Kokuhaku, or love confession, isn’t easy to research. People take contemporary cultural practices for granted; such practices aren’t studied until they fall out of practice. If you do a web search for kokuhaku, you will find many articles, but I aim for academic or newspaper sources. These are scarce. In any case, like so many…
Category: Culture
Manga Sound Effect Word List [Over 250 Words and Meanings]
Manga has a vast amount of onomatopoeia. They go beyond simple sound effects, representing emotions like anger and actions like staring. Manga artists fold sound words into their panel designs and story. Japanese sound words divide into three families (Inose, n.d.): Giseigo mimic the sounds of people and animals. Giongo imitate other sounds, like water,…
The Learned Helplessness of Male Protagonists in Anime and Manga
How many anime have you watched or manga you’ve read where the female characters dote on the male protagonist? You often see women argue over who is going to care for the guy in harem and other romance stories. For example, in Oreimo Kyosuke is forced to live alone so he can focus on his…
Old Proverbs about Japanese Women
World War II marks a dramatic shift in Japanese history, equal in impact to the Meiji Restoration on the culture. The proverbs I will discuss trace deep into Japan’s cultural views of women and to the Confucian influence China had on Japanese culture. Women’s roles and freedom varied across the different eras of Japan, and…
Sitting Down to Tea with Sakuraco
Tea has a long history of being a part of high-culture in England and in Japan. Sakuraco offers tea-for-two subscription boxes that combine elements of Western tea tradition with Japan’s. Sakuraco was kind enough to send me another box to review–this box themed around cherry blossoms. After all, we are in cherry-blossom season. Although Sakuraco…
What is Moxa?
If you read any Japanese literature or history, you see moxa and moxa treatments mentioned. Basho in his travel writings discusses getting a moxa treatment before he travels. But what is moxa? What did it treat? Moxa treatments, often called moxibustion, is a folk treatment used to treat cholic, arthritis, gout, cancer, gastrointestinal problems, and…