In the West, we have Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, thanks largely to European writers who regurgitated local folklore. The Japanese are of course familiar with these fairy tales as well, but they have their own,…
In a first for the “Places” entries about Tokyo, we’re looking at an entire special ward of Tokyo: Shinjuku. This ward is the home of Shinjuku Station, not only Japan’s but the world’s busiest train station. You’ll also find the…
“Japanese game shows,” perhaps more accurately referred to as Japanese variety shows, are fairly famous around the world as a genre. Known for their over-the-top wackiness, Japanese variety shows have inspired spin-offs in other countries, such as America’s I Survived…
As we previously discussed, America’s pastime, baseball, has quite a following in Japan. It’s fitting, then, that the second woman to play baseball professionally in America is a Japanese import: 18-year-old Yoshida Eri. Yoshida, nicknamed “Nakkuru Hime” “(“Knuckle Princess”), actually…
Japan brought home five medals at this year’s Vancouver Winter Olympics, half of the number (10) they won at the 1998 games in Nagano. (Perhaps holding the games in their own country helped build up momentum to take so many…
Today we’re going to review the Japanese words for family members so that if you have a Japanese discussion, you can talk about your family and background. If you’ve been paying attention to what we’ve had to say about the…
Japan has the largest per-capita amount of vending machines in the world, meaning that for about every 23 people, there’s one vending machine to be found down some alley, at some corner shop, at the train station, or even at…
Having novels published in stages is nothing new. Classic English authors like Charles Dickens published most of his massive novels in serialized form in magazines and journals, giving his fans just one installment at a time and leaving them hooked…
Hiroshima is the first place in the world with a civilian population where an atomic bomb was dropped and one of only two (the other being Nagasaki) places in the world where this has ever happened. The bomb, dropped by…
This week we’re taking a look at another famous part of Tokyo: Akihabara, the best place to find the latest electronics and computers. Not only will you find electronics, but you’ll also find anime DVDs, video games, manga and anime…