Category Archives: fun links

Fun Link Friday: Tokyo’s Best Plum Blossom Spots

Posted on February 28, 2014 by LM

I’ll confess that I have a personal bias for plum blossoms over sakura. Sure, they aren’t as majestic as the shidare-zakura (枝垂桜), but I love how vividly pink they are and how they smell. I’m most familiar with Kanazawa’s plum … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: Wasei-Eigo Poll

Posted on February 21, 2014 by LM

Check out the results of the “‘English’ words Japanese don’t realise aren’t English” poll on What Japan Thinks for a list of useful wasei-eigo words. I actually think these lists are great for learning the correct way to use these terms … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: The 47 Bronin

Posted on February 14, 2014 by LM

Jamie Noguchi of the webcomic Yellow Peril has created one of the best webcomic fillers I’ve ever seen: the tale of the 47 “bronin,” or the classic tale of Lord Asano’s ronin exacting revenge on Lord Kira– but with bros, fistbumps, and dropping … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: Osaka Castle 3D Light Show

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Paula

Over the past month or so Osaka Castle has participated in the Art Festival of Light by putting on an enormous light show projected onto Osaka Castle, complete with fire, tigers, and fireworks. My love of castles aside, it’s totally … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: Gokaku Iyokan

Posted on January 31, 2014 by LM

Farmers in Yawatahama-shi (八幡浜市), Ehime prefecture, spent 5 years developing these pentagonal iyokan, a (delicious) type of citrus fruit native to Yamaguchi prefecture. The name “gokaku iyokan” is a pun on the word for pentagram (gokaku, 五角) and “passing” an exam (gôkaku, … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: Biei’s Blue Pond

Posted on January 24, 2014 by LM

This wintry scene is brought to you by Spoon & Tamago, who featured some of Kent Shiraishi’s photos of the blue pond in Biei (美瑛), Hokkaido. The water contains a high degree of aluminum hydroxide, which is why it appears … Continue reading →

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Fun Link(s) Friday: Ozu and Tokyo Story

Posted on January 17, 2014 by LM

BBC Radio’s Night Waves aired a show on Ozu’s Tokyo Story (東京物語), which was voted #1 (the best film of all time) in the British Film Institute’s 2012 Sight & Sound Directors Top Ten, beating out Citizen Kane.* On the 60th anniversary of the … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: Disaster-Response Robots

Posted on January 7, 2014 by LM

For some not-so-giant Japanese robots, check out Schaft Inc.’s winner of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials 2013. (Schaft is a Japanese company recently purchased by Google). For a short overview, check out ABC’s coverage, and for a closer look … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: The Stray Cats of Kyoto

Posted on January 3, 2014 by LM

I’m rolling my eyes a bit at the title of this piece, but the photos are a great new lens through which to explore Kyoto. Katayama has taken thousands of pictures of the legendary ancient city that once was the … Continue reading →

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Fun Link Friday: 2013 Kanji and Words of the Year

Posted on December 20, 2013 by LM

On Dec. 12, the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society (日本漢字能力検定協会) announced the “Kanji of the Year” for 2013: 輪（りん、わ) [ring] in honor of Tokyo winning the bid for the 2020 Olympics as well as the teamwork by the delegation to win … Continue reading →

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