The Meaning of “Tsunokakushi”, a hat for women on wedding
Gender equality is being promoted worldwide. But Japan is one of the lagging countries. It used to be typical for women to do housework and raise children at home after marriage and for men to go out to work and…
A hot spring (Onsen) where foreigners can enjoy without hesitation
Hot springs are said to have medical uses to cure illness. The basis is unknown, there are hot springs that are said to be good for heart disease, cancer and gout. I don’t think how much they are as effective…
Koshien Stadium is the sacred place for Japanese baseball
Although baseball is a sport that originated in the United States, it is very popular in Japan. It came into Japan in the late 19th century. Student baseball games were started first. Then the Professional baseball began in 1936. The…
Sapporo is a city where food manufacturers try to sell new products
I lived in Sapporo for 6 years at the end of the 1980s. Since I was a person from the countryside, the city was big enough for me, if not as big as Tokyo or Osaka. The history of the…
Alpine Zone in Japan; where it is so cold that no tree can grow.
The trees that grow in the coldest places are coniferous trees such as firs and spruces, which can widely be seen in extremely cold regions such as Siberia and Canada. Further north, trees cannot grow and lichens form a tundra…
Smokybrown cockroach
The scientific name is Periplaneta fuliginosa. It is no doubt that this is the most hated insect by people in Japan. It is true that there is a possibility that it may come to our food, taking pathogens that are…
Nine-spotted Ladybug
As the name suggests, the seven-spotted ladybug (scientific name: Coccinella septempunctata) has seven black spots on its red back. It is widely distributed from East Asia to Europe, and now lives in North America as an exotic species. It is…
A strange name of fungi – Monkey’s stool?
Sometimes we can find strange names in books on natural science. Fungi belonging to the family Polyporaceae are called “monkey’s stool=サルノコシカケ saru-no-koshikake” in Japan. This summer, I went to a mountain in the inner part of Wakayama prefecture to investigate insects….
Difference of “鬼” in Japanese and in Chinese and the consideration of the history
There are many known examples with completely different meanings of the same Chinese characters between in Japanese and in Chinese. I have been a little surprised by knowing the meaning of “鬼” in Chinese. Below I will try to explain…
A big and beautiful dung beetle: Blue in Nara, green in Kyoto
Phelotrupes auratus is a kind of insect that mainly appears in the forest. It is very beautiful, but they it has vulgar habit of eating poop. You can often see this insect in Nara Park, which I wrote about before….
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