Tag Archives: japan

On Climbing Mount Fuji (With a Fear of Heights)

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Eryk Salvaggio

About 300,000 people a year climb Mt. Fuji. A handful of them die. Very few of them get panic attacks from standing on porches. I’m acrophobic: Seven feet high and I’m nervous. Higher up I get dizzy; at 30 feet … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged fear of heights, japan, longreads, mt. fuji | 10 Comments

On Being the Fattest

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Eryk Salvaggio

Not every kid in Japan cares about learning English, and so they use class time to work toward other life goals: Homework from other classes, arm wrestling contests or listening to their talking dictionaries pronounce various euphemisms for sex. Recently, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture Shock, Food, Uncategorized, Weird | Tagged fat, health, japan, obesity, pig, weight loss | 10 Comments

On the Death of Japan

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Eryk Salvaggio

Everywhere you look, people say Japan is dying. The Economist says Japan is dying. Curators say Japan is dying. The numbers say Japan is dying. There is no dispute that the Japanese get older as the children get scarcer: Ten … Continue reading →

Posted in Fukuoka, Thinking, Uncategorized | Tagged asexual, birth rate, dating, death, death rate, elderly, future, japan, nagasaki, population | 15 Comments

J-Cin Sundays: Godzilla vs Fukushima

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Eryk Salvaggio

Posted in Earthquake, Movies | Tagged earthquake, fukushima, godzilla, gojira, japan, japanese cinema, movies, nuclear, power | 1 Comment

On Japanese Funerals

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Eryk Salvaggio

My first conversation about the earthquake was a week and three days after it struck. In the office, we talked about the peripheries of disaster: Blood donations, fundraisers, TV coverage. We didn’t talk about victims. When the media focused on … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquake, Photography, Shinto, Shrines, Temples and Ruins, Thinking, Tradition, Uncategorized, Zen | Tagged buddhism, death, earthquake, funerals, japan, photos, shinto | 9 Comments

On the Ephemeral Nature of the Starbucks Sakura Latte

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Eryk Salvaggio

Maybe a Sakura Latte is not weird. It’s getting hard to tell. After months of figuring out Japanese culture, my go-to instinct is still bewilderment. Starbucks had primed me for the Sakura Latte since Feb. 10 with a small sign … Continue reading →