Miku has been portrayed in nearly every way imaginable, from highly detailed Final Fantasy-esque character model to gorgeous anime-style re-imaginings. She’s also one of the more popular characters for cosplaying, with results that range from the adorable to the slightly insane, so if you want to show your love for the animated singer, you’ll need to put in a bit of extra work to stand out. But don’t worry, we have just the thing to help the next time you plan to don a teal wig: A glowing Hatsune Miku skirt!
It’s hard not to love onigiri, those handy little triangular parcels of rice and seaweed stuffed with tasty fillings ranging from plum to fish to chicken and more. Onigiri are a ubiquitous snack in Japan, available at every convenience store in a range of varieties for the cost of a few coins. But even though conbini onigiri are usually fresh and tasty, it’s also nice to run across smaller stands and stores selling hand-made onigiri sometimes. Unless you happen to stop by this establishment inside Shinagawa Station in Tokyo – because their onigiri leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to presentation. That is unless you like eating something with a big fish butt hanging out of it…
For a Westerner in Japan, breakfast is just incorrect. If North Americans living in Japan had to pick the one thing they miss most about home, a lot of them would probably scream, “Breakfast food!” Traditional Japanese breakfast is completely different and usually consists of rice, fish and miso soup. It’s boring, lacking in any real taste and basically good for you, unlike our favorite breakfast dishes. Of course, some places serve a “Western-style” breakfast, but that usually includes ham that they call “bacon”, in other words, facon! Get outta here you fake bacon!
So when 7-Eleven dropped this “Eggs Benedict Sandwich” onto its shelves, we figured it couldn’t possibly be worse than any other breakfast food out there, or could it? Better prepare yourself Eggs Benny, we won’t play nice. Get ready for the toughest food review yet!
Tokyo is so massive and bustling that sometimes it’s hard to remember that it doesn’t have a monopoly on urban splendor in Japan. Take Osaka, for example. Long Tokyo’s rival, in everything from business to baseball to samurai warfare, Osaka is known for its economic ambitiousness, comedic sensibilities, and tasty grub, but there’s one thing that’s often overlooked in media coverage of Osaka.
It looks absolutely beautiful at night.
On 13 November, a tweet went out from Kyoko Shimbun which read “AAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Generally, such single-letter interjections don’t yield much of a response, but in this case they got over 400 retweets.
That’s because on this day, Kyoko Shimbun which translates to “Fabricated News” learnt that their fictional Infojar, a next-gen rice cooker with several smartphone capabilities, was in the research and development phase by the very company they were spoofing at the time, KDDI.
Everybody wants to be a cat. You get to lie around all day, eat tuna brought to you by your human minions, and generally get worshiped and adored. And the best thing is that you don’t even need to be a pedigree show kitty to raise a few “aww’s” – even fugly kitties are still cute! That’s the premise behind Canon Japan’s Busakawaneko (cute-ugly kitty) Grand-Print photo competition. Cat owners from across Japan sent in photos of their adorably ugly balls of fluff in the hopes of scooping the grand prize of a holiday worth 100,000 yen (US$10,000). The winner and the runners-up will all be displayed on the JR Yamanote line train in Tokyo for around two weeks, starting on November 18. Or, you could also check them out right here!
There are two important things to bear in mind regarding Japanese fashion. First is that, since so many people use public transportation, they almost always need some kind of a bag or backpack to carry their stuff in when they go out. Second, after spending all week wearing a mandated uniform or bland business suit, come the weekend, some people are overcome with the urge to express their individuality to the fullest with their clothing and accessory choices.
With that in mind, just about the fastest route away from your button-down Monday to Friday look is to slip on a backpack that’s the exact shape and size of a tiger’s head.
The Attack on Titan and Marvel crossover comic that Magazine House‘s Brutus magazine is publishing on Saturday features characters from Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers as they battle the Female Titan, Colossal Titan, Armored Titan, and others in New York City.
As fictional (sorry, I mean completely real and definitely not made up) creatures come, furry forest spirits like Studio Ghibli’s Totoro are pretty rare to begin with. Heck, even the theme song to My Neighbor Totoro tells us that we can only see them when we’re “very young”, so it’s not like we’re tripping over the things in the street.
But if you’re the kind of person who simply must have every piece of high quality Ghibli merch, the rarer the better, then this limited edition plush is definitely one you’ll want to look out for.
