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domingo, 3 de enero de 2021

Japanese Twitter shows reality of living in snowy Hokkaido, and it’s magical

https://ift.tt/2X50VmN Katie Pask

Living in a snowy place is tough, but can be gorgeous too!

Hokkaido, Japan’s northern-most island, is famous for a variety of things, particularly melons, bears, being really snowy. For many people, just hearing the word “Hokkaido” will instantly transport their thoughts to some sort of winter wonderland.

In fact, people from all over Japan flock to see Hokkaido’s chilly beauty, especially in February for the annual Snow Festival. It’s such a popular place that it’s even been ranked as the most desirable place for Japanese people to live.

To show off Hokkaido’s beauty, Twitter user and Hokkaido native TAK often shares pictures he takes of the prefecture’s snow-covered scenery, such as these:

TAK’s most recent post, however, was a little different from his usual shots of the natural beauty. It was a picture of a Japanese payphone, Hokkaido-style.

“Living in a snowy place is tough, huh. This looks kind of cute though lol”

The payphone in the middle of a blanket of fluffy snow has a nice, wintery cap on the top, with the lights shining from inside giving it almost an ethereal glow.

TAK’s picture of a payphone got Japanese netizens talking. For some, this was their first time seeing what living with heavy snow was really like. For others, the snowy payphone only furthered their fantasy image of the island, with many making comparisons to video games.

“This looks like a trap. Once you enter, you can never leave!”
“Living in a snowy climate must be tough, but you’re able to get beautiful scenes like this.”
“It kind of looks like the payphone is an entrance to another world.”
“If the snow on top falls down when you’re inside the payphone, you’re done for.”
“I thought it was some kind of stylish hotel.”
“Looks like whipped cream. Yum!”
“It feels like I’m looking at some sort of modern art!”

Many users commented on how it looked like a save point from a video game.

TAK’s tweet got other Twitter users living in Hokkaido to share their experiences with the heavy snow, including this tweet:

▼ That’s certainly one way to keep a vending machine’s drinks nice and chilled.

Hokkaido’s wintery climate certainly makes for some beautiful scenery. If you’re into photography, check out TAK’s Instagram, or when it’s safe to do so, head up to Hokkaido yourself and get some gorgeous snaps!

Just don’t forget to wrap up nice and warm, because it’s really cold.

Source, featured image: Twitter@TAK17246558
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When Kyoto snow falls, this mountain shrine becomes one of the most beautiful places in the city

https://ift.tt/3hDOIik Casey Baseel

Grab your coat, because winter is an amazing time to see Kyoto’s Kifune Shrine.

While Kyoto prides itself on its atmosphere of calm tranquility, the city has some of the most extreme weather in Japan. In part due to its geographical position in a basin, the city gets incredibly hot and humid in the summer (even by Japanese standards), while winter brings frigid cold to both the downtown area and the surrounding mountains.

All that chilly winter weather, though, also gives Kyoto’s historical architecture a whole new facet to its beauty. There’s something truly timeless about seeing the former capital’s shrines and temples blanketed in snow, and arguably the most beautiful of all in those conditions is Kifune Shrine.

Kifune Shrine doesn’t make it on to everyone’s list of sights-to-see in Kyoto. Located in the Kibune neighborhood in the mountains north of downtown, it’s about an hour away from Kyoto Station, and with so many cultural attractions clustered closer to the city center (like the newly renovated Kinkakuji/Golden Pavilion), a lot of travelers simply don’t have time for it.

But if you can clear out part of your schedule for a visit to Kifune, you’ll be rewarded with a picturesque view as you gaze up the lantern-flanked stone stairway that leads to the shrine’s entrance. It’s especially breathtaking right after a snowfall, with fresh powder covering the curved tops of the lanterns and the cross-beams of the torii gates.

Being located in a less developed part of the city means less concrete sprawl, which lets snow pile up in the nearby forests and waterways as well.

Though heading out after sundown in snowy conditions requires even more bundling up, adding an extra layer to your outfit is worth it since the glow of Kifune’s lanterns lend an otherworldly allure to the grounds.

Of course, none of this is to say that you should scratch Kifune off your itinerary if it’s not snowing, since the shrine looks cool in any weather conditions.

Still, there’s no denying that there’s something extra special about seeing it in the snow, when it looks like the shrine has laid out a white carpet to welcome you.

With Japan not quite at its coldest winter weather just yet, odds are we’ll be seeing more wonderful views of a snowy Kifune in the weeks to come.

