AMPONTAN

THE first greeting traditionally offered in Japan on New Year’s Day is Akemashite, o-medeto gozaimasu. So, akemashite, y’all! And Happy New Year!

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/nengajo-2013/

Nakamura Mari, who has been performing as a busker (with an electric keyboard) in front of train stations until the last train of the day. She’s sold 80,000 CDs in four years. A group of 15,000...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/all-you-have-to-do-is-look-152/

一言居士 – A person who has something to say about everything A certain media outlet asked me to review some book about the South Korean presidential election. When I asked them if I could ...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/ichigen-koji-275/

Floats at the Sakurayama Hachiman-gu fall festival in Toyama, Gifu.

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/all-you-have-to-do-is-look-151/

一言居士 – A person who has something to say about everything South Korean historical scholar Cheong Jae-jeong’s statement that Takeshima is the same as Mt. Fuji for the South Korean peop...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/ichigen-koji-274/

The 21st Kagura Festival in Aso, Kumamoto. The festival brings together different styles of Shinto kagura dance from around the country. This year 10 groups participated.

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/all-you-have-to-do-is-look-150/

Kukuchi-jo, a (perhaps) Korean-style fortress, now a national historical structure in a national park in Yamaga, Kumamoto. It is not known when it was built, but the name first appears in written...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/all-you-have-to-do-is-look-149/

一言居士 – A person who has something to say about everything Whenever the Emperor is brought up, the Japanese dispense with reason and lose their capacity for judgment. The Japan that exis...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/ichigen-koji-272/

一言居士 – A person who has something to say about everything That portion of the elite capable of performing a role globally will in the future become detached from most of the low income ...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/ichigen-koji-273/

AT what point does one’s reaction to the absurdities of South Korea’s preoccupation with Japan pass from amusement at a diversion that resembles the ramblings of a wild-haired street corner p...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/smallness-playing-large/

Giving young people the experience of harvesting and threshing rice as it was done in the middle ages at a rice paddy in Bungotakada, Oita, which has been designated as an important cultural land...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/all-you-have-to-do-is-look-148-2/

一言居士 – A person who has something to say about everything There has been a lot of discussion in South Korea recently that they’ve succumbed to the “Japanese Disease”. But the vast...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/ichigen-koji-271/

MANY Japanese are fascinated by the Edo period, which extended from 1603-1868. Among the many reasons is that was a period of vigorous cultural activity that was distinctively Japanese, as the co...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/life-in-the-edo-period/

Twelfth-century warlord Taira no Kiyomori worshipped at the Kamo Shinto shrine in Tatsuno, Hyogo. The shrine recreates in period costume a procession with Kiyomori and his wife Tokiko.

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/all-you-have-to-do-is-look-148/

一言居士 – A person who has something to say about everything I do not repudiate either the “post-nation state” or regional devolution. It might be that the bright future for mankind is...

https://ampontan.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/ichigen-koji-270/