Sake from Osaka Prefecture (Sake by Region)
In land size, Osaka is, together with Kagawa, the smallest prefecture in Japan. Lying at Osaka Bay, the Yodo and Yamato Rivers flow through the prefec...
11-08-2017 21:45
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Modern Japanese Fiction by Year (3): 1912-1926, The Taisho P
In a literary sense, the Taisho period (1912-1926) is a rich time in which seven of the ten best modern fiction writers from the canon were active (So...
10-08-2017 21:49
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Modern Japanese Fiction by Year (2): 1905-1911, First Flour
We continue our survey of the Japanese Novel with Part Two - 1905-1912.(Part One is here.)In Part One we saw an early-Meiji-period Japan that was so b...
28-07-2017 21:48
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Sake from Nara Prefecture (Sake by Region)
In comparison to the giant sake centers of Nada and Fushimi, the other areas in the Kansai are mere dwarfs. That does not mean you won\'t find excelle...
03-07-2017 21:48
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Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 26 (
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 26Ogura-yamamine no momoji-hakokoro arabaima hitotabi nomiyuki matanamu??????????????????????????If the maple leaveson the peak o...
28-06-2017 21:51
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The Omiwa Shrine and Sake
Mt Miwa, a beautiful conical mountain (467m / 1532ft) north of the city of Sakurai, at the eastern edge of the Yamato basin in Nara Prefecture, is an ...
27-06-2017 21:49
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Sake from Kyoto Prefecture (Sake by Region)
Kyoto Prefecture is in volume the second sake producing prefecture in Japan (71,286kl or 16.0% - figures 2015) - after Hyogo (28.5%) and before Niigat...
17-06-2017 21:49
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Okera mairi (Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto)
The Yasaka Shrine on the eastern edge of Kyoto plays an important role in the cultural life of the old capital, now and in the past. In July it organi...
08-06-2017 21:45
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Sake from Hyogo Prefecture (Sake by Region)
The largest sake producing area in the whole of Japan can be found in Hyogo Prefecture, at the seaside of Nishinomiya and in the eastern part of Kobe....
04-06-2017 21:48
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Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 25 (
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 25na ni shi owabaOsakayama nosanekazurahito ni shiraredekuru yoshi mo gana ????????????????????????????If its name is true,"come ...
02-06-2017 21:49
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"Japanese Pilgrimage" by Oliver Statler (Best Non-
This is where one begins. On this mountaintop, at the holiest spot of this sprawling complex of temples, in the shadow of these towering cedars, one...
02-05-2017 21:51
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"The Empty Mirror" by Janwillem van de Wetering (B
This small memoir, that ends on a tone of disillusion, is one of the best accounts of a Westerner coming to terms with Zen and meditation. The Empty M...
28-04-2017 21:50
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"Daodejing, The Classic Book of the Way and its Power&q
One of the reasons I decided to study Chinese (a decision that shocked both my parents and my teachers at the Grammar School in the small town where I...
28-04-2017 21:50
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Science & Education: Two Museums in Kyoto
Science and education are the pillars of a modern country. This is demonstrated clearly by the development of Japan since the late 19th century. Two s...
28-02-2017 21:49
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The Best Three in Japan
Pythagoras calls three the perfect number, expressive of ?beginning, middle, and end,? and he therefore makes it the symbol of the divine. The Japanes...
28-01-2017 21:50
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Nanakusa or Seven Herb Festival
January 7 is the day of the Nanakusa or Seven Herb Festival. This day, many Japanese eat rice gruel (kayu) that contains the seven medicinal herbs of ...
07-01-2017 21:42
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Seven Deities of Good Fortune in Sumida
The Sumida River circuit of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune in Tokyo is the very first of this type of New Year pilgrimages: it was devised in 1804 ...
04-01-2017 21:46
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First Calligraphy in the New Year
The First Calligraphy in the New Year is called "Kakizome" or "Kissho-hajime" and it is one of many "firsts," as we have hatsugama (the first tea cere...
02-01-2017 21:44
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The Seven Deities of Good Fortune (Shichifukujin)
In Japan, "Shichifukujin" are the seven gods (kami) who are said to bring wealth and long life. The group of these seven lucky gods consists of Ebisu,...
01-01-2017 21:42
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The Year of the Rooster
2017 is the Year of the Rooster (toridoshi) in Japan (also translated as cock or chicken; the term denotes general barnyard fowl), the tenth year in t...
31-12-2016 21:49
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Meyami Jizo, Kyoto
The small temples of Kyoto are very interesting when you happen to stumble upon them, but usually they are not places to seek out on purpose. Meyami J...
26-12-2016 21:42
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The Ako Incident and the Forty-Seven Loyal Retainers (Chushi
As I wrote in my ?revious post about the seasonal events of December, the last month of the year is the season that traditionally the story of the For...
23-12-2016 21:41
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Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 24 (
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 24kono tabi wanusa mo toriaezuTamukeyamamomiji no nishikikami no mani mani???????????????????????????on my present journeyI could...
18-12-2016 21:48
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Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 23 (
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 23tsuki mirebachiji ni mono kosokanashikerewaga mi hitotsu noaki ni wa aranedo   ????????????????????????????when I view the ...
15-12-2016 21:45
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Kanzake - the season of warm sake
Years ago when I started making promotion for sake, the main "enemy" was the wrong image of the brew caused by the piping hot sake served in all too m...
07-12-2016 21:43
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Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 22 (
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 22fuku kara niaki no kusaki noshiorurebamube yama kaze oarashi to iuran    ????????????????????????????as soon as it blowsaut...
05-12-2016 21:46
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