The major train stations in urban Japan almost seem like small cities, packed with restaurants, hotels, and shopping space. Things are usually pretty different out in the countryside, though, where many rail stops are little more than an awning with a short bench to sit on while you wait for the trains to roll in.
We say rural stations are “usually” simple, though, because in one town up north in Aomori Prefecture, you’ll find a station guarded by what looks like a massive alien.
The latest game in Ubisoft’s flagship “Assassin’s Creed” series, “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” was released this week. And so far, it’s been anything but smooth sailing.
Right away players reported a bunch of glitches which almost made the game unplayable.
It’s amazingly easy to find good food in Japan, which is largely due to how hard many food industry professionals work when choosing ingredients are and preparing their dishes. Every now and then, though, the country stumbles across some new delectable that, by any logical standard, has no right tasting as good as it does while being so quick and simple to make.
For example, this week Japan discovered a delicious cheese snack with just one ingredient that you could be enjoying in literally two minutes.
Over the last decade, anime has seen a steady rise in the number of slice-of-life series with mundane settings. Still, even when set in the real world, anime tends to operate under very different rules from reality.
Or does it? In a story that sounds like something out of a manga for teen boys (or girls, provided you draw everyone with wavy, pastel-colored hair), police in Tokyo are forcing members from two rival, frequently rumbling gangs to get along by forming a sports team together.
Train station platform ramen store closes its doors on half a century of history in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli adds new Mother’s Day gift sets to its anime collection in Japan
Nine great places to see spring flowers in Japan, as chosen by travelers (with almost no sakura)
We asked our Japanese team of writers how they deal with seasonal allergies in Japan
Komachi Shokudo: Japanese mum’s-style cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Tokyo
Number of foreigners living in Japan has grown 50 percent in four years, hits historic high
No doctors or hairdressers! Survey asks Japanese women what professions they don’t want to date
Shinkansen: “Seats can be quickly used as shields in the event of an attack”
Convenience store fried chicken going into school lunches in Japan for Family Mart anniversary
Number of foreigners working in Japan hits all-time high, 25 percent come from same country
Studio Ghibli releases Catbus pullback keychain that runs like the anime characterNine great places to see spring flowers in Japan, as chosen by travelers (with almost no sakura)
Starbucks Japan opens new cafe and art gallery in top Tokyo tourist neighbourhood
Is Japan’s Crab-shaped Cup Ramen Timer worth the hype?
Pizza Hut Japan teams up with creator of one of the country’s best kinds of ramen for ramen pizzaKomachi Shokudo: Japanese mum’s-style cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Tokyo
Virtual idol Hatsune Miku redesigned with look that adds new elements and brings back old ones
Starbucks Japan releases a new Cream Puff Frappuccino for a limited time
The top 10 graduation songs in Japan as chosen by current Japanese high school students
Pikachu and Eevee become handmade Lladró porcelain sculptures to celebrate Pokémon’s 30th birthday
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026Studio Ghibli releases Catbus pullback keychain that runs like the anime character
Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
The 10 most annoying things foreign tourists do on Japanese trains, according to locals
Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026Nine great places to see spring flowers in Japan, as chosen by travelers (with almost no sakura)
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
Starbucks Japan releases first-ever Hinamatsuri Girls’ Day Frappuccino
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Number of foreigners living in Japan has grown 50 percent in four years, hits historic high
No doctors or hairdressers! Survey asks Japanese women what professions they don’t want to date
Shinkansen: “Seats can be quickly used as shields in the event of an attack”
Convenience store fried chicken going into school lunches in Japan for Family Mart anniversary
Number of foreigners working in Japan hits all-time high, 25 percent come from same country
Five Okinawan foods that have changed our reporter’s view on local cuisine forever
Drift ice in Japan is a disappearing winter miracle you need to see now
Häagen-Dazs Japan releases new ASMR ice cream called “Rocky Crunchy!”
Japan has a special foil for roasting sweet potatoes at home, and it’s like having a time machine
It’s illegal for yakuza to go to professional baseball games in Japan, Tokyo arrests remind us
The 5 best entry-level roadside stations in Japan’s Kanto Region, according to experts
Our reporter tries amemonaka, the traditional sweet from Niigata Prefecture