Japan Navigator

Today’s Japan Times writes about the toll taken by the H1N1 scare on the Tokaido Shinkansen:
Use of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line fell 14 percent from May 1 through Wednesday compared with a year ago as the H1N1 swine flu outbreak and a decline in business trips brought fewer passengers [...] If the downtrend continues for [...]

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The carbonated soft drink Ramune (from “Lemonade”) was first brought market in Kobe by Alexander Cameron Sim (1840-1900), a Scottish pharmacist who also founded the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club. Although Ramune rather tastes like an ordinary soda, it is the glass bottle that is interesting.

Called a Codd-neck bottle after its inventor Hiram Codd, [...]

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Kurosawa Production and Ryukoku University have opened an archive site dedicated to the great film director Kurosawa Akira. Photos from Kurosawa’s life, stills from his films, copies of articles, notes Kurosawa made, and drawings of scenes have been included in the database. The site is only in Japanese. I had a look but must say [...]

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Follow the posts by Daniel Morales (How to Japonese) about Murakami’s latest novel Q184 which will hit the shelves coming Friday: here and here – plus the upcoming ones in which he will write about his reading experience.
I am very curious, too, what the new novel will be like. It is apparently something very [...]

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Once upon a time, Okazaki Park, now known for its museums and zoo, was filled to the brim with with the most beautiful temples of the land…
No, there is nothing left of them, the Six Temples or Rokushoji of late Heian times – history has been at its most cruel here. Shirakawa, the first [...]

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The two main halls in the Imperial palace as it evolved in Heian times were the Shishinden and the Seiryoden.

[Shishinden Throne Hall of the Kyoto Imperial Palace]
The Shishinden was the Throne Hall, used for official functions of state, such as enthronement ceremonies. It was a one-storied building with a hipped and gabled roof covered [...]

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In 1995, at a certain location on the Noto Peninsula in north-central Japan, Koichi Kurita was struck by the beauty of the soil. Since that time, Kurita has spent well over a decade journeying to towns and villages throughout Japan, usually sleeping in his pickup truck, and has collected a wide variety of soil samples.
My [...]

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The Japan Times has a useful article about the kanji used for the names of fish and how to remember them – a great help in the sushi bar!

[Card game with fish kanji]
Interesting article in The New Yorker: How David beats Goliath – When underdogs break the rules.
55 Ways to get more energy (from Zenhabits) [...]

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Another off-topic post. In this National Geographic computer-enhanced film you see how a parasitic wasp has injected her fertilized eggs into a caterpillar. The larvae start gorging themselves on the caterpillar’s blood.

Terrible enough to have to act as a surrogate womb. But then it gets even weirder. The wasp also has injected a virus into [...]

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Do you know haiku poet Takahama Kyoshi (1874-1959)? He was a central figure in the 20th century, claiming the conservative part of Shiki’s heritage (including the magazine Hototogisu), and with strict hand lorded it over the haiku world, in feudal and good political fashion starting a new dynasty as he was succeeded as “haiku emperor” [...]

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