Japanese Discovery

Hungry for pasta? Japanese Food: Mentaiko Spaghetti Recipe (明太子スパゲッティ). We've mentioned before that even when you eat Western food in Japan, it always has a distinctive Japanese flair to it. A great example of this is mentaiko spaghetti, a favorite pasta dish you'll find at Italian restaurants in Japan. Mentaiko is marinated cod roe. Mentaiko turns out to be a really delicious dressing for pasta, and it marries very well with the soy sauce, shiso, nori, and other traditional Japanese flavor components that go into the dish. Check out the video below to work up a good appetite, then visit your nearest Japanese Italian place to give it a try!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk3w7dr8KCg

Cultural Note: Spring is coming, which means wedding season will be starting soon. In Japan, when you are invited to a wedding, its customary to give a gift of cash. This gift is called Goshuugi (ごしゅうぎ/ご祝儀).

The rule of thumb is that the money should cover the price of the food plus some amount as a gift. Typically, wedding food in Tokyo can cost from $100 to $150 per person, and there are also favors for the guests, called Hikidemono (ひきでもの/引き出物), to consider.

The actual amount of money you give has to start with a number not divisible by two, so if you are attending to the wedding alone, you would give 30,000 yen. If you are attending the wedding as a couple, you might give 50,000 yen. A young single person without much income might give 10,000 yen. Money is given in a special "Goshuugi envelope," which you can find at any stationery store. Goshuugi envelopes have a fancy exterior that contains a smaller envelope inside. On the exterior envelope, you write your name, and on the interior envelope, you write your name, address, and how much you have enclosed (in super old-style kanji characters that are only used in this type of situation: 10,000 yen => 壱萬圓. 30,000 yen => 参萬圓. 50,000=> 伍萬圓 yen).

The recipients are careful to note how much each person gives so that they can return a similar amount at the giver's wedding.



SAKURA SWEETS

Spring, we’ve been waiting for you since winter came knocking on our door last December.

Spring, you bring the people of Kyoto so much joy, with your cheerful, pink cherry blossom (Sakura) flowers and picnic weather. You also bring over many people from around the world, which makes our city more vibrant and exciting. Thank you.

Spring, also our taste buds would love to thank you for the DELICIOUS Sakura themed treats you bring.

One of the best things about spring is all the Sakura themed/flavored treats the season has to offer. From Sakura flavored coffee to Sakura flavored cookies, food stores around Kyoto is filled with pink. Here we have some Sakura themed Japanese sweets (wagashi). The little candies are called Konpeito and are very sweet. Aren’t they cute? Perfect sweets to nibble while you study or work.



It’s no secret that Kyoto is filled with beautiful shrines and temples. Throughout the year, people visit these shrines and temples to pray for good luck, good health, prosperity, love and wealth. However, Yasui Konpiragu in Gion is a very unique shrine. It’s a shrine people go to, to break off bad relationships.

Yes, that’s right, Yasui Konpiragu is a ‘break up’ shrine. In Kyoto, instead of breaking up with someone over the phone, you can go to this shrine and pray for the relationship to come to a close. Now breaking up a relationship, is not just for break up between two people, it can be cutting ties with a bad habit, sickness or a bad situation. But let’s face it, most people go here for the juicy stuff, ‘break ups’.

The biggest attraction at Yasui Konpiragu is the giant white monument (see photo below). This is the power stone monument to breaking up bad relationships and forming good ones. So this is how it works:
1) First you pay your respects at the main sanctuary.
2) Next you buy a KATATSHIRO charm and write down your wishes.
3) Next as you hold on to your charm and recite your wishes, crawl your little body through the monument from front to back. This breaks up the relationship.
4) Again recite your wishes again as you crawl your body through the hole from back to front.
5) To finish it off, stick the charm on the monument . Voila, done! Now you wait for your wish to come true.

So if you’re in Gion next time and looking to break free from an unhealthy situation or an unhealthy someone, go to Yasui Konpiraru to pray for a smooth transition.

Yasui Konpiragu
70, Shimobentencho, Higashiyama-ku Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, 605-0823, Japan

 

A worker pulls a passenger cart over a wooden bridge, Mount Fuji’s snowy peak rising in the background. Men wear long dark robes as they catch fish from traditional Japanese boats, and women dive for pearls in the river. Looking at these photos of rural Japan, it’s hard to believe they were only taken 100 years ago.

The photographic techniques, however, are deliciously retro. Tinted in blue or sepia, the photos are overlaid with multiple exposures, soft-focused for a hazy glow. At the turn of the 20th century, this so-called “pictorial photography” was enjoying a brief international boom. Japan, meanwhile, was experiencing a period of rapid industrialisation which would see it move from a feudal to a modernised nation. These fascinating photos offer an insight into a way of life that was already disappearing.

Photography is now a well-established art form, celebrated around the world. In the 19th century, however, it was commonly claimed that a photograph could not be art because it was only a depiction of reality. Pictorial photography, which came about as a direct reaction to this criticism, typically includes deliberate artistic effects such as soft focus, sepia tinting, or the addition of brushstrokes.

