Haiku season and insects（俳句の季節と昆虫）
Haiku is a short poem with 17 voices, in which you must include seasonal words. There is a standard book on haiku called “Saijiki”（歳時記）, which contains seasonal vocabulary. Some of them can be seen throughout the year. For example, the…
The most recommended place to travel to Japan in autumn
Because I am Japanese, I have been to many places in Japan every season. I think Nikko is the most beautiful place in autumn. The hillside facing Lake Chuzenji is very nice. The autumn leaves here are really beautiful. The…
Korean pine
When I was walking at an altitude of about 1000m in the Japanese Alps, I found a pine cone that I had never seen before. Later I found that this is the Korean pine. The scientific name is Pinus koraiensis….
Maxim in front of the temple (2)
“Don’t think more about your worries.” No one can do everything which they want to do in their life. There are always setbacks in various situations. Efforts may or may not be able to overcome it. Worries are based on…
Traditional comedy talk
Japan has a tradition of comic talk. One people sitting on the stage and talking is called “Rakugo”, and two people standing in front of the microphone and talking is called “Manzai.” Rakugo stories have been handed down mainly since…
An insect specimen collected in 26th Century?
Looking at ancient insect specimens, I saw a label collected in the 26th century. This is a calendar year unique to Japan. The current emperor is the 126th generation, and the year when the first emperor came to the throne…
Should all Japanese people speak French?
Most characters in the world are phonetic. The first characters that have been widely used in Japan since 6th Century were the Chinese characters which are ideographic. Because it was difficult to express all of the Japanese language, Japanese people…
How to get unlimited memory
When I was a student, I was thinking so before the exam. I heard that is possible by the Kokuzo-bosatsu (Akasagarbha) method. You need to sing the mantra “Namo Ākāśagarbhāya, Oṃ ali kalmali mauli svāhā” for 10,000 times a day…
Ginkgo (2) Giant Trees
This is the Part 2 of the previous story about ginkgo. Click here to view the Part 1. Ginkgo is a tree brought from China in the 15th century, but you can also see quite large trees. The one I…
Osaka is older than Kyoto in the history of the cities
The Kansai region of Japan has ancient cities such as Kyoto and Nara, where are ancient temples and shrines suitable for sightseeing. There are many misunderstandings by foreigners and even local people, but the history of these cities is newer…
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