Unique Japan

The days are getting longer and everybody seems to be enjoying these summer days and nights. You’ll see salary-men heading off to nearby Beer Gardens after work, where they can enjoy a few cold beers outside with their colleagues. Or you’ll see kids playing with sparklers with their friends（under adults’ supervision, of course) or you might happen to see girls wearing a Yukata. When I see this it makes me really feel like summer is finally here. For those who don’t know what a Yukata is, simply put, it’s a summer Kimono.

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There are many unique customs that are etched into Japanese culture, and one is the giving of summer gifts called Ochu-gen. If you go to any department store or grocery store around this time, you’ll see numerous displays of boxed gifts for Ochu-gen.

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This past Friday, one of my closest friends from high school had a wedding. Even though western style weddings (Meaning wearing the white wedding gown and having a ceremony at a cute chapel or hotel, etc. It has nothing to do with the Wild West.) is extremely popular among our generation, my friend decided to wear a kimono and a wig at her Japanese style wedding. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the ceremony, but for those of you who are not familiar with Japanese style weddings, the following is how a typical ceremony proceeds.

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Socrates said, “The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know”. This is how I feel when it comes to learning Kanji. Though I’m Japanese and have been using Kanji for the past few decades, every now and then I make new discoveries and fascinating finds in the world of Kanji. We’ve been talking about children on this blog, so I thought it would be appropriate to share what I found recently.

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Typically on Children’s day (Kodomo No Hi) we display carp fish banners called koinobori and we sing a song for this fish family. Here is the song and its translation:

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Many of you might have seen the Disney movie Mulan, which depicts a young Chinese maiden, Mulan, courageously disguising herself as a Chinese warrior in order to protect her father. It’s very exciting to see a female character such as Mulan aspiring to be her best in a male-dominated world. I’m not sure if Mulan is based on a true story, but here in Japan, there was a story of a female samurai who outsmarted many of her opponents and was known for her legendry archery skills. Her name was Tomoe.

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The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word Ninja is not TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - heroes in a half shell), but Ninja Hattori-kun. He’s a silly Ninja boy created by a beloved Japanese cartoonist, Fujio Fujiko (A). As a child, I learned a lot about the ways of the Ninja from this cartoon and secretly practiced at becoming stealthier.

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Usher in spring with a beautiful woodblock print by Hirokazu Fukuda (1944-2004), and save up to 35% until April 6th.

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– How Japanese aesthetics changed over time

Here in Japan, we are about to celebrate Hina-Matsuri (Japanese doll festival or girl’s day) on March 3rd. Families with daughters usually display Ohina-sama at their home to wish for their young girls to grow up healthy.

Since we are celebrating my daughter’s first Hina-Matsuri this year, we decided to check out what kind of Ohina-sama are out on the market.

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We are proud to announce the launch of the ‘We Love Daruma’ brand and complementary website www.welovedaruma.com.

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