Despite Google pulling the plug on Stadia, cloud gaming or gaming as a service continues to be the direction the gaming, movies, and anime (and manga for that matter) will move. There’s too much profit to be had and convenience for video gaming not to move this way. Video games as a service would allow…
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…
Collecting Ukiyo-e, Several Things to Consider
Ukiyo-e translates to “images of the floating world.” The Floating World refers to the pleasure districts of the Edo period. This was the world of actors, prostitutes, geisha, bath girls, and other entertainers. The districts were set aside for those purposes by the Shogun. Prostitution was banned outside these districts. Yoshiwara and Gion numbered among…
Anime, the Love of Learning, and the Love of Spectacle
In Confessions, Saint Augustine contrasts the love of learning with the love of spectacle. His friend Alypius disliked the gladiatorial games of Rome. One day Alypius’s friends convinced and bullied him to join them for a round of games. The excitement of the bloodsport captured him. As Augustine wrote: “Without any awareness of what was…
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…
What Seppuku Represents
Anyone who knows anything about Japan has heard of seppuku or seen it in a samurai film. Seppuku was a ritualized form of suicide and a judicial sentence handed down to men and women of the samurai class. The ritual began on the battlefield with the first recorded case performed by Minamoto Tametomo after his…