Japanese have many gestures that come off as strange to us Westerners. When we see ’em in anime and movies they can leave us scratching our heads. I couldn’t find some of the odder gestures, but I did manage a collection of the more common conversation gestures. Here is a low down on some of…
Category: Culture
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
11 March 2011 The Earth shifted off its axis between 10-25 cm that day. Off the coast of Tohoku, Japan the Earth heaved at a magnitude 9.0 and thrust up a tsunami that stretched 40.5 meters (133 ft) high and traveled 100 mph. That is as high as the 4 towers surrounding the Taj Mahal….
Selling Dreams
Host clubs are a common element to Japanese night life. Host clubs are bars ladies go to hire a guy for an evening of drinking, conversation, flirting, and (on rare occasions) more. Hosts are guys aged between 18 – mid 20. They are expected to be “hot” with silver jewelry, tans, and charm. Basically they…
Takeshi’s Castle
Someone HAD to have been hurt on this game show. Takeshi’s Castle was a Japanese game show that ran between 1986 and 1989. A volunteer “army” of 100 and 142 people (commanded by Commander Tani) plow through a series of obstacles in an effort to defeat Count Takeshi and his army. The contestants sported costumes,…
There is Personality in the Blood
Ever wonder what is up with all the blood types in celebrity bios and anime? Well, apparently in Japan blood type affects personality. The idea started with Furukawa Takeji and his paper “The Study of Temperament Through Blood Type” published in the scholarly journal Psychological Research. Since then, blood type is used as shorthand for…