Showing posts with the label Japan

Mizuko Kuyo: The Japanese Ritual of Mourning The Unborn

Aug 21, 2019

Losing a child can be very painful, even if that child is yet to be born. In fact, many parents who experienced miscarriages feel the pain i...

The Japanese Fishing Boat Whose Lethal Encounter With An Atomic Bomb Inspired Godzilla

Jul 24, 2019

Tucked away in a corner of Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo, a ten-minute-walk away from Shin Kiba Station, is a tall A-frame building. Sitting in...

How Japanese Bamboo Helped Edison Make The Light Bulb

May 17, 2019

Thomas Alva Edison's invention, or shall we say “perfection”, of the light bulb helped brighten up homes of people all across the world,...

Human Decomposition in Japanese Artwork

Apr 29, 2019

In traditional Buddhist teachings, contemplating about death is an integral part of meditation. Buddha himself said that death is “the gre...

Mimizuka: The Burial Site of Thousands of Noses

Mar 28, 2019

In the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood in the suburb of Kyoto, Japan, is a 30-foot-high, grass-covered hillock within which are b...

Yasukuni Shrine, Where War Criminals Are Revered

Feb 15, 2019

The Imperial Shrine of Yasukuni, in Chiyoda, Tokyo, is a beautiful spiritual place for remembering those who died in service for Japan. As m...

Shin's Tricycle

Feb 13, 2019

Behind a glass case at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a battered and rusted tricycle. The seat is missing, and so are the pedals an...

Juhyo, The Snow Monsters of Mount Zao

Feb 1, 2019

High against the slopes of Mount Zaō, in central Japan, the cold, moisture-laden winds from Siberia slams into creating a natural wonder tha...

Chindōgu: The Japanese Art of Unuseless Inventions

Oct 18, 2018

You have definitely seen a chindōgu. They are those ridiculous Japanese inventions designed to solve a particular problem but are, in fact, ...

The Mountain That Japan Hid From The World

Oct 5, 2018

Photo credit: 663highland/Wikimedia Inside the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, in the island of Hokkaidō, not far from the active stratovolca...

The Glass Fishing Floats of Japan And Norway

Sep 10, 2018

Every year, Oregon’s Lincoln City, on the west coast of the United States, organizes a treasure hunt where more than 3,000 handcrafted glass...

Inemuri, The Japanese Art of Sleeping at Work

Sep 8, 2018

In most countries sleeping at work is not only embarrassing, it might even cost one’s job. But in Japan, sleeping in the office is common an...

The Japanese Museum With The Most Flexible Opening Times

Jun 26, 2018

Ichimura Mamoru stands in front of his museum in Kyoto. Photo credit: thornet_/Flickr In a quiet residential street in Kyoto, Japan, just ...

Landscaping In The Back Of Japanese Mini Pickup Trucks

Jun 9, 2018

The Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors organizes an annual landscaping contest, where landscaping contractors from around Japan arriv...

The Japanese Balloon Bombs of World War 2

May 28, 2018

On May 5, 1945, Reverend Archie Mitchell took his five-month pregnant wife and a group of five children from the church, where he was the pa...

Kamikatsu: The Town That Produces No Trash

May 25, 2018

Do you find separating trash by paper and plastic a chore? Then think about the residents of Kamikatsu, a small town in the mountains of Shi...

The Blood Stained Ceilings of Kyoto’s Temples

May 17, 2018

The Fushimi Castle in Kyoto was one of the last places of action during the “age of warring states”—a period in Japanese history, stretching...

Nightingale Floor: An Ancient Japanese Intruder Detection System

Apr 27, 2018

Squeaky floors are annoying, which is why when you search for “squeaky floors” in Google, you get hundreds of articles offering you tips and...

Osaka Stadium’s Housing Expo

Mar 17, 2018

Where the magnificent Namba Parks stand today at Naniwa-ku, in Osaka, Japan, once stood Osaka’s baseball stadium. Opened in 1950 with a cap...

Ise Jingu: The Japanese Shrine That’s Torn Down And Rebuilt Every 20 Years

Nov 3, 2017

The Ise Grand Shrine, also known as Ise Jingu, located in the city of Ise, in Japan, is one of Shinto's holiest and most important sites...