When Politeness Isn’t Nice At All
One fascinating but sometimes frustrating feature of anime is that key facts about character relationships are often conveyed by the level of politeness in their speech. This often is not… Read more »
Category: Japanese Culture
Lucky Star Worshippers Multiply
A while ago I mentioned the Washinomiya Shrine which has become a pilgrimage site for fans of the 2007 anime series Lucky Star. That was quite a while ago and… Read more »
Anime and the Olympics
Now that Tokyo has been awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics I think that it is a safe bet that we will see a lot of Olympic-themed anime episodes or even… Read more »
Obon Festival 2013 NYC
The New York Buddhist Church sponsors an annual Obon Festival in Bryant Park.
Sasami-san and Shinto concepts of death
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai has gotten noticeably darker with the appearance of Sasami’s dead mother. By now I’ve dropped the hypothesis that Sasami is an ordinary girl with Shinto-based delusions. This really is… Read more »
New Frontiers in High-Tech Toilets
I blogged about high-tech toilets here and here but apparently the Japanese have only begun to explore the full potential of the technology. The latest development: toilets that you control… Read more »
The Decline of Akihabara
A reporter for The Register visits Tokyo’s Akihabara district and finds it’s not quite the tech paradise that he was hoping for Step out of the station’s “Electric Town” (denki… Read more »
Happy Tanabata!
July 7 is the date of one of Japan’s most beloved festivals. It is called “Tanabata” (written as “seventh evening”). In English it is often called the “Star Festival”. It… Read more »
You too can be a Nekomimi
“Nekomimi” = “cat ears.” “Necomimi” is the brand name via Robert who plans to sell them.