JapaneseCulture
In the west a big-eared person is not considered to be attractive or lucky; but in Japan to have huge ears is a symbol of good luck and wealth. Legend has it that those with big ears, specially those with long earlobes will have lots of luck and wealth during their life. Buddha (Siddhartha) was [...]
In Japanese thought there’s a big difference between how you treat people within your inner circle of family and friends (Uchi – 内) and how you treat other people outside that circle (Soto – 外). This differentiation can be found all over the world, as we don’t treat people close to us that we see [...]
Last week I wrote a post about the Honne and Tatemae, concepts that are highly related to the Japanese samurai tradition. Another concept that has a lot to do with the Bushido is the “Giri”, which is prevalent in the mind of Japanese people. “Giri” is a difficult word to translate. It means something similar [...]
Throughout history the relationship between men and women in Japan has been constantly changing. In ancient times men and women had the same rights within families; leaders were women as well as men. In the Nara period (646-794) things changed and men started to have more power within the aristocracy and, after many years, women [...]
Honne and Tatemae are two very important terms to understand the behavior of Japanese people within their society. Honne could be defined as the true desires, opinions and thoughts of each individual; while Tatemae refers to how the social obligations and the opinions of each individual adapt to the society in general. It is the [...]
The Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神 – Shichifukujin) are a group of very popular gods in Japan. But just one of them, Ebisu, actually originated from the Land of the Rising Sun. Daikokuten, Bishamonten and Benzaiten are native to India; and Hotei, Jurojin and Fukurokuju from China. All of them come from Taoist and Shintoist [...]
Origami in Japanese literally means “to fold paper”, and it is a true art in Japan. There are many techniques and even some branches of mathematics which study ways of making shapes using paper. Through Emasoft I found instructions on how to make an origami Yoda. In YouTube there’s a series of videos that show [...]
Origami (折り紙) literally means “to fold paper” (折り: fold, 紙: paper) in Japanese language. It is a form of art in Japan and in the world; actually it’s considered a science by many, a branch of mathematics. Besides, lately some people are searching different applications for it within the engineering world and everyday product design. [...]
