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Tag Archives: japan
Ongakuyōbi: Number Girl
Number Girl are from my neck of the woods – Fukuoka, Japan.
On Onsen, or Bathing With Friends and Coworkers
I was naked except for a green smock, flashing some leg and God-knows-what-else to two older women with shovels as I stepped into a small dirt hole in the center of a Japanese bath house. Lying on my back with … Continue reading
Ongakuyōbi: The Pizzicato Five
A recent conversation with a friend has unearthed a common problem when it comes to music fans in Japan: J-Pop has drowned out everything remotely cool about this country’s music scene, and it’s hard to find stuff that isn’t AKB48. … Continue reading
On Roller Skating in Japan: Notes on One Year of Culture Shock
This month marked my first year in Japan: My Japanniversary. My first year as an expatriate felt a lot like a bad prom date. I was incompetent, needy, never quite sure where to put my hands.
On Obon: Japan’s Homecoming Game, with Ghosts.
There’s an old Buddhist story about a monk named Mahamaudgalyayana – let’s call him Mokuren, for short – who was doing alright, as monks go, and had finally developed the skill of peering into the world of the dead.
Posted in Fun, Shrines, Thinking, Tradition, Uncategorized, Zen
Tagged ancestor worship, buddha, buddhism, holidays, hungry ghosts, japan, japanese holidays, obon, world holidays
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On Bowling in Japan
If you don’t play a sport, you’ve run out of possible conversations with about 90 percent of Japanese men. So I started lying: “I’m a bowler.” At first it was a genius move. I would never be asked to talk … Continue reading
This Japanese Life. 