The ninjas knew a number of technical movements that helped them to quietly and swiftly move around different kinds of places. One of the movements they learned was ‘nuki ashi’. This step helped them to tread on wooden floors undetected. In Japan, most floors had a special mechanism incorporated. This technique ensured a squeaky or [...]

In Japan, Kingyo Sukui is a very typical game and can be played by young and old. The game may have a slight resemblance to the commonly known game of ‘fishing duckies’. For this game you need the following: A paper filter. A container with water for the fish you already caught (we don’t want [...]

Japan has been an example of how to recuperate from an earthquake. Japan is a country that unfortunately knows a lot about natural disaster and the Japanese had to rebuild their houses and buildings many times. Something for them to be proud of is that the politics stopped fighting and worked together in order to [...]

They may seem like two totally different classes, but the backgrounds of these two military classes actually had a lot in common. The most important factors that unite them is their sense of honour; both classes lived by, and for, honour. Neither would perform an act that was contradictory to their rules and they would [...]

As in any language, you don´t say goodbye to your mother the same way you do to a customer. There are some differences and formalities. In Japan, the formalities are -more often than not- quite extreme, so you will be able to tell the differences apart easily. We have seen already some of these differences [...]

The word “origami” originates in Japan and it comes from the union of two words, oru = fold and gami = paper. Actually, paper is “kami”, but there are cases in which the Japanese language changes the second word, just like they did with this one. Although the word originates in Japan, the art began [...]

To explain the humble form of the verbs in Japanese, let’s take the example of a typical sentence that you would use in Japan when you are leaving your home, the classic “I’m leaving”. In the English language, you usually say phrases like “I’m leaving” or “C’ya!” when you leave, and when you come back [...]