Shrine information
Kifune Shrine / 貴船神社
Address: Kyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku, Kurama Kibunecho 180
京都市左京区鞍馬貴船町180
Website

Featured image: Twitter/@kifunejinja
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Ring in the new year with papercraft tuna and plate of nigiri sushi from Sushi Zanmai

https://ift.tt/3rOqsib Ingrid Tsai

Despite the fact that we’re entering the Year of the Ox, might as well start off with some fish.

Born from a collaboration between Japanese electronics company Brother Industries and the prevalent sushi chain Sushi Zanmai, papercraft fans as well as folks who are looking for things to do that don’t involve getting in direct contact with a ton of people can now enjoy two new papercraft sets of an easily disassembled tuna and a plate of nigiri sushi.

▼ Is it Sushi Zanmai if we don’t have the beaming face of its corporate leader, Kiyoshi Kimura, on every advertising spread?

Ever wanted to roleplay as a tuna butcher but don’t do so well with blood? Now you can build this tuna out of paper and rip it apart without inflicting a gory mess on your kitchen. The tuna papercraft set also comes with a yanagiba, or a traditional Japanese sushi knife, to complete the aesthetic.

▼ It goes without saying, but it never hurts to be reiterated: if younger ones are papercrafting, please be careful with any blades used to cut out the pieces!

▼ The tuna papercraft set also takes the liberty of labeling each part of the tuna.

If you prefer to make something more straightforward to display, there’s also a platter of nigiri sushi available for download. From the photo below, the top row starting from the left includes pieces familiar to sushi aficionados such as egg, sea urchin, and salmon roe.

Moving to the bottom row and starting from the left, we also get lean tuna, fatty tuna, salmon, flounder fin, octopus, botan shrimp, and eel broiled in soy sauce.

▼ This shrimp head looks like it’ll be good puppet show material.

▼ The set even includes papercraft ginger!

Along with the papercraft tuna and nigiri sushi, the collaboration between Brother Industries and Sushi Zanmai also comes with two nengajo, traditional Japanese New Year greeting cards, designs anyone can print and use.

One design sports classical motifs of Japanese iconography such as Mt. Fuji and cherry blossoms, while the other design highlights a large tuna in its center. Both designs will certainly deliver a strong impression to anyone who receives them!

The best part of the papercraft sets and the cards? They’re all available for free here. Simply click on the specific papercraft piece you want to create and you’ll be directed to its respective download page. All papercraft sets are available as PDFs and come with assembly instructions.

And if you’re still in the mood for papercraft afterward, there’s also this free papercraft set of Akihabara’s main street.

Source, images: Brother Industries via  PR Times, Netlab
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Survey ranks dream jobs for Japanese elementary school students around the nation

https://ift.tt/352ymKY Shannon

If you’ve spent any time with Japanese kids before, the results may not surprise you.

While many older Japanese students in the past have preferred potential careers like YouTubing, e-sports, and more, the future is looking a little different for elementary school students around the nation.

The National Research Institute of Educational Research, also known as Gakken, asked 600 boys and 600 girls from grades one through six in elementary school about their dream job in an annual survey. Here are the top results from the 2020 survey overall, as well as divided by sex.

Overall ranking
1. Patisserie (pastry chef)
2. Police officer
3. Pro soccer player
4. YouTuber or other online streamer
5 (tied). Daycare or kindergarten teacher
5 (tied). Doctor

Patisserie was the overwhelmingly popular choice overall, with 6.5 percent of participants saying it was their top choice. For reference, only 3.4 percent answered “police officer”. “YouTuber” is still in the top three, down one place from 2019. Though it might not seem very high percentage-wise, it’s important to note that about 30 percent answered “I don’t know”.

Elementary school boys ranking
1. Pro soccer player
2. Police officer
3. Pro baseball player
4. YouTuber or other online streamer
5. Train conductor

Soccer has been growing in popularity among elementary schoolers in recent years – more so than baseball – and this is reflected in the future goals of young boys in Japan. Interestingly, YouTuber took the number one spot last year, so it’s surprising that it dropped three whole places in 2020.

Elementary school girls ranking
1. Patisserie
2. Daycare or kindergarten teacher
3. Baker
4. Fashion-related job
5. Nurse

Since about 2010, “patisserie” has been the most popular dream job for elementary school kids. And with the amazingly aesthetic cakes available in Japan, we can’t say we blame them.

The only notable change in the survey results over the past few years is that less young girls seem to be interested in becoming an idol singer. It was strongly in fourth place for the end of the 2010s, but in both 2019 and 2020, it dropped sharply to ninth place. More would rather be an idol singer than a YouTuber, though!

How do the results differ where you are? If that place happens to be Japan, rest assured that your children will hopefully supply the future with plenty of educators, athletes, and cake (though we’re pretty sure most kids would choose “demon slayer” if that were a viable option).

