Having Fun Fixing Japanese Paper Doors
Everything you need to know about Japanese shoji (paper) doors, how easy it is to put holes in them, and a step-by-step explanation of how to fix them.
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Meeting Dr. Yoshiro NakaMats — the "Thomas Edison of Japan"
With Dr. Natamats, February, 13, 2002 at the Gakushi Kaikan in Tokyo I first wrote this in February 2002 and posted it on my first website at kt70.com/~jamesjpn Because that website no longer exists, I am reposting it here. On Feb. 13, 2002 while in Tokyo, I was invited by German Marina to attend with her a meeting called "21stCentury Seminar" and dinner held in honor of one of the … Continue reading →
Misogi – a Shinto Purification Ritual of Standing Under a Waterfall in Winter
On January 13, 2011, I attended a traditional local ceremony at Shiratama waterfall in Niigata Prefecture. I’ve been to this waterfall several times in the summer to escape the heat, but this is the first time to see it in the snowy mid winter, and the very first time to see people stand under it! It’s actually a religious ceremony called misogi. Misogi (禊) is a Japanese mountain ascetic practice … Continue reading →
Japanese Summer Festivals Are Linked to Hebrew Old Testament Traditions!
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In midsummer Japan holds public festivals which are called in Japanese Omatsuri. One of the ceremonies in the festival is when men dressed in traditional Japanese garments carry an ornamental box that sits on two poles. The box is called Omikoshi. They carry the Omikoshi passing spectators while bouncing it up and down as everybody chants, “Wa shoi! Wa shoi! wa shoi! … ” over and over! You can hear … Continue reading →
Hitchhike Adventure During Golden Week
Another oldie goldie adventure from my old website I am reposting. On April 30, 2004, I hitchhiked 500 kilometers from Niigata city to Nagoya, the 3rd largest metropolis in Japan. It was the second day of “Golden Week.” Below is a brief description of what Golden week is all about: The Golden Week is a collection of several national holidays within seven days in the end of April and beginning … Continue reading →
The Rapid Growth of Bamboo
My old website at kt70.com~jamesjpn is no longer on line. I am therefore posting some of the articles from it to this website. On May 16, 2008 I saw two young bamboo shoots about 3 feet high growing next to my house. I knew because of their thickness they would taller than me in just a matter of days. And so I thought it would be a fun project to … Continue reading →
Cherry Blossoms in Niigata City
I took these photos in 2008. They were on my old website which is no longer on line, and so I’m re-posting them.
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Night View of Cherry Blossoms
I went by bicycle to a park an hour from home and took the photos below with a Nikon D50 camera (not mine) and a tripod (mine) with slow shutter speeds as slow as 5 seconds.
Continue reading →How the Japanese heat their homes in winter
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Did you know that in winter, the average temperate of a Japanese home is colder than homes in Russia? This is because houses in Japan have no central heating! I know from experience with 3 winters in Russia and 36 winters in Japan. Only individual rooms in Japan are heated by the use of portable kerosene burning stoves. The stoves are ignited only when the room is occupied, and usually … Continue reading →
Twelve Differences of America Compared to Japan
Me hugging a huge palm street on Hollywood boulevard, Los Angeles California I’ve lived in Japan for 36 years at the time of this post — more than half of my life. In 2014 I had an opportunity to go to Los Angeles for a week. You might find my observations of America compared to Japan interesting. People using skateboards for transportation! At least in L.A. they do. I’ve never … Continue reading →
What is “Fukushima”?
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It’s been my observation that most people who have never been to Japan seem to think of Fukushima as an uninhabitable nuclear wasteland. My Facebook friends are surprised when on some of my posts I wrote that I traveled through Fukushima on my way back home to Niigata. “Why did you go there?” they ask. Mass media reporters have abbreviated the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to a single … Continue reading →
Japan’s Christian Roots
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Towada in Chinese/Japanese characters There is evidence that Christianity may have come to Japan long before the Jesuit priest, Francis Xavier reached Japan on July 27, 1549. The northern prefecture of Honshu, Aomori, contains many Christian symbols that predate Xaxier, things from the 2rd or 3rd century! There is an area in Aomori Prefecture, Northern Honshu, called “Towada”. Lake Towada is famous and the largest lake in northern Japan. As … Continue reading →
Fushishima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster and the Media: Distortions, hype and pure lies!
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I still hear a lot of fear-mongering about the Fukushima nuclear accident. Some call it “worse than Chernobyl”. I find no logic in that statement at all. Two and a half years later and yet not a single Fukushima power plant worker has died or is even sick! Examples of fear-mongering media manipulation headlines: Worse than Chernobyl: The inner threat of Fukushima crisis Nuclear disaster: Radiation levels at Fukushima would … Continue reading →
Fukushima Radiation Reports Overblown
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