Japanese Culture and Traditions– category –

Gacha, Japanese capsule toy vending machines come back in style! The biggest Japanese advertising agency brought about a revolution in the Gacha industry. They’ve started to install Gacha in some international airports in Japan. Their target customers are foreign tourists who have too much time and too many Japanese coins on their hands.

In the popular places for cherry blossoms in the peak season, you can see many blue ground sheets spreading all over under cherry trees. Even though a good spot is secured somehow, most people just enjoy drinking and eating, and only few people look up cherry blossoms. This is the reality of cherry blossom viewing parties in contemporary Japan.

Did you know that ice hockey goalkeepers have no longer worn the iconic mask of Jason in the Friday the 13th series? Last week I went to see an ice hockey match for the first time. I was disappointed by the fact and somehow thought about Japanese Noh masks (please see the above image) during the match. Both of them are creepy, but in two different ways.

I know we have received a lot of benefit from innovation mostly made by courageous or reckless decision-makers, but sometimes I can’t help feeling that the value of being the first penguin is overestimated because of its high-risk nature. Think about it for a second: Nobody knows if such innovations can make the world richer. I think it may be better to leave it to some weirdos like Elon Musk.

Have you ever eaten mochi? If yes and you’re still alive, you’re blessed. Do you know how many people have lost their lives by choking on mochi in Japan? It’s 300 averagely every year. We probably should prohibit or at least impose a heavy tax on mochi like narcotics and alcohol, but there has been no such momentum so far.

Why do bees and hornets build hexagons? If we try to fill a plane surface with a single kind of polygons, there are three options: equilateral triangles, squares, and regular hexagons. Bees and hornets go with regular hexagons because regular hexagons are best in space-efficiency and second best in strength. This is the core point of the theory. What do you think?

【Our general impression on the sea of trees in the foot of Mt. Fuji】 Even if you have not been to Japan before, I believe many of you have heard the name of the highest and most beautiful mountain in Japan. Yes, it’s Mt. Fuji, or Fujiy...

The Sunday evening depression is expressed “Sazae-san Syndrome” in Japanese. Sazae-san is the longest-running animated TV series, broadcast every Sunday evening since 1969. From this fact, you can also see how common it is to watch animated TV shows in Japan, not only for kids but also for adults.

Do you know the latest hi-tech firework "Sliding Peony?" It was so unique, and I’ve never seen such a firework before. Immediately, I googled it with many keywords and finally found that it was a new topical one called “Sliding Peony.” My vocabulary is too poor to explain how unique the new firework was. Please watch these YouTube videos, instead.

I rarely buy flowers. It’s only on Mother’s Day, though I forget even that sometimes. Probably that’s because I don’t really know what flowers I should buy. On Mother’s Day, it’s easy because flower shops offer a wide variety of Mother’s Day bouquet options. In addition, there’s a mental wall in us, I guess. In fact, I’ve never seen anyone who is waiting for his/her date with a flower bouquet, and so I believe it only happens in the movies. In other words, that may be because of Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman” or “Shall We Dance?” Flower gifting becomes a mission impossible for us ordinary people, based on my fully biased opinion.[...]