Japan Navigator

It takes a lot of nerve to make a film with the same title as Kobayashi Masaki’s Kaidan, for you will unconsciously be measured against that impressive predecessor. It would be unfair to do so in the case of Nakata Hideo’s Kaidan, for this is not one of the many “remakes” we are being flooded [...]

Read Full Post »

Chikatsu-Asuka is an area in southern Osaka Prefecture rich in ancient history. There are over 200 tumuli graves (kofun) from the 6th and 7th century, and also the famous Prince Shotoku is said to be buried here at Eifukuji Temple. It was therefore the obvious choice for a museum dedicated to tomb culture. The new [...]

Read Full Post »

In the past (let us say, the Heian-period) the Japanese preferred the plum blossom, strong as it is in the cold weather and possessing a fine fragrance, to the weaker cherry blossom that rains down at the slightest gust of wind. Later, Saigyo with his madness for pink sadness changed it all…

[Ogose Plum grove, [...]

Read Full Post »

One of the best books on sake in English I know is Philip Harper’s The Book of Sake: A Connoisseurs Guide. Beautifully edited by Kodansha, with lavish illustrations, this book contains all you have to know about sake and is a pleasure to read, also thanks to Harper’s lively style. And that all in less [...]

Read Full Post »

In a previous post I wrote about the food-addiction of the Japanese. With the culinary passion here running as high as it does, it is not surprising that also among manga comics there is a category of “gourmet manga.” Here is my take on the most famous one: Oishinbo.

Oishinbo (usually translated as “The Gourmet” or [...]

Read Full Post »

Thanks to its balmy climate (and the fumes from its hot springs), the plum trees in Atami are among the first to bloom in the wider Tokyo area. So for early flowering trees visit this resort town and after tearing yourself loose from the steaming baths, head for the area just west of the town [...]

Read Full Post »

A Reuters article makes a case for a link between the hairstyle of Japanese women and the state of the economy.
Women tend to wear their hair long when Japan’s economy is doing well and short when there is a slump, the Nikkei business daily reported, citing a survey conducted by Japanese cosmetics company Kao [...]

Read Full Post »

Cult director Miike Takashi pulls out all stops in big budget Sukiyaki Western Django, his very post-modern, Japanese “Sukiyaki-style” take on the Spaghetti Western. And this “fusion Western” is not such a bad idea at all. In the fifties and sixties, the great Kurosawa Akira made The Seven Samurai, which was later remade as The [...]

Read Full Post »

What is interesting about Obama?
No, I am not talking politics – I am referring to the small town on the coast of the Japan Sea north of Kyoto that was catapulted into the limelight (also by its own PR) thanks to the fact that it shares its name with an American senator running for president.
So [...]

Read Full Post »

When writing about Sei Shonagon and her poem stone in Sennyuji, I discovered I still had an unpublished article about a visit to that temple. It is one of the pieces that still has to go in the “108 Temple Pilgrimage,” but I will first post it here.

Located at the foot of Mt. [...]

Read Full Post »