More pictures → Stunning rediscovered photos show life in Japan 100 years ago

 

Japanese Fun Fact 132

Shodō or Japanese calligraphy is a typically Japanese pastime in that it requires poise, posture and concentration. Shodō is taught to school children and is a popular hobby for adults. In order to write beautiful kanji or kana you should sit up straight, delicately hold your brush in a vertical position and clear your mind.

Japanese calligraphy was influenced by Zen thought. For any particular piece of paper, the calligrapher has but one chance to create with the brush. The brush strokes cannot be corrected and even a lack of confidence will show up in the work. The calligrapher must concentrate and be fluid in execution. The brush writes a statement about the calligrapher at a moment in time.
-REd

 

I have no words for this...
Diet Sushi maybe???
Visit Japan
Restaurant in Asakusa offers up itty-bitty sushi made with just a single grain of rice! http://bit.ly/1dnulCq



>>>>>>

It is said that any visit to Japan during the sakura season should include at least one old tree. And if you’re in Kyoto and want to see up close such a remarkable tree, you can visit the “younger” (only 80 years old) but spectacular Gion Shidare Sakura in the Maruyama Park, in Gion. It’s an unforgettable experience… http://bit.ly/1oOCEJf
(via Muza-chan)

 

Opps!
Via JNTO

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10200417932343998

 

Via GaijinPot
Some of the different high tech barriers at train stations in Japan.

 

Visit Japan
Enjoy rainy days with a Japanese umbrella. From the traditional to the modern, you're sure to find a style that will make your rainy day brighter! Read all about them in JNTO's Monthly Web Magazine for April, now online >> http://bit.ly/1heynwu

 

Human Japanese

Cultural Note: Hanami (はなみ - 花見）It's cherry blossom season in Japan right now, and that means it's time for hanami! The 'hana' from this word means "flower," and the 'mi' comes from the verb "to see," so it literally means "flower viewing." To celebrate hanami, friends and families picnic under cherry trees and party all day long (and sometimes into the night). Since alcohol is allowed in public parks in Japan, it's common to see people drinking, singing, dancing, and laughing the day away. Hanami is so popular that news channels even give "cherry blossom forecasts," to assist you in choosing the best possible day for your outing. Check out the link below, which allows you to zoom in on an area of interest to find out what the current state of affairs is. Why not grab some friends and arrange a hanami excursion of your own?
http://www.rurubu.com/season/spring/sakura/index.aspx

 

Human Japanese
It's hanami season here in Tokyo, and people were out in droves yesterday to see the cherry blossoms. This was the view at Ueno Park, where thousands of people laid out tarps and blankets and enjoyed a leisurely lunch, dinner, or both. Couples, friends, groups of salarymen, and families could be seen talking and laughing, and, aided by large bottles of beer and sake at virtually every table, a merry time was had by all. There was a particular sense of urgency since the weather was forecast to go rainy later, which it did that evening. It's gray in Tokyo today, but here's hoping we still have some blossoms left to enjoy when the sun comes out again this weekend.

Reporting live from Tokyo, your friendly Human Japanese team.

 

*WARNING* THIS POST IS GRAPHIC IN NATURE​

*IMAGES MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME​

It’s that time of year again! Spring is in the air, the cherry blossoms are blooming, and everyone’s feeling a little bit randy. What better way to celebrate life than with the Kanamara Matsuri, better known as the Penis Festival, to be held on April 6th from 11am to 6pm.

On the first Sunday of April in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, the Kanayama Shrine holds a festival known casually as the “Penis Festival” on account of its huge array of multi-colored members.

The phallic festivities take place around Kanayama Shrine, located in a place called Wakamiyahachimanguu in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. While it might seem like one of those zany new ‘Cool Japan’ things, this bizarre festival has actually been held since the Edo period in honor of Kanamara, the god of…blacksmithing?

Kanamara originally seems to have been a patron of the smiths, but at some point along the way moved over into sex-related work and became busy answering prayers for prosperity in business, fertility, easy childbirth, marriage, protection from venereal disease, and harmony between husband and wife. In recent times the festival has also become a popular event for AIDS-prevention awareness.

The highlight of the event is the portable shrine, or mikoshi, procession. There are three main shrines paraded around town on peoples’ shoulders as onlookers chant excitedly.

▼ First up is the Kanamara Boat Mikoshi, with its huge iron rod.

Spoiler: Giant penis statue

▼ Next comes the Elizabeth Mikoshi, the luridly pink and proud shaft.

Spoiler: Giant phallus

Spoiler: What do you think is under here

▼ And last but not least is the ancient Kanamara Big Mikoshi, which doesn’t quite measure up to the others and looks like a tree trunk with an oddly shaped protrusion. But remember, it’s not how big it is…

Spoiler

▼ As well as feasting your eyes on more peen than you can probably handle, you can also get your hands and lips on some edible phalluses.

Spoiler: Penis pops

Spoiler

Read more (With more images)

Even more (with videos!)

