Статьи - Japan OUTLOOK

Ice cream with a taste of horse meat, pickled insects, fish with deadly venom, etc – Japanese cuisine has things to surprise, amaze and shock you with. And truth be told, enumeration of these dishes doesn’t help my appetite at all. But we are not after exotic stuff. True culinary tourism is an attempt to comprehend mindset and feel national distinctive color through traditional cuisine – not try most exotic dishes.

04.02.2022 | Japan, traditions, culture, world cuisine

This is a real service! Japanese taxi

The first thing every tourist shall learn in a country is a transport system. Very often it seems to be complicated and confusing, and it takes weeks or even months to make head or tail of it. OUTLOOK reader Natalia Usenko visited Japan and is sharing her impressions about the most comfortable and safest transport in the world.

03.02.2022 | Japan, oddities

World most beautiful lighthouses

Lighthouse - this word evokes beautiful associations: sea adventures, storms, huge ships. And we do not want to dispel these thoughts, but rather to add fuel to the fire. There is a great amount of them in the world, they are striking by their beauty and inimitable. Today we are sharing with you the quintet of amazing lighthouses!

29.01.2022 | Japan, nature, France, Egypt

Departure: Satoyama

In Japan there is a city with the citizens who trust each other. It seems that they drink water from one source that flows along their houses. As well, they wash hands after the meals in the same places. Satoyama in translation means an ideal place for life in harmony with the nature. It is situated in Northern prefecture Gifu that is isolated from the rest of the world with the mountain tops and rice fields.

16.01.2022 | Japan, departure

Super-chilled: Best festivals of ice and snow art

Ice and snow has long been used by artists to create different figures and objects, and only 1960, this age-old skill became a new trend of a land art! The largest number of winter artworks is created during special festivals about which we will tell our readers.

08.01.2022 | festival, Japan, USA, nature, China, Canada, Latvia

Kabuki: thorny path of flower

Traditional Japanese kabuki theatre has always been a mystery to the European mentality: only an expert on the culture of the Land of the Rising Sun can understand a play without guide’s tips. The word kabuki is sometimes translated as "the art of singing and dancing". Why not an operetta? The essence of performance is not confined to musical presentation only...

20.11.2021 | Japan, art, traditions

Interesting not only in city centers. Residential districts of the world

There are hardly many travelers who would go somewhere further than city centre where their hotel is situated when on a short-term journey. And if location is a metropolis on top of everything else, such “outside” trips are sure to be put on hold till better occasions.

03.11.2021 | Japan, USA, travel, Finland, Iceland, República Argentina

Rice fields: Grains of unbelievable beauty

- Do you want to try some rice? - such a question is greeted by guests in China. And if the owners are also farmers, they can invite you on an unusual excursion and show you the masterpiece of natural art. The grass which we often eat without thinking about its aesthetics, at the time of growing resembles a blanket woven from multi-colored rags ...

01.11.2021 | Japan, art, history, China, Indonesia

In the rhythm of heart. Japanese drums taiko

Its sounds penetrate the heart, stop the flow of thoughts and cause the blood to move in some kind of magical rhythm. It's a roll of thunder. It gives the shivers. It's a secret. Japanese drums in their homeland are elevated to the rank of cult. Without them, not a single official event is possible, their melodies delight the hearing during joy and help to experience sadness.

03.10.2021 | Japan, travel

Kagoshima: City with kamikaze fame

Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius!, Nietzsche exclaimed in a prophetic ecstasy. Gloomy pathos of the philosopher could be hardly understood by the residents of the Japanese city of Kagoshima, located at the bottom of the caldera Aira resulting from the explosion about 22 thousand years ago. Farmers were hoeing edges of the hollow from the Bronze Age, as usual fending off the ashes scattered in the air.

05.09.2021 | Japan, travels

Desperate Futurism: Japan. Part 4

So, to wash your hands, you have to leave indoor slippers before bathroom threshold, step into the bathroom, slip into the special footwear, wash hands, remove those special bathroom slippers, and switch for indoor slippers when re-entering the living area. Earlier, probably in jest, Oba-san warned me that if I step onto the living area in the toilet slippers, he will tell me about hara-kiri rules.

30.08.2021 | Japan, desperate futurism

Desperate Futurism: Japan. Part 3. “Samurai Spirit”

If what they show in cinematograph is true than a typical samurai appears to be austere, taciturn and even slightly unsociable person. But this image in actual fact doesn’t get in line with reality... You don’t believe it? Our journalist Elena Rasenko suggests you make sure of it for yourself.

