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Manga : Japan's New Export Japanese manga are really like visual novels. Some are like a movie on paper. No wonder there is a silent manga boom taking place in the West.
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Spiritual Spirits Sake, Japanese rice wine, is said to have its roots as a sacred drink. A drink for the gods. Sake has kept many of its connections to the sacred. Japanese shinto shrines still offer sake as an offering to deities....
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Being Fertile... Between February and July Japan sees thousands of traditional fertility festivals played out. Many of them involve the ritual planting of rice seedlings. Some feature ritual fights or imitation sex...
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Getting all Dressed Up The Rocky Horror Show and Star Trek inspired countless fans to dress up as their favorite characters. Japanese fans of manga, anime and games have taken this custom and perfected it. They call it Kosu Pure or Cosplay. The Japanese version of "Costume Play"...
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Historical Kabuki Stages Around 400 years ago rural inhabitants built simple wooden stages with thatched roofs for Kabuki performances. Very few of these stages have survived. But on the island of Shodoshima two of the original thirty-three Nouson Kabuki stages still survive.
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Poor Man's Kabuki Each May and October, dozens of volunteers stage century-old kabuki performances on historic stages on the island of Shodoshima. An exclusive document of back-stage preparations.
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Dancing on the Streets Every year close to a million and a half people dance on the streets of Tokushima. Awa Odori is without question one of the most electrifying and delightful festivals of Japan.
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The Fire Festival of Nachi A scant six-hour drive from the industrial city of Osaka, tucked away in the majestic mountains of Wakayama, lies Mount Nachi. Stage of an ancient fire festival that takes place here every July.
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History for Sale Japanese temples have been the home to small markets for as long as people can remember. Some of the most famous of these markets can be found in Kyoto.
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Japanese Railroads : Perfectly
on Time Japanese railroads are world famous for two things: speed and accuracy. Add excellent and friendly service to that. The secret to the railroad's accuracy is of course rooted in many different factors.
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Bowing Out in Japan? Japanese complain that youngsters don't use proper Japanese and don't know how or when to bow. These complaints show that traditional manners still matter. Especially at work.
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Coming of Age Each year January all Japanese turning 20 congregate at community halls and city offices to celebrate their entering adulthood. Most of the women dress up in colorful kimonos, while the men wear modern dark suits.
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Shichi Go San The colorful shichi-go-san festival, on November 15th, is a life-cycle rite for girls of three and seven years old, and boys of five. Families, dressed up in their best kimono, visit shinto shrines and pray.
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Creating Hair From Silk Two of Japan's more celebrated dollwig makers are Takashi Inoue and his adopted son Masayuki in Kyoto. The Inoues can fashion about 100 different hair styles from memory.
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Perfect Dolls A short train ride outside the historical city of Kyoto lies the crammed studio of famed Kyoto doll maker Shisui Sekihara. Sekihara's dolls are actually dressed with many layers of miniature kimono's.
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Celebrating Combs In times past long straight shiny black hair was the ultimate symbol of beauty for Japanese women. The Kushi Matsuri (Comb Festival—Yes, really!) celebrates hair and the hairstyles of Japan of over the past 1000 years or so.
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Rites of Summer Every Summer the historical baseball stadium of Koshien between Osaka and Kobe turns out an emotional scene as baseball teams of high schools from all over Japan fight a desperate battle.
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Food for the Soul Japanese culture is completely based on rice. According to anthropologists the Japanese rice culture gave form to the Japanese mind.
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The Souls of Dolls One of Japan's most cherished festivals is the Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival, which orginated in the old court calendar of Kyoto.
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Looking for a Mate A long and cherished tradition of Japan is omiai, inadequately translated as 'arranged marriage'. A fairly new twist is the omiai party where women pay huge sums to meet rich marriageable doctors.
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Matsuri : A Force to Reckon With The original inhabitants of Japan saw the spirit of life in everything that surrounded them; a vital force that could be felt behind every object and each phenomenon. Almost all religious rituals, matsuri, were meant to placate these forces.
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Watching the Cherry Blossom In spring Japan moves to a single beat as people of all ages and social classes follow the news about the blossoming of cherry trees.
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