2018.04.21 03:45Children's dayMay 5th is a Japanese national holiday called Children's day. Parents wish health and success of male kids on this day. They hang up carp streamers called "koinobori" for wishing boy's success because carp (in Japanese, "koi") means success. In Chinese traditional stories, it is said carps can swim against river stream and climb...
2017.12.10 03:55ShinkansenWhen I took the JR rapid train from Kyoto to Osaka, two foreign tourists asked me if the train was going to Himeji station. I said "Yes", but their tickets were for a bullet train (Shinkansen) that had just left 1 minute earlier. The Shinkansen platform is a bit far from the rapid train platform, but they didn't know that. It ta...
2016.12.28 04:03Ogre on loofsDo you realize there are faces of ogre on roofs of temples or Japanese style buildings? That is a roof ornament, called "onigawara" in Japanese, for protecting the building against evil which came from Chinese culture in 8th century. The role may be similar to gargoyles on the Notre Dame temple in Paris. You will find different ...