We ask the difficult questions, like what the hell is a “happening bar?”
Japanese subculture
To most people around the world, the word ‘Yankee’ is used as a (sometimes derogatory) slang term for Americans in general. To most Americans, ‘Yankee’ refers to a person living in one of the six northeastern states of New England. To die-hard Red Sox fans, just hearing the phrase ‘New York Yankees’ is enough to make their blood boil. But that’s a different story…
Curiously enough, the word ‘yankee’ (ヤンキー) has also established itself within the Japanese lexicon, albeit with extremely different connotations. In Japan, a ‘yankee’ conjures up images of juvenile delinquents and biker gangs (more on that later). While this Japanese subculture may have died down considerably since its heyday in the 1980s, one museum in Hiroshima Prefecture has just opened a special exhibit titled ‘Yankee Anthropology’. This exhibit explores Yankee culture from a serious, academic perspective and includes various related realia. If you’ve always been fascinated by this aspect of Japanese subculture, now’s the perfect excuse to head over to Hiroshima!

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Tokyo’s life-size Gundam anime mecha statue will be removed this summer
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Japanese temple burns to the ground, fire burning inside for 1,200 years unharmed
Bizarre Japanese vending machine sells “Peace and Equality” and “Angels and Demons”
Krispy Kreme Japan is bringing two special donuts to the most-forgotten big city in the country
Starbucks Japan hoping fans will go bananas for its new mottainai banana affogato Frappuccino
The story of our reporter P.K. Sanjun’s heart attack
Kanji ice cream becomes a sell-out hit in Japan
McDonald’s Japan adds curry French fry flavor, regional-taste burgers to its menu with Gotochi Mac
Tokyo’s life-size Gundam anime mecha statue will be removed this summer
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Man in Japan calls in bomb threat because he doesn’t want to go to his own work farewell party
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