In Japan’s history, rice was once a currency and a commodity. Rice remains a staple grain throughout Japan and Asia. No doubt you’ve heard about Japan facing a shortfall of rice supply against their rice demand, causing prices to rise. But this problem has been gaining momentum since at least 2023 for a variety of…
Category: Culture
Only Time Will Tell: Mechanized Time in Old Japan
A day divided into 24 hours of 60 minutes, which are each 60 seconds in length, feels natural. But at one time, daylight didn’t divide so mechanically. Many mistakenly think people didn’t care about timekeeping even just a century-and-a-half ago. The idea: agriculturally based economies didn’t need hourly timekeeping and instead focused on seasonal and…
Japan’s Once Exotic Culture is Now Humdrum
More than a century ago, the West had little contact with Japan. The fabled Asia, distant and strange to Westerners, was a land of mystical stories, of elixirs of immortality, and lands where gods were found everywhere. It was civilized and pagan, advanced and locked in time. Japan had just begun to open to the…
The 82 Winning Moves of Sumo, the Kimarite List
When a sumo wrestler wins a match, how he wins is recorded with the victory. This move is called a kimarite. Think of kimarite as fatalities from Mortal Kombat or named moves from shonen anime. Think Inuyasha’s Wind Scar attack. Sumo has 5 non-winning moves, such as stepping out of the ring or touching down…
In All Things, Do Not Have Preferences.
“In all things, do not have preferences.” Miyamoto Musashi wrote this in his work Dokkodo: The Way to be Followed Alone. His work is a collection of practices he learned in his life. The statement struck a chord in me. I’m an opinionated person despite my best efforts. I view my knowledge as an asset,…
Pachi-slot and Japan’s 20+Year Casino Fight
In 2019, pachinko made ￥21 trillion. That was 3.7% of Japan’s GDP for that year (Higuchi, 2020). Historically, pachinko, when combined with Japan’s lottery and legal sports betting, makes more money than Japan’s car industry (McMahon, 2014). Officially, pachinko isn’t considered gambling. Rather, Japan’s government sees it as an amusement or a skill-based game. Pachinko…