5 Things You Shouldn't Do in Japan in Front of One's Partner
Things a wife should not do in front of others (according to husbands) Make noise while eating Pick nose Break wind Belch Leave food unfinished Things a husband should not do in front of others (according to wives) Make noise while eating Pick nose Haggle over small change when splitting the check at a restaurant […]
What is Nengajo? 年賀状 ねんがじょう
Nengajo 年賀状 ねんがじょう Nengajo is New Year’s card in Japan. The custom of sending nengajo traces back to the Meiji period (1868-1912), when postcards were first issued in Japan. Until then, people visited their relatives and acquaintances to greet them at the New Year, but nengajo enabled people to do so by sending cards. With […]
What is Menko?
めんこ Menko Menko is a children’s game which dates back to the early 17th century. The rules are simple. Players place their cards on the ground and take turns trying to flip the other players’ cards over by throwing another card at them. One of the cards may be flipped by a gust of wind […]
What is Ukiyoe?
浮世絵 うきよえ Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a kind of woodcut print which flourished from about the 1680s to the 1850s. It depicts the everyday life of common people, and portraits of actors and beautiful women are also among its themes. Many foreign artists have been influenced by this unique style including Van Gogh. Among the most […]
What is Noren?
暖簾 のれん Noren Noren are curtains with vertical slits hung in front of restaurants, bars, and shops during business hours. The name of the shop or a symbol indicating the products sold there may be dyed into the cloth, so the noren also functions as a shop sign. Since a shop’s noren symbolizes the shop, […]
Share Houses Are Popular Among Regular Workers in Japan
Regular company staffs, Temporary workers, Part-time workers, Non-regular company staffs, Between jobs, University students, Others Source: Hitsuji Incubation Square Various reasons for choosing to live in a shared house In Japan, so-called share houses in which people live communally in order to pay less rent were once seen as the domain of short-term foreign visitors. […]
How to Pass on Japanese Wooden Building Technology to Future Generations
Izumo Taisha on the "Kojiki" The oldest written mythology and history of Japan, the Kojiki (“Record of Ancient Matters”) was completed in 712 AD. The work covers prehistoric legends about how Japan sprang forth from the gods and the origins of the imperial reign that continues to the present. In 2012, to commemorate the 1,300th […]
What Is Division System?
Konosuke Matsushita: Vitalizing the Division System (divisional system) By M. Emi The Konosuke Matsushita Museum (Osaka, Japan) is currently presenting a special exhibition entitled "Konosuke Matsushita: Vitalizing the Division System", which will be available to the public until June 29, 2013. “This is one of the major exhibitions at the Konosuke Matsushita Museum in 2013. […]
Business Training in Japan Is Not Popular. OJT Is Popular. Why?
By R. Kopp Allow me to share three recent incidents related to training that took place at Japanese companies in the U.S.: An American discovered that his Japanese colleague wasn’t happy for him leaving the factory floor to come attend a training session. A training session was scheduled that seven Japanese were supposed to attend, […]
Nitobe Inazo and "Bushido"
Who is Nitobe Inazo? The author of "Bushido" Inazo Nitobe, author of “Bushido, The Soul of Japan”, which was published in 1899 and became a worldwide best-seller, was an important figure who represented Japan. Although this book, which was the first English-language text to systematize Bushido1, was originally written to explain the moral framework of […]