Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
culture (Page 56)
Fall in Japan is a very special time of year. The leaves go from green to a plethora of gorgeous colors, the hellish summer heat and constant cacophony of cicadas finally relent, and the legendary McDonald’s Tsukimi Burger becomes available to stuff into your eager face by the sack full. This year, fall is even more special, as McDonald’s is expanding the Tsukimi Burger lineup to four different delicious sandwiches. Be still, my tightening arteries!
China – and to a large extent, Japan – seems to have an unhealthy obsession with any woman of above-average attractiveness performing some action that attractive women aren’t typically known for.
The Chinese media has serialized this concept to the point that we’ve seen them make a fuss over “hot girl cops,” “hot girl soldiers,” heck, even “hot girl bus drivers.” It seems like any time a cute girl does anything other than breath, Asia goes completely crazy.
And now, just when you thought the concept couldn’t jump the shark more spectacularly, we now have “hot girl archer.”
Shingen mochi – a relatively common wagashi Japanese sweet similar to the more well-known warabi mocha – is a treat made from pounded rice lightly coated in roasted soybean flour (kinako) meant to be drizzled with syrup before consumption.
It comes in a plastic container which is then wrapped in a decorative plastic sheet and sealed with a small, flat spear-like utensil meant to skewer the mochi with while eating. That plastic sheet is also the key to the “proper” way of eating shingen mochi.
Unfortunately for anyone who has consumed shingen mochi until now, the manufacturer’s marketing department decided not to tell even one single person how to properly eat their product. Thankfully, a helpful YouTuber here in Japan has shared a video showing the correct way to eat this traditional sweet. Find out after the break.
This Thursday, 15 August marks the beginning of Obon in most of Japan. Obon is a Buddhist custom in Japan where families gather together and are visited by the spirits of their ancestors. Various festivals are held to welcome the ghosts with music and dancing, depending on the region.
However, one tradition that is fairly consistent across the country is known as Ohakamairi (visiting the grave). This custom involves the family going to their grave to clean it and give presents to their deceased ancestors.
The Kyoto Aquarium is offering a limited summer snack officially dubbed the “ayu salt-cooked hot dog.”
To the uninitiated, this probably sounds like a hot dog topped with some exotic, delicious spice called ayu, but adventurous expats will recognize ayu as a native Japanese fish species often served grilled whole on a stick.
We’re pretty sure the last time someone went out of their way to eat hard candies when perfectly good ice cream and chocolate bars were available nearby was the 1930s or those tin candy scenes from that heartbreaking anime, Grave of the Fireflies.
But in Japan, candy comes in so many crazy flavors, colors and varieties, you’d be remiss not to at least try the convenience store greatest hits. Unfortunately, doing so would probably give you adult onset diabetes, so we’ve gone ahead and tried all the candy on offer because we’re already gross and diseased anyway. Here are our top 10 picks for the greatest hard candies on offer at Japanese convenience stores.
Part of our job here at RocketNews24 is to demystify Japan. It’s not that we are trying to make it seem less special, but we would like to turn it from a land of social and cultural barriers into the participatory place our team loves and calls home.
Today we’ll be covering how to tie the sash (or obi) on a man’s yukata summer kimono. Yukata is a look you can rock at festivals, fireworks shows, or just about any entertainment venue during the warmest months of the year. Despite the tradition involved, putting on a yukata isn’t really any harder than tying a necktie (and if you haven’t mastered that yet, you really should have your dad teach you before you go off to college).
Japan’s mascot obsession is known by those even marginally familiar with the country’s culture. Characters like Hello Kitty and her signature silhouette are recognized in countries across the globe, and thanks to the wonders of the internet we’re able to learn more about other cultures than ever before. But something I find that many people don’t realize about Japan is the sheer breadth of things that get their own mascots. Take, for instance, Japanese prefectures.
Hollywood is carrying on its tradition of making white people the lead protagonists in movies about samurai with the 2013 47 Ronin, headed by Keanu Reeves.
But while the Japanese didn’t seem to bat an eyelid when it was revealed (spoiler) that Tom Cruise was literally the last samurai, the 47 Ronin trailer is raising eyebrows in Japan for its weird comic book treatment of the famous national legend that is said to be the most revered example of the samurai code of bushido.