20.08.2021 | Japan, traditions, travel, desperate futurism

Desperate Futurism: Japan. Part 2 “Fish Day”

It is just as hard to imagine a Japanese who doesn’t eat fish as to picture a Scott who doesn’t drink whiskey. OUTLOOK journalist Elena Rasenko will tell you about a unique place where successors of samurai purchase fine seafood for their tables.

10.08.2021 | Japan, traditions, travel, desperate futurism

Desperate Futurism: Japan. Part 1

OUTLOOK journalist Elena Rasenko came back from Japan and launches a special series of articles devoted to this country. Warning for very sensitive readers: Beware! After reading, you will get a keen desire to break away, buy a ticket and fly to such a marvelous and fascinating Land of the Rising Sun!

01.08.2021 | Japan, traditions, travel, desperate futurism

The sun under the glass. Best greenhouses in the world

For 1 month spring has been reining our planet, now just watch warm coats to change for thin jackets, cold and mediocrity for the bright sun. And, of course, what sort of spring it could be without green trees and beautiful flowers? Well, in order to make your expectation of long-awaited colours and flavours less agonizing...

24.07.2021 | Japan, USA, nature, Spain, Great Britain, Singapore

Kintsugi. Japanese art of restoration

The Japanese are one of those peoples who zealously respect the ancient traditions. They respect old age, being interested in ancestors and often know the family ancestry by heart. With such a worldview, it is not surprising that a unique technique for the restoration of kintsugi appeared exactly there. Read about it in OUTLOOK.

15.07.2021 | Japan, art

National drinks: Zero degrees and lots of energy

Everyone knows that being in Scotland you should try whiskey, in France you should taste wine, and in Japan t is all about sake. But few people think about national soft drinks. They were created by peoples with far more practical intentions - refreshing and burning, repelling from the climate features, possessing nourishing properties.

21.06.2021 | Japan, traditions, India, Mexico

Everything on sale: Worlds's best markets and bazaars

In this day and age, it is difficult to surprise anyone, especially an urban resident, with some large department store or market, since nowadays one can buy everything from a humble convenience store next door. However, the iconic bazaars and flea markets are still operating across the globe, they are famous in legends and described with delight.

24.04.2021 | Japan, USA, traditions, Turkey, India, Egypt, culture, Australia, Great Britain

Oriental makeup as a tradition: Seductive and languishing look

The well-known saying goes: east is a delicate matter. All-in-all, it is true as evidenced even by details. Due to specific climate, eastern women have similar type of appearance, and their nations are united by close cultures. Therefore, they prefer the same beauty standards. Women are supposed to be modest, to dress so as to completely or almost completely conceal figure.

23.04.2021 | Japan, India, culture

The way they dance

What is it that characterizes any nation without much words and long explanations? Dances, of course, because it is these movements, refined over centuries, that can tell a foreigner about other peoples much more than thick history books. If you carefully watch and feel the way people dance in different countries, their mind set will become much more comprehensible. And these aren’t mere words.

12.04.2021 | Georgia, Japan, USA, art, traditions, culture, Brazil, Czech Republic, Senegal

We were there: Japan - the subtleties of Tokyo life

Not every tourist will come to Japan. But Marina Belka, a fashion designer, did it, because the mysterious Land of the Rising Sun was her childhood dream. She shared with us her impressions of Tokyo and gave practical advice to future tourists.

19.03.2021 | Japan

Tea empire of the world

Few of us, while our favourite tea is steeping, are scrutinizing about the way this drink went through to get into our mug. Of course, stereotypically, we know that most likely it came from India or China, but in fact origin can vary. In the world there are about 30 countries which are very seriously engaged in tea business, and within this community a very clear hierarchy emerges, headed by the so-called Big Tea Seven.

14.03.2021 | Japan, traditions, India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Kenya

The travel to whale’s chaps

Even being adults, sometimes we are able to bring to life the children’s fantasies, see the stories from childish dreams, and embody what has seemed to be the fairytale. Have you ever dreamt of being in the whale’s chaps? Just imagine that you were swollen by the giant fish, and you were living there for a long time, looked at it inside, settled down there, swam and dived there?

31.01.2021 | Japan, USA, travel, France

Rice canvas. Tambo Art

The Japanese are very creative people, especially when it comes to rice. If they have some extra spare time and large spacious rice paddies, then routine process of growing an agricultural crop turns into art...

