General Japanese Culture Thread

Do not lewd the fox

In mythological Japan, fox lewd you.

Especially if it's a magical fox with a massive femdom fetish and Extreme Libido. (Looking at you, Ran Yakumo from doujin artist Hammer's comics. Seriously, I pity the men that have fallen "prey" to you.)

Edited by MarqFJA on Dec 19th 2018 at 4:00:08 PM

....tmi?

Hey, I didn't give any NSFW details; hell, the whole thing is as "vanilla" is it could get, minus the "she'll drive him to the ground and still keep going even then" aspect. And for the record, no several-men-on-one-woman ever happened.

Edited by MarqFJA on Dec 19th 2018 at 4:34:21 PM

That was a cool story. I enjoyed his telling of it.

""They're from Sanskrit," Sensei told me. Accompanied by a series of gestures made with the hands, weaving the fingers together in an unfolding pattern, these sounds were part of the doctrine of mikkyo. It's a form of esoteric Buddhism with Indian origins, one where the powers of a cohort of Buddhist deities can be summoned through chants and gestures. Those who know a little about the martial arts of Japan assume Zen is the predominant influence on their philosophy. Actually, it's mikkyo that forms the foundation of the samurai's arts. That's why Sanskrit characters are often engraved on swords, armour, even chiseled into the stones of castle walls. And it's why, hidden away in scrolls that may not be unrolled more than once a decade, some schools of swordsmanship included these ancient rituals of fox-spirit exorcism in their curriculum."

Huh. Well, you learn something new every day.

Syncretism ahoy

Less entertainingly, kitsune possession used to be the go-to explanation for mental handicaps or disorders, and as far as I'm aware, the traditional methods for "exorcism" were either abusive or fatal. Much like how asylums in the past 150 years or so were run, really.

http://realdgame.jp/chikanazo/5/en/index.html

Looks like they’re bringing this back again.

Dropping links with little context is against the rules. Please summarize where the link goes.

It's a cute little augmented reality game called "Tokyo Metro; the underground mysteries". It's where you solve puzzles all over Tokyo while riding the subway. I did something similar in Amsterdam once. Not a bad way to spend a day with a date.

Edited by Kayeka on Dec 26th 2018 at 9:50:58 PM

I'd been thinking of looking into that, though my knees aren't the best. I have a friend who's going to be doing it with a date in a week or two, so I might get his thoughts on it then.

Evidently Japan is reinstating commercial whaling in it's territories next july on grounds that it's "traditional".

The AR game is until next month.

According to an article I read, whaling isn't even economical for Japan. They lose millions, if not billions, of yens each year supporting the industry and whale meat is barely even edible as far as taste and texture goes, but they keep doing it anyway purely on the grounds that if they let the West ban whaling, who's to say their next ban won't be something that actually hurts their economy? Especially with Norway apparently getting away with far more whaling than what Japan has been doing.

In other words, Japan quitting the anti-whaling treaty altogether after having repeatedly been smacked for not wanting to abide by it isn't motivated by money. It's purely MUH TRADITION and WESTERN BAHBURIANS WILL FRAK US OVER LITTLE BY LITTLE IF WE DON'T STAND OUR GROUND.

On the other hand, Japan did pledge to restrict their whaling to their own territorial waters and stay away from Antarctic waters where most of their whaling operations have been taking place for years, so there's that.

Edited by amitakartok on Dec 28th 2018 at 4:14:55 PM

A lot depends on which species they intend to start harvasting. Certain types of whales are more vulnerable than others.

Whaling is restricted to species that are in no population danger, may be right, but there still is care given to the natural resources.

It's slightly more "we can't let the west beat there morality over our head in the face of tradition", even if whaling would just die on its own if it wasn't for the government funneling money into it.

:/

Isn't whale meat considered bad tasting and poor quality by most modern Japanese?

In effect, just reactionary politics at work.

Have I mentioned I hate reactionaries?

"Japan's coastal whaling is expected to focus on minkes, the smallest of the great whales whose stocks are widely considered healthy."

They are also calling a halt to the Antarctic whaling expedituons. So, not good, but not as bad as it could have been.

Yes, its rubbery and untasty..... The texture is about the worst part, like as self explaining as this is to say about whale, its like eating blubber.

Paired with the fact that there are so many better and more delicious things to eat, its just not worth it.

Dolphin is similar, it tastes like the oceans waste bin.

@raziel: Sorry for never replying BTW, its just due to the social and political spheres I was in, South Amercia was never really a concern, so my personal experience is just.... absolutely nhil.... and I am having trouble on how to word that without like.... being even more of a disapointment....

Sorry. :c

Edited by Imca on Dec 28th 2018 at 10:53:21 AM

"It's tradition!" falls a bit flat when you look into it a bit more.

Sure... traditionally eating whale, dolphin and seal was what you had to do when on the poverty line and all other sources of protein and fat were beyond your reach — yeah... when starving, whale truly becomes ambrosia of the gods. And, only when starving. It was never, you know, through actual choice, and no amount of rose tinted nostalgia about the rationing decades when parents or grandparents had little other option should be allowed to hide the fact that this "tradition" was actually "try not to starve" served via modern, industrial tinning processes.

Yeah: whale Spam. Real traditional. <_<

Because the minute you give people a choice between whale, seal, salmon, chicken or pork... guess which are the first and second to go bye-bye?

Edited by Euodiachloris on Dec 28th 2018 at 7:50:27 PM

I think they're referring to the communities that had hunted whales and dolphins for centuries, not the industrial whaling of the modern era. By now it's BS of course, but they're not going to let go.

Whale doesn't even taste good.

It amuses me that the Ainu suddenly become uber-traditional and very Japanese... only when it suits other people.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Dec 28th 2018 at 9:05:07 AM

So, can someone give me a rundown on the Ainu? IIRC, they're the descendants of the original natives of the Japan Archipelago before being displaced by the Yayoi Group of humans who came in some two thousand years ago.

What's life like for them in the present day?