Impressions of daily life in Japan
Coming of Age Day (seijin no hi) is a Japanese holiday held on the second Monday of January. It is a great day for kimono spotting. In day-to-day life in Japan, it is rare to see people in kimono. On Coming of Age Day, however, you will see them everywhere. Coming of Age Day celebrates... Continue Reading →
Around New Year's time, you will see special decorations outside shops and in temples all over Japan. For foreigners, these public decorations are very interesting. Since we often don't have access to Japanese family life, the decorations put up by shops and temples are the best (and often only) way for us to learn about... Continue Reading →
In Japan, it is customary to send out New Year's cards, or 'nengajou'. While in the West, traditional Christmas and New Year's cards are gradually being replaced by electronic versions and e-mails, in Japan cards are still being sent through the mail (which I quite like). New Year's cards are big business in Japan. Every... Continue Reading →
When visiting a temple in Japan, you will often see large strings of colored paper shapes, hung up in various places. Closer inspection reveals that these paper shapes are actually cranes. One thousand of them to be exact. The origami cranes are often arranged by color, fitted one close on top of the other and... Continue Reading →
The Japans 