 

Konbini [Convenience Store]

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Coming from the UK where they are usually seen as something of a last resort for grocery shopping, my only experiences of convenience stores were midnight visits to buy toilet roll or milk, and perhaps to make ill-advised alcohol purchases after a party has gone on too long and it was decided that doing whiskey shots would in no way be a terrible idea. Everything is expensive (you’ve gotta pay for that convenience, right?), many of the patrons look remarkably unsavoury (my drunken, early-twentysomething self included), and the staff rarely seem to want to be there any more than the customers.​

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Not so in Japan. Convenience stores – 7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart, Mini Stop, even the littler guys like Save On and Coco – are all kinds of wonderful, and they’re absolutely everywhere. Products are rarely much more expensive than in other stores, many stock snacks and ready-made meals that were prepared that very day rather than the best part of a week ago, and they offer a ton of services that are genuinely useful, including:​

- Courier delivery pickup/dropoff
You can take a package to your local convenience store, have them measure it, slap a delivery label on it, and the courier service (usually Yamato, or “kuro neko”) will pick it up from the store and deliver it for you. And the rates are surprisingly reasonable. You can even arrange for luggage to be dropped off and kept safe.​

- Bill payment
Want to pay your gas, electricity, internet or mobile phone bill? Take it to the konbini (the common term for convenience store), hand them the tear-off slip with your cash and they’ll process it for you in seconds. Et voilà! Your lights will be back on in no time!​

- Booking tickets and paying for fun stuff
Depending on which convenience store you visit, you can use their ATM-style machines to look up and reserve things like plane, concert and theme park tickets, receiving a printout and then paying at the counter. You can even shop online at websites like Amazon and Yodobashi Camera and, provided the site you’re using offers “konbini barai” (convenience store payment), after entering your unique code at the machine simply hand over your cash to the clerk. No credit card required.​

- Printing stuff out 
Even if you don’t have a USB pen to take with you, log in to the convenience store chain’s online printing service and save your document there. You’ll receive a passcode which you enter at the store’s printer, which (after you slot in a few yen) will spit out your documents. You can print anything from whole web pages to essays written in MS Word.​

Oh, and let’s not forget that you can also buy food, beer, whiskey, wine, light bulbs, DVDs, video games, newspapers, magazines, cat food, hot baked goods, seasonal stews, fresh coffee, point cards for Amazon, iTunes, and Nintendo and Sony’s online stores… the list is endless.​

Convenience stores in Japan: Actually convenient.​

[Sourced from RocketNews24]​

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PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Behold the beautiful peach blossoms and Mt. Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture! You will be able to enjoy this marvelous view until the end of April. More here >> http://ow.ly/vH3MS​

☆The great spot for Cherry Blossoms : Meguro River☆
Today, we will show you a picture of the great spot for cherry blossoms near by Shibuya.♪
It takes 4 minutes by train to arrive Nakameguro where the Meguro River flows.
The scenery in which many branches reach on the river is very valuable at Tokyo.
I recommend you to go to Meguro river next year using TRIANGLE TICKET !!
http://www.tokyu.co.jp/triangle/english/index.html
I am sure you can make great memory (^^)/☆​

☆Cherry Blossoms have come out at Shibuya ☆
Finally Spring has come to Shibuya !!!
So many cherry blossoms have come out on the “Sakura” (cherry blossoms) street 
And everyone stops to take photos because of their beaty♪​

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Crème brûlée flavored Oreos? In a candy bar form? That's an #OnlyinJapan treat for sure! What are some of your favorite snacks from Japan?http://bit.ly/1k9A13s​

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The secret to Japan's efficient train system, revealed in the video - check it out!​

[video]http://youtu.be/_rtxm30NULU[/video]​

 

You ever seen one of these ???​

I'll tell you now if you think it's a banjo, you're wrong...

It's called a Shamisen

A three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi.
The Japanese pronunciation is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" when used as a suffix (e.g., Tsugaru-jamisen). (In western Japan, and often in Edo-period sources, it is sometimes "samisen."

The shamisen is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The neck of the shamisen is fretless and slimmer than that of a guitar or banjo. The body, called the dō (胴?), resembles a drum, having a hollow body that is taut front and back with skin, in the manner of a banjo. The skin used depends on the genre of music and the skill of the player. Student shamisen often use dog skin, and sometimes plastic, as they are cheaper to replace, and more durable. The shamisen of professional players are often taut in cat skin, as it is more delicate and expensive. It is said that the best sound quality is produced from a shamisen bound in cat skin. In the past a special type of paper was used and recently various types of plastics are being tried. On the skin of some of the best shamisen, the position of the cat's nipples can still be seen​

And this is just an awesome cover of the Japanese group BABYMETAL.

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What happened to Nyako?

 

She's still a part of the community, just lurks a lot. She's been busy with a lot of real life things. I talk with her an a semi-regular basis.

 

Thanks for telling me.

 

I took over bc she was just letting this rot and i couldnt have that so, yeah. Im the boss now.

 

Tanabata [Evening of the Seventh]
2014 Google Doodle
Tanabata is a star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively).
#JapaneseDiscovery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata
I posted about Tanabata last year so I wont re-explain it here.

 

@Mafiacow It's Tanabata, are you writing anything special on your school's rooftop this year?

 

Oh, hello Keiichi its been a while.