New Year's in Japan
New Year's season in Japan is a quiet and family-oriented celebration. Most people, especially families, spend the period at home and sometimes go out to experience some of the cultural activities like visiting shrines.
Modern New Year celebrations, especially for the younger generations can include countdown parties, but these are not the general norm. Why is New Year's so i...
Confucianism in Japan
Confucianism stands beside Buddhism as one of the religious, sociological, and philosophical teachings that spread across Asia to Japan. Whereas Buddhism had its roots in India, Confucianism was born in China.
In Japan, it was introduced as a fundamental component to the education system and became a staple in schools during the Edo period.
In this blog by Japanese teacher...
Japan's historic castle towns
Japan is a land with a fascinating history. One of the most interesting segments of history is the eras in which castles were constructed. Many of these remain in part or have been reconstructed and many historic castle towns are extremely well preserved.
In this blog for Japanese learners, Japanese teacher Hiroshi Yamamoto used to live in one of these towns. ...
Reborn vegetables
There have been many fads and crazes during the lockdown periods around the world. One of these has definitely gardening at home and making your own vegetables. And also regrowing vegetables from scraps as well. In Japan especially, this has been a small fad.
In this blog for Japanese learners, Japanese teacher Midori Miyake explains how she went about regrowing vegetables from...
47 prefectures of Japan
Japan is split into 47 prefectures and these are often a source of conversation and media focus. They include 43 proper prefectures, two urban prefectures (Osaka and Kyoto), one territory (Hokkaido) and one metropolis (Tokyo). Japanese media loves to find differences between the prefectures and make TV programs or radio conversations surrounding these.
In this blog by J...
