Japanese housewives; mostly faithful, sometimes frisky

Posted on Sep 27, 2013 in Japanese customs, News, Stories about Japan |

Frustration within the married state is as old as the institution itself. Sexless marriage? You’ve heard this story before. Condom maker Sagami Gomu, following an in-house survey, has concluded that nearly half of all marriages in Japan are sexless. Simultaneous developments in other spheres promise, you’d think, riotous extra-marital goings-on. More and more wives work. At work they meet people. In the warm glow of fresh encounters, home and family are another world. No...

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All the rage: animal cafes

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 in Japanese customs, Stories about Japan, Things to do |

In a vibrant city such a Tokyo, many people live in small apartments stacked up on each other creating plenty of high-rise buildings. Because these apartments are often rented, the people are prohibited to own any pets and even if it wasn’t prohibited the places would just be too small. But Japan would not be the modern country as we know it if it had not come up with a solution; animal cafes! The first animal café was a Neko café (neko means cat) and was established in...

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Anime fans flock to temple to offer prayer tablets featuring favorite characters

Anime fans flock to temple to offer prayer tablets featuring favorite characters

Posted on Sep 18, 2013 in History of Japan, Japanese customs, Stories about Japan, Things to do |

Anime enthusiasts are flocking in droves to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, but not in a spiritual pilgrimage or prompted by a sudden interest in religion. Instead it’s worship of a different kind, a devotion to fictional characters from their beloved animated works. At the shrines and temples, these anime buffs are dedicating mountains of votive picture tablets, called “ita-ema,” containing drawings of their favorite characters. On one weekend in...

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Secret treasures of Japan: Origami

Secret treasures of Japan: Origami

Posted on Sep 16, 2013 in History of Japan, Japanese customs, Japanese technology, Stories about Japan |

Origami (折り紙), Japanese: ‘ori’ means to fold and ‘kami’ paper, is a traditional Japanese folding art and developed in the Edo period. Origami uses a limited number of folds but due to the combination of these folds intriguing designs are possible. The art originates in China during the first or second century, shortly after the invention of paper. From China it came to Japan, where it gained its shape and form as we know it today. In general the...

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A guide to Japanese whisky

A guide to Japanese whisky

Posted on Sep 16, 2013 in History of Japan, Japanese customs, Things to do, What to buy, Where to drink |

In Ian Fleming’s You Only Live Twice, the Australian spy Dikko Henderson gets a vile hangover drinking Japanese whisky. James Bond, more of a martini man, is amazed that Dikko would even consider drinking that gutrot, saying, ‘I can’t believe Japanese whisky makes a good foundation for anything.’ That neatly sums up the attitude of most foreigners to Japanese whisky for most of its more than 80-year history. In 2001, that all started to change when a 10-year-old Yoichi made...

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