24.01.2021 | Japan, art, travel

Animals in the city: When people sing in tune with Nature

Many city dwellers are irritated by cats, dogs or even pigeons in the streets. Attempts of zoo-advocates to save them from attacks of people and from starvation are mainly ineffective. But there are wonderful cities in this world where people perfectly coexist with deer, peacocks and cattle…

23.01.2021 | Japan, USA, nature, India, Latvia

Visa is useless: Where tourists are not allowed

Perhaps, everyone who is going to plunge into fun holiday has already planned spectacular routes and scenic spots. In order not to spoil your trip and not to see gates to the desired gateway closing right in front of your nose, we encourage you to read our selection of locations forbidden for visits.

27.09.2020 | Italy, Japan, France, India, places

World ghettos: Samurai on the Carnival

Today in our already traditional column we talk about national ghettos – a story about one of the most exotic districts in São Paulo – about Liberdade. It is there where the world’s largest Japanese diaspora lives. Immigration from the Land of the Rising Sun began in 1908 when 165 families arrived on Brazilian land ...

03.02.2020 | Japan, Brazil, world ghettos

Let’s talk in Japan or how to understand a Japanese

Despite the title, in this article we won’t talk about peculiarities of Japanese hieroglyphs and pronunciation. First of all, because there is a whole bunch of specialized literature and secondly, if you don’t study Japanese such knowledge may widen your horizons but will be of no use in practice whatsoever.

28.01.2020 | Japan

Incredible school lessons from around the world

Grinding away at their books to master basics of algebra and geometry, or memorizing years of monarchs’ reign skimming history textbooks is commonplace for schoolchildren all over the world while getting ready for a test in cybersecurity or boasting to have “A”s in beekeeping is strange at the vey least. Hereafter we are going to touch upon these and other unusual classes taught in foreign schools.

01.09.2019 | Japan, USA, oddities, society, Israel, Australia, Armenia, New Zealand

Nihongami: Topknot as a aign of status

Nihongami is a certain way to arrange hair in Japanese tradition. Interestingly, in the Land of the Rising Sun hairdos were legally controlled and served as some sort of dress code for ladies of different social statuses and classes. Therefore, each class had strictly determined corresponding outfit and hairstyle and those laws are still obeyed by geishas and their apprentices.

19.07.2019 | Japan, traditions

Little pets of big cities

Germans have other pets besides German Shepherds and in Boston not just Boston Terriers can be seen. People choose dogs relying on own preferences. But sometimes locals are too prone to having a certain breed so it becomes a distinctive of a location. Natural conditions, fashion and even set of mind contribute to it.

29.05.2019 | Japan, nature, society, Great Britain, Switzerland, Poland, Türkmenistan

Superflat: Concept of contemporary Japanese art

Anime admirers would never pass by contemporary Japanese art. Especially if this trend is directly related to manga comics. Artist Takashi Murakami was the first to think about how to dub an art that catches inspiration in every new anime, but speaks of eternal values, interlacing with the ethnic canvases of Western artists.

08.02.2019 | Japan, art

The ghost brush of miss Hokusai

The eccentric elder Katsushika Hokusai was the real star of the Edo period, the creative genius and the brutal debtor of the half of his city. He used at least 30 names, changed 93 houses and created a lot of prints, drawings and paintings. His internationally recognized print The Great Wave off Kanagawa is mesmerizing. But only a few people know that this block printing, as well as many other works, was created by Hokusai with assistance of his daughter - artist Katsushika Ōi, lost in time and overshadowed by her genius father crazy about art.

10.08.2018 | Japan, art

Colorful paradise: How Japanese people see the aesthetics of beauty

Japan is the country where people are loyal towards the traditions. The colorful scale did not make an exception – on the contrary, in the worldview of Japanese people it acquired almost divine origination. ‘The color of morning sky’, ‘the depth of night heaven’, ‘the shades after the sunrise’ – in such a way Japanese people called colors that they observed outside. The word ‘color’ became a sort of description of a beloved person. Perhaps, in the colorful intonations of color the most gentle and beautiful feelings concentrated. Today OUTLOOK will tell what the symbolic of flowers in Japan is based on.

18.04.2017 | Japan, art

The Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine along with Kyiv city head and Rector of Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchanko planted sakuras in Kyiv

On the 11