- monthly subscription or
- one time payment
- cancelable any time
"Tell the chef, the beer is on me."
The merchant neighborhood from Kurashiki, Okayama, known as the Bikan Historical Quarter, is one of the places in Japan where time seems to have stopped, the whole area still looking like at the end of the Edo period. To preserve this feeling, not even electric poles were installed and only a few shops with modern merchandise reminds you that you’re actually in the 21st century.
In such a wonderful setting, if you film carefully, you can make a beautiful historical scene. And that’s exactly what has been done for the recent Rurouni Kenshin movie, the most recent adaptation of the manga created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. If you already saw the movie, you probably remember the scene of the fight between Kenshin and Sanosuke, on the bridge near the Akabeko restaurant. That was filmed in the Kurashiki Historical Quarter and the bridge is the one in this photo…
Christmas celebrations started in Japan after the arrival of Saint Francis Xavier, in 1549. And this was also the beginning of all the Christmas-related celebrations, including Santa Claus (サンタさん Santa-san, or サンタクロース Santa Kurōsu in Japanese).
But the success of the Christmas celebrations in Japan was probably facilitated by the existence of a much older tradition, related to a Buddhist God sharing similar traits: Hotei, also known as Budai (or Putai), is one of the Seven Gods of Luck (Shichifukujin), the God of abundance, satisfaction and happiness and also a patron of children, fortunetellers and… bartenders.
Usually represented as a Buddhist monk with a shaved head, always with a cheerful face and a big belly (which symbolizes the largeness of his soul), Hotei is sometimes represented very similar to Santa Claus, with a large bag of gifts and good luck for those who believe in him. What’s more, there are also other representations, like the statue from my photo, where Hotei is surrounded by happy children.
And there’s another similarity with Santa Claus: Hotei brings gifts about the same time of year, on the New Year, when he arrives together with the Seven Gods of Luck…
On the beach of the city of Ise, right near the Meoto Iwa “wedded rocks”, there is a little shrine featuring a large number of statues representing… frogs. This unusual shrine is dedicated to Sarutahiko Ōkami, a kami who is guiding people into balance with the divine nature and at the same time a god for safety transportation.
But what’s with all these frogs? Well, because the Japanese word for frog - kaeru - is a homonym for the word meaning “return home", the frog became considered the messenger of Sarutahiko. So the shrine is surrounded by a lot of uniquely shaped (and quite funny) stone frogs and it also sells good luck charms for “safe return", of course, made in the shape of little frogs…
As a child, you probably read “The Adventures of Tintin", the series of comics created by the Belgian artist Hergé. Otherwise, you may have watched the recent Tintin movie…
Translated in over 50 languages, the series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. At some point in the story it is described a castle, Le château de Moulinsart, which was inspired by a real-life castle from France, Château de Cheverny from the Loire Valley. The fictive castle from Tintin was also built, not in France but… in Tokyo. Located in Ebisu, this architectural jewel houses one of the best French restaurants, “Chateau Restaurant Joel Robuchon” a Michelin 3-Stars establishment."Tell the chef, the beer is on me."
"Basically the price of a night on the town!"
"I'd love to help kickstart continued development! And 0 EUR/month really does make fiscal sense too... maybe I'll even get a shirt?" (there will be limited edition shirts for two and other goodies for each supporter as soon as we sold the 200)