Yesterday, I took the afternoon off work to go watch the Olympic Torch being carried through Naganohara, a town about 20 minutes away from mine. The torch was in Gunma on March 30th and 31st, and had separate legs in every major area of the prefecture, culminating in two celebration events in the evenings -... Continue Reading →
When my alarm went off at 4 AM on Monday morning, I questioned a lot of things. For example: Why the HELL am I awake at this time? Why is it so damn cold? Is there really any good reason to leave my safe futon of warmth? Normally, I'd say fuck no. But on this... Continue Reading →
Every year, a wedding is held in the Misato area of Takasaki, Gunma. The wedding is an elaborate display of traditional Japanese customs, costumes, and folktales. Residents of the town dress as beautiful foxes and form a lengthy procession to usher the fox bride and groom to their wedding site. Festivities continue throughout the day,... Continue Reading →
Japan is a country of repressed emotion. It's one of those stereotypes that are actually accurate. Younger generations are working to change this by doing crazy things like hugging their partners and actually telling them that they love them, but there are some events to help older people express their feelings too. One of these... Continue Reading →
There are demons popping up all over town. They're in the grocery store, they're in the streets, they're in the Lawsons! Fortunately, my town is not about to be taken over by forces of evil. The adorable demon invasion is just signaling that Setsubun (Feb. 3rd) is near, and spring will soon follow (hopefully). Setsubun... Continue Reading →
Strange pyres of bamboo, daruma, and New Year's decorations have been popping up in fields all over my prefecture. These carefully arranged piles are massive, and slightly creepy due to Gunma's rich culture surrounding daruma. However, I cleverly did not take pictures to show with this article. Oops. Despite their appearance as some kind of... Continue Reading →
So this post is a few days late because I physically need to procrastinate on everything in my life apparently. But anyway, February 3rd was Setsubun! Setsubun is a winter holiday which involves throwing beans around and yelling, so obviously a very important day. Festival Origins and Customs Japan switched to the Gregorian calendar in... Continue Reading →
There's an event in Aomori Prefecture that takes place every summer, for the whole summer. And it takes MONTHS of planning, hundreds of people, and 2000 years of history to put it on. Have you ever seen flower beds planted to make shapes or something? I saw a really rad clock made out of flowers... Continue Reading →
Hi there. Are you aware that some Japanese athletes are literally insane? As in, really, truly, oh god why are you doing this...insane. These are the people who participate in the Fuji Ekiden. An ekiden (駅伝) is a team relay marathon. The number of people per team and distance varies per ekiden. In the case... Continue Reading →
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