The Tears of a Cat: Hello Kitty’s Guide to Japan, English and Japanese/ ハローティの英語で紹介する

There’s something incredibly moving about a single tear dribbling from the tiny eyes of Hello Kitty; her lack of a mouth even makes it all the more poignant

A Virtual Hatsumode (初詣） for our readers. Happy New Year!

The first visit to a shrine at the start of the New Year is important in Japan. We went and filled out a votive tablet (絵馬) for you. Good luck and best wishes in 2012! This is our way of saying thanks for sticking with us and the blog for 2011 and expressing our best [...]

Harness The Cosmic Power Of Meiji Shrine! Tokyo Power Spot Review #1

Jake feels the power.   The Kiyomasa Well (清正井), located in the Meij Jingu (明治神宮) Inner Garden is believed to be one of Tokyo premier power spots. No one is sure when the rumors began but around 2010, Japanese celebrities began whispering that if you took a photo of the well and used it as [...]

“She is the most handsome man you’ll ever see…” A Review Of Takarazuka Revue

The Takarazuka Revue:『清く、正しく、美しく』 “We shall perform with Purity, Sincerity and Beauty”– Japan’s modern Kabuki or just women in drag?–The actresses of Takarazuka are recruited according to esthetic and physical criteria, such as their beauty, their height (taller than average for otokoyaku, 男役, (male performers), their voice and the shape of their face (square face, if possible, for the otokoyaku). Just by naming these criteria, we can see that clichés for male roles are established from the start.

“Shut Down The Nukes, Close The Uranium Mines”…Nuclear Free Japan?

One man in Tohoku left the following suicide note after realizing his land was ruined, ““If there were no nuclear power plants, if there were no nuclear power, this would not have happened.”