Sources: Gakken, Yahoo! Japan News via My Game News Flash
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2, 3)
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sábado, 2 de enero de 2021

Japanese Student in Faux Fur Winter Hat, Vintage Cage Skirt, Vivienne Westwood & Dr. Martens

https://ift.tt/2LfXffa

Yuri is a vintage fashion-loving 19-year-old Japanese student who speaks fluent English that we often see on the street in Harajuku.

Her vintage look here includes a faux fur winter hat with a turtleneck, an orange ruffle top, a wool coat with graphic lining, a vintage cage skirt from Nude Trump Tokyo, colorful tights, a statement necklace with silver skulls, a Vivienne Westwood handbag, and Dr. Martens boots.

Yuria’s favorite shop is the Shibuya vintage boutique Nude Trump. She likes the music of Grimes and Michael Jackson. Follow her on Instagram for more of her personal street style and vintage fashion.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

tokyo

Huge crowds go to Japanese temples on New Year to “pray for things to return to normal”

https://ift.tt/385nI89 Scott Wilson

The only thing thicker than the crowds is the irony.

The New Year is a major holiday in Japan. There’s plenty of traditional (and dangerous) food to eat, plus the annual hatsumode — visiting a shrine to wish for health, happiness, and good fortune in the next year.

Of course this year, with the coronavirus steadily getting worse in Japan, going to a shrine with hundreds of others is probably not the best idea.

Hatsumode doesn’t even have to happen right on New Year’s day, technically your first trip to the shrine at any point in the year counts, so maybe waiting until it’s safe to do so would be—

“[Sad News] Crowds Gather at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya for
Hatsumode, ‘Praying for Things to Return to Normal.'”

…or that could happen. That is also a possibility.

Atsuta Shrine is one of the most popular shrines in Japan. Allegedly home to the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, a legendary sword that is one of the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, it draws millions of visitors annually. And it looks like many of them wanted to get an early start on getting those numbers up this year.

Of course it wasn’t just in Nagoya where large crowds went to temples. There were many other places full of people ironically putting themselves and others in the very danger they were likely praying to get relief from.

“Tokyo just got more than a thousand new corona cases. Meanwhile about a seven minute walk from Akihabara, about 500 people attend hatsumode at Kanda Shrine.”

“I guess everyone’s just going to crowd together for hatsumode.”
At Minatogawa Shrine in Kobe.

“Looking at the photos from The Hokkaido Shimbun, the crowds look smaller than usual,
but I don’t think they should even be gathering together that much.”

Here’s how Japanese netizens reacted to seeing the crowds, while most of them were staying at home:

“I have a feeling their prayers are not going to come true.”
“If they’d just stayed home we’d have a better chance of going back to normal.”
“Are the shrine deities stronger than science?”
“Voice from above: ‘Nope.'”
“Wow, everything is back to normal. Great job everyone.”
“I mean, with schools and workplaces open, they all must think it’s okay.”

Unfortunately that’s likely correct. With people still being forced to live their lives like everything is normal, but with a mask on, then it’s only natural for them to go on hatsumode to a temple like normal, but with a mask on.

It may be hard, but let’s do our best to stay home, make our own spam and Oreo burgers, and postpone any hatsumode until it’s safe to do so.

Source: Chunichi Shimbun via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
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Free-to-download Demon Slayer backgrounds! Just the thing to entertain friends, terrify coworkers

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Casey Baseel

”I’d like to speak with you in the Infinity Castle, please.”

This week, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train became the highest-grossing movie of all time in Japan. Again, not just the highest-grossing anime movie, or the highest-grossing Japanese-made movie, but the highest-grossing movie of any kind ever at Japanese theaters.

That’s a big accomplishment, and with the franchise’s pockets now flush with cash, Ufotable, the anime studio that produces Demon Slayer, is giving a little something back to fans, with a series of free-to-download video conference backgrounds from the series.

A total of six backgrounds are available, with two from the headquarters of the heroic Demon Slayer Corps (daytime and nighttime versions). On the other hand, if you like your conference settings a little more sinister, there’s also a background for the Infinity Castle.

If outdoor settings are more your style, there are also backgrounds featuring the ethereally beautiful wisteria flowers of Fujikasane Mountain and the round boulder of Sagiri Mountain, and rounding off the collection is a typical Japanese schoolroom chalkboard and podium, as a nod to the Kimetsu Gakuen spin-off omake animation.

All six backgrounds can be found here on Ufotable’s official website. Just bear in mind that the Infinity Castle is where villain Muzan murders underlings who’ve displeased him, so if you’re a manager who doesn’t want to freak your employees out, one of the others might be best for staff meetings.

Source: Ufotable via IT Media
Featured image: Twitter/@ufotable
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