Japanese Culture and Traditions– category –

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 in the National Diet of Japan 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?

Do you notice anything peculiar in the above image of the big forest at the bottom of Mt. Fuji? It's moss. You can see a lot of moss on the ground. It grows on the surface of tree roots crawling on the ground. The forest soil is made of lava. The lava soil is so hard and well-drained that trees can't collect and keep water from their roots without moss.

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. 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.

As this may sound strange to people outside Japan, all the high school and university graduates join companies and start working in April, all at once. For one year before graduation, many companies throw recruiting sessions, and final-year university students spend most of their time in those sessions, instead of attending classes.

Have you watched the Hollywood movie titled "Arrival" (2016)? Simply put, it's a science fiction depicting the contact with aliens. I know it may sound same old, but it's completely different. The movie depicts the close encounters from the view point of linguistics. What is most interesting to me is the design of the letters the aliens use. It is 3D! The scriptwriter must be a genius.

Japanese giant hornets sit at the top of the insect food chain and are feared even by humans as giant killer hornets. In fact, about 20 people are stung and killed every year in Japan. Are they just a useless nuisance? I personally don't like giant hornets, but I'm trying to re-evaluate their role from the viewpoint of the environment.