There’s a saying in Japan about Mt. Fuji that goes to the tune of, “You ought to climb it once, but only a fool would climb it twice.”
That’s because, as yours truly learned just last weekend, climbing Mt. Fuji is a lot like spending up to eight hours repeatedly swinging a mallet into your knees as hard as you can. It’s also – at least this year, after having been declared a World Heritage Site – so crowded you’re guaranteed to be spending the climb with your face in dangerous proximity to someone else’s ass at all times.
Lucky for those that haven’t climbed it yet, Google Street View strapped some poor sucker with 100 pounds of weird Google robot gear, maybe gave him a bottle of water and some peanuts, and told him to walk right on up and take some pictures from the top. “It’ll be cool,” they probably said. “We promise.”
I love Japanese convenience store bathrooms. They are almost unfailingly clean and tidy, and the staff don’t mind whether you actually buy something or not. Of course, as with any public restroom, there’s a risk of finding something a little strange, but you definitely wouldn’t expect what one Twitter user recently found swimming in the bowl. (It’s not poop. We promise.)
The dumplings known in Japan as gyoza are typically filled with diced cabbage and pork. Most of the time they’re also packed with enough garlic to make them as dangerous a temptation for office workers on their lunch break as a frosty mid-day beer.
Even though China, Japan, and Korea all have distinct food cultures, being so close to one another on the map means that some things are bound to cross borders. Case in point: all three countries love gyoza, and rightly so!
But while they’re united in their love for the food is universal, it turns out each nation has its own unique way of wrapping them, as our Japanese correspondent living in Germany recently found out.
With the announcement of Mt. Fuji joining the ranks of UNESCO’s World Heritage, there has been a sudden swell of attention paid to the iconic mountain. Merchandise has been coming out fast and furious, but the popularity explosion has unexpectedly struck the cute anthropomorphic Mt. Fuji moe character Saori with some of its shrapnel. However, while people were coming for the name association, a steady fan-base is building as we learn a little more about Saori’s personality.
Held each year on July 7, the Tanabata festival has its roots in the folktale of a young married couple, symbolized by two stars in the night sky, who toil away at their trades separately, able to meet just once a year. It’s a little like the situation in many Japanese families where the husband gets transferred by his company to another prefecture and his wife stays behind to continue her own career or look after the kids. Just replace “office workers” with “cowherd and daughter of the king of heaven” and “prefectural border” with “the Milky Way,” and you’ve got a close approximation.
The story of the two lovers finally being able to see each other has taken on a broader connotation of wishes coming true, and Tanabata is commonly celebrated by writing a wish down on strip of paper, then tying it to a stalk of bamboo.
Department stores and shopping centers usually have displays where visitors post their wishes. Since they’re then on display for others to see, you can get a glimpse of current trends by checking them out. “My family’s safety,” “success in business,” and “health” are three old-standbys of Tanabata wishes, but what else were people hoping for this year?
Japanese society is, by many measures, on the shy side when it comes to love. Full-grown adults often keep having a boyfriend or girlfriend a secret because they’re afraid of being teased or questioned about marriage, and if you see someone dressed up nicely carrying a bouquet of flowers, they’re far more likely to be going to a farewell party for a coworker than a date with a special someone.
However, there is one way in which Japan is refreshingly upfront with its romantic ambitions: the singles’ party known as a gokon. Literally meaning “matching party,” at a gokon you get an equal number of unattached men and women together, usually at a restaurant with plenty of alcoholic drinks, and see if there are any compatible pairs in the group.
As a guy, the combination of booze and girls seems like an ideal situation. But the flip side is that you’re also being judged by a panel of the opposite sex, so there are some serious pitfalls to look out for, and women in their 20s and 30s were recently polled as to the surest ways a guy can blow his chances at one of these parties.
Aside from being an upscale shopping center, Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills complex is also home to the Mori Art Museum and a 54th-floor observation deck. We recently paid the building a visit to check out two concurrently running events, the LOVE Exhibition and Hatsune Miku Café.
