Japanese

How Japanese People Spend their Holidays

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JapaneseThe Japanese are known to be hard workers who rarely spend time outside of work. They don’t usually celebrate the holidays, but, when they do, it’s a spectacle. Japan has many national holidays. The best time to visit this country is when people are celebrating.

Let’s take a look at how the people in Japan celebrate these glorious occasions. You will also find out how Japanese dating and singles celebrate, how they enjoy the celebrations and where they go for the holidays.

Holidays in Japan

Japan has many holidays. Each one of them has something special to offer. Along with the national holidays, there are Obon holidays as well. They happen in the middle of summer when most tourists come to visit. Continue reading →

Changing Eras and Emperors: A Tribute to Modern Japan

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JapaneseBruce W. Davidson – These days in Japan, the attention of most people has been riveted on the historic abdication of one emperor and the ascension to the throne of a new one, whose reign inaugurates the Reiwa era, by the imperial calendar.  This occasion seems appropriate for expressing appreciation for the character of Japanese people and their achievements as a nation.  I am an American citizen but have spent more than 30 years in this country and often reflect on how fortunate I am to be able to live here.

This appreciation has not at all been dampened by consideration of unpleasant facts about past national wrongdoing.  Without a doubt, there have been dark periods in Japanese history, such as the period leading up to World War II.  During that interlude, a “holy war” ideology (not the one we are very familiar with nowadays) violently supplanted democratic government and inflicted much harm.  Few in Japan want a return to those days. Continue reading →

Japan And Russia Issue Joint Statement About Kuriles After Onsen …

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japaneseJoseph P Farrell – Last Thursday in my News and Views from the Nefarium I talked about the Onsen summit in Japan between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. As I put it then, one should not expect many breakthroughs from the summit on the issue of the Kuril islands, those northern islands seized from Japan by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two.

Neither nation has, since then, been willing to renounce those claims. Instead, I suggested that one has to look forward to a long process of negotiations on a whole host of issues. But the central geopolitical issue is, Russia needs Japanese financing and expertise to develop Siberian infrastructure, and as a counter-balance to growing Chinese influence in the region, and Japan needs a close, and secure, supply of energy that cannot be interdicted by China.

This geopolitical convergence, I’ve been arguing, is a much stronger gravitational pull than anything else keeping the two Asia powerhouses apart, including American pressure on Japan, and including the stormy relationships between the two countries that began in the Russo-Japanese war, when Japanese land and naval forces easily and handily defeated the Tsar, and seized several key Russian outposts in the far East, including Port Arthur.

Back then, both powers sought a “neutral negotiating power” to conclude a peace, which was Teddy Roosevelt’s USA. Notably, neither power is now paying all that much attention to the USA, although Mr. Abe’s government carefully avoided giving the impression that Mr. Putin’s visit was a state visit, for he did not meet with Emperor Akihito.

However, I think we can safely chalk up my prediction of “no breakthroughs” at the summit in the “big miss” column. Here’s why: Continue reading →