You can’t have anime without Japanese culture! Find out where anime fashion comes from and why Japan’s designs are so unique.
Love it or hate it, one can’t help but be intrigued by modern Japanese fashion. With their loud colors, strange accessories, and daunting hairstyles, trendy fashions among Japanese young people seem almost alien in comparison to America’s goth, punk, and emo fashions.
It’s perplexing how some of the obnoxious, brash, and downright garish street fashions evolved [...]
Ninjutsu has captivated Americans since it first arrived in the US via movie and television screens in the nineteen eighties. Ever since the “ninja crazeâ€, kids and adults alike have been fascinated by the notion of stealthy, secretive assassins lurking in the shadows, bringing silent death to any who see them.
But, how true is this [...]
Christmas, as it’s celebrated in America, is definitely a Western custom. The shopping season leading up to this most generous of holidays starts in the States the day after Thanksgiving: Black Friday. We Americans have a proud tradition of getting up at 3:30a.m.on Black Friday to shove lil’ old ladies down in the [...]
For over half a century, a popular New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan has been to listen to or watch the KÅhaku Uta Gassen (Red & White Song Battle). This year will be the 58th edition of KÅhaku. The show features two teams of the most popular music performers of the past year. [...]
The P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center which is affiliated with New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is currently presenting an exhibition of photographs by Masato Okada of Butoh dancer/choreographer Min Tanaka.
Butoh is an avant-garde dance form which originated in Japan with the first performance probably in 1959. Two of the originators of the form were [...]
In the heart of a cedar forest in Nagano prefecture lies one of the best places to get soba in Japan: Togakushi. Togakushi has more soba shops in its village than any other type of business. The little hamlet is so renowned for its soba, it has its own Soba Festival once a [...]
Americans love fall food. Around autumn, many food items such as pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, pecans, and apples get cooked up and served as comfort food. Some are made into pies topped with whipped cream (pecan, pumpkin, apple), others are baked and served with warm butter (squash, sweet potatoes), and others covered in [...]
Taiko master Eitetsu Hayashi is celebrating his 25th anniversary as a solo artist this year. The Hiroshima native started his drumming career 36 years ago. He was an early member of the taiko group Sado-Ondekoza, which was also known for its adherence to a strict communal lifestyle.
© The Japan Foundation, Sydney 2005
Sado-Ondekoza [...]
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