Japan Navigator

It is time for some comic relief, so for No. 4 on the list of my favorite Japanese films of 2007 we turn to the antics of comic actor Abe Sadao in search of that elusive phenomenon, a real Kyoto geisha, in Maiko Haaaan!!!.
By the way, “Haaaan” is just a very enthousiastic pronunciation of [...]

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Via Furoshiki Blog my attention was called to the New York Public Library Digital Collections, which contains many old photographs from 19th c. Japan.

This is an albumen print of the famous Nunobiki Falls in Kobe. It shows the lower one, the Medaki, situated immediately behind the Shinkobe Shinkansen Station.
It is interesting to see [...]

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My number three film of 2007 is Nightmare Detective (Akumu Tantei) by veteran indy helmer Tsukamoto Shinya. This is a film about death, emptiness and suicide – a contemporary topic if ever there was one. With more than 33,000 who do the deed every year, for many years now, for numerous Japanese the wish to [...]

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We continue our journey in 2007 Japanese film land with my Number Two: Exte. About a half year ago I already dedicated a post to this film, which I will partly quote here while adding some new observations.

What is it about?
Japanese horror films are all too famous for the female ghosts who swing their [...]

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Midnight Eye’s contributors have come out with their annual lists of the best (and worst) Japanese films of 2007. For me, too, this was a year of many films (mostly on DVD) and being an inveterate list maker, I like to present my own “best 10″. I will do it one film at a time, [...]

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Is rice still the soul of Japan? Perhaps not so strongly anymore when you see the advance of hamburgers, pasta en steaks.
But various things still remind me of the fact that this tropical marshland plant has shaped Japanese civilization as we know it. Rice and the Japanese share a long and deep relationship. Rice [...]

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There is nothing more soothing than the fragrance of fresh, new tatami. In my first flat in Kyoto, I had several tatami rooms, and used to stretch out on the floor to inhale the smell…
Unfortunately, since then I have only lived in western-style apartments and houses. My dream is that my next place will [...]

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As a Sinologist myself, I have always been fond of Sugawara no Michizane, the greatest Sinologue (and writer of poetry in Chinese) from ancient Japan. For the same reason, I have a weakness for the Tenmangu Shrines dedicated to him.
Michizane (9th c.) died in exile, after a frustrated career, and as an angry ghost [...]

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In the fight for yen from tourists – not to speak of the many highschool excursions that make Kyoto unsafe – competition can drive the minds of some business owners over the top.

[Restaurant off Shijo-dori (near Gion) in Kyoto]
Will a funny display in front of your restaurant help and bring in the tourists? Or [...]

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Fast foods existed in Japan long before McDonalds arrived with its fattening hamburgers. My favorite type of such a traditional fast food is at the same time the most simple: the plain, old-fashioned rice ball.
Apart from a bowl of white rice in its original form, rice balls are probably the simplest rice dish. The name [...]

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