Month: June 2016
Auspicious Decorations on the Storehouses of Toyama 富山県の蔵
Food Delivery 出前
Outside a soba (buckwheat noodles) restaurant we find tin boxes with wooden handles. These are used for home deliveries. Continue reading
Wajima Morning Market 輪島朝市
The Wajima morning (fish) market in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture is a popular tourist destination. Held on the main shopping street the market opens at 8 a.m. and finishes by noon. Of course, as the saying goes, hayaoki wa san mon no toku 早起きは三文の徳 (“The early bird catches the worm”), so to get the freshest fish you have to arrive early. Not as widely known though is that aside from main market is a smaller fish market held for the locales in the precincts of a shrine.
Osaka’s Shinsekai District 新世界商店街
Traffic Safety Scarecrows 案山子 (かかし） from Akita prefecture
New Appointment
On the occasion of the 58th Meeting of the Association for Indology & the Study of Religion held on May 28 & 29 at the Koriyama Women’s University Professor Andrews was appointed to be the Association’s Controller.
第58回の印度学宗教学会学術は平成28年5月28日に大会郡山女子大学にて開催されました。総会に於いて印度学宗教学会の監事に選出されました。
2016 Emoticons, Emoji and Kaomoji – The Transformation of Communication in the Digital Age Conference Presentation ワークショップ発表 (Freie Universität Berlin)
Tachiyomi 立ち読み
When I first came to Japan, reading in public was more prevalent. People would read while they commuted from school and work. On buses and trains, eyes were buried deep in the pages of books and manga (Japanese comics). But I noticed, and this is by no means any great discovery, that more and more people are busily involved with their Smartphones and iPhones, and this is regardless of age. Still retail book stores continue to attract their fair share of customers. And tachiyomi 立ち読み (reading while standing) is a common practice. Tachiyomi is also employed in convenience stores to deter crime. Magazines are lined along the store’s front window so as to have the customer/reader facing out toward the street as they tachiyomi. From outside it becomes readily apparent that the store clerk is not alone and that everyone’s eyes are turned toward the street. In Japan, it seems people are geared toward standing. Perhaps this is simply a way to deal with a shortage of space, but one senses that there is a degree of creativity in the things you may do while standing. Tachikui 立ち喰い (eating while standing) is seen particularly at noodle shops (udon and ramen). And there are also tachinomi 立ち飲み(drinking while standing) shops and bars popular among businessmen, where customers stand along counters or around tables to drink and eat.
Campus Folklore キャンパスのフォクロア
Hokumeiryo 北溟寮 is a male dormitory located in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. Such dormitories and their traditions are fast disappearing in Japan. I had the pleasure to live next door to Hokumeiryo dormitory for several years. And during that time I observed some of the annual rituals that took place. In the evening hours aft
er the day’s classes had finished things often became…well some might say “boisterous” or “raucous,” but I would term it as “festive.” I particularly appreciate their having allowed my son and I to join the ranks of their parade as it snaked through the narrow, winding streets of our neighborhood one night.
I also enjoyed the larger than life bottle of sake that the students handcrafted. It denotes a central element in the dormitory life. And the array of television antennas on the roof, which students most likely set themselves, caught my eye as well. Resourcefulness.
Conveyor Belt Sushi 回転寿司
JapanFolklore 