Culture Why Japanese is so difficult
Do a search for the most difficult language to learn and, especially for English speakers, Japanese is at the top. I'm s...
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Culture 
Culture Kyushu Rainbow Pride
About 25 years ago a gay friend visited Fukuoka and we couldn't find any gay, well, anything; no clubs, no events, no in...
Culture Prank Store ???
So it's not really a store ? or maybe the staff always tricks the customers ?or if you want to pull a prank on someone t...
Culture Japanese White Weddings
Some people lose their heads over weddings, and no more so than in Japan, where the average ceremony costs around $30,000 U.S.,
Culture blood types
There are four blood types, A, B, O, and AB. If you don't know what your blood type is, you're probably not Japanese. Bl...
Culture Hakata, Fukuoka
Hakata is the name of the bay that probably brought people to this area ten thousand, or more, years ago. Hakata is the ...
Culture natsubate
Summer in Japan is incredibly muggy (蒸し暑い for Japanese readers) and that leads to what Japanese call natsubate (夏バテ) w...
Culture Obon
We've just finished the Obon holidays here in Japan. The word "Obon" is an abbreviation of the word "urabon" which comes...
Culture A Shinto priest talks about the power of words.
Oharai are rituals of purification and the chants the priest uses to purify are called Oharaekotoba. Kotoba is the Japanese word for "words."
Culture Story from a former Shinto priest: About the wedding ceremony.
Chouzuya is the area of a shrine where you wash your hands and rinse your mouth. It is an abbreviated act of Misogi; the practice of ritual purification by washing the entire body in the river, ocean or a waterfall.