On 7 July, Tanabata kicks off in many parts of Japan. It’s an annual festival season which celebrates the stars Orihime and Hikoboshi, two lovers who are separated by the Milky Way except for this brief moment on the seventh day of the seventh month.
A popular custom during this time for young and old is to write down a wish on a strip of paper and hang it from a bamboo plant. However, as the years go by it seems that fewer and fewer people are going out to make wishes. This is why Calpis Co. Ltd. has decided to spark up interest in bamboo wishes by launching a study of their effectiveness.
In Chinese restaurants from America to Brazil, Britain, Australia, and much of the western world in between, there’s one thing we’ve all come to expect at the end of our meals. Aside from heartburn and maybe an upset tummy, we expect a tray full of fortune cookies to be delivered with the check. You know, those crisp, folded cookies with a paper slip inside telling you your lucky lotto numbers and the importance of friendship in your life. But did you realize that you’ll never encounter these kinds of cookies at restaurants within China itself? Investigations show that Chinese fortune cookies have absolutely nothing to do with China! The truth, it would seem, lies a little bit further east.
As a foreign resident of Japan, I take occasional trips back home. And on such occasions, I almost always find myself at a surprising loss for ideas when souvenir shopping for friends stateside.
Sure, there are obvious choices: Hentai manga makes a great gag gift, for example, but you’re bound to go on some kind of watch list if customs decides to randomly inspect your luggage. Yukata seem universally appreciated by new-agey aunts, and quirky Japanese toys are great for kids. But foolproof, sure-to-please-anybody gifts are surprisingly hard to pick out.
Luckily, a Japanese reporter at Excite Japan, who travels frequently and thus has lots of souvenir purchasing experience, has revealed the top Japanese gifts most likely to please friends and family abroad.
Japan has a few unique gift-giving traditions, like the mid-year ochugen and end-of-year oseibo gifts exchanged between relatives and business associates. For the most part though, things work the same as in any other country. Parents give toys to their kids on their birthdays, who in turn give flowers and neckties for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. And of course, couples give presents to each other.
Also like in other countries, sometimes boyfriends in Japan don’t have a clue about what their girlfriends really want. Case in point: my wife says one of the best things I’ve given her is a thermos, which speaks volumes about either my gift-selecting savvy or her extremely forgiving nature.
Thankfully, for those guys who could use a little insight into the female psyche (approximately all of us), a recent survey asked 103 Japanese women about the presents from their boyfriends that brought tears to their eyes, whether for good or bad reasons.
Should married couples in Japan be allowed to have different family names? Survey investigates
FUK COFFEE?!? Japanese cafe has a perfectly innocent reason for its startling-looking name
Two things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
History’s largest force of Samurai Colonel Sanders deploying to KFC Japan branches
Pokémon Cafe serves up a green tea ceremony in Japan with Poltchageist and Sinistcha matcha menu
Ancient temple with National Treasures is a hidden gem on the Nara Yamato Four-Temple Pilgrimage
Starbucks at Shibuya Scramble Crossing reopens, but is it really bigger and better than before?
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
Japanese-style accommodation at the new Premium Dormy Inn hotel in Asakusa will blow your mind
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
McDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keepTwo things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Studio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat ReturnsStudio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screensMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950sForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Ancient temple with National Treasures is a hidden gem on the Nara Yamato Four-Temple Pilgrimage
Starbucks at Shibuya Scramble Crossing reopens, but is it really bigger and better than before?
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
Japanese-style accommodation at the new Premium Dormy Inn hotel in Asakusa will blow your mind
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
Studio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
Massive-variation new Pikachu plushie line lets you find the perfect Pikachu just for you
Enjoy a Pokémon tea ceremony with new matcha goods featuring Poltchageist and Sinistcha
Eight-year-old boy gets stopped at the airport for a suspicious bulge in his pants
Spring Mos Burger x SpongeBob lucky bags bring us fun under the sun【Photos】
Japanese cosplayer creates amazing outfit: Sailor Moon’s transformation sequence!【Photos】
Bear attacks car in Japan, breaks windshield with its paw【Video】
All-you-can-drink deal for US$4 in Shinjuku is one of the best finds in Tokyo
