japan– tag –

The main purpose of building castles is the same in Japan and European countries: Defense against enemies, but there are many differences in material, structure, etc. between them. They arise from the difference in the characters of the wars between Japan and European countries.

Samurai governed Japan for about 700 years, from 1185 to 1867. The age of samurai is divided into some periods. According to a popular theory, samurais in the first period (the Kamakura period, from 1185 to 1333) are believed to be strongest and bravest. It is said that "You look like a Kamakura samurai" was the best praising words for samurais even in the last days of the samurai age.

I think we can devide business organizations into two types by hiring method: job-description type and membership type. The former organizations clearly define the tasks that they want their employees to fulfill. Accordingly, employees f...

【Something in common between Japanese knives and furniture】 Just before entering the furniture business, I worked in the fishery industry and often took overseas clients to the biggest fish market in Tokyo. It was now-closed Tsukiji ma...

In the early spring of Hokkaido, when all living things come back to life, I drove a car down a country road and happened to see two cranes. They, without being afraid of me pulling over and other cars passing by, seemed to wait for some...

People who like camping will say “It’s for extraordinary experiences,” but what people actually do in camping are boiled down to super-ordinary things, like preparing meal, eating, clearing up after meal, and sleeping. I know it’s important to do such everyday routines in nature.

Sapporo in September, completely different from the main land of Japan where people still suffer from lingering summer heat. The capital city of Hokkaido has a population of two million, but has such a big natural park in the center of t...

A Japanese professor visited Cuba for a medical conference. When someone threw a presentation, he couldn't focus because the sound of insects was too loud. In the meanwhile, he got interested and asked a man sitting next to him about the insects. Surprisingly, the man answered he didn't hear anything.

Most of us simply believe our work contributes to society or someone else, and also that that’s the reason why money is paid for work. In fact, we may have just wasted time in the name of work for things no one wants, and may no longer work for money.

The most popular sport in Japan is still baseball. Every summer, the Japan national high school baseball championship takes place by the teams going through the elimination tournaments held in all the 47 prefectures. Hokkaido representative teams were always weak and lost in the first round of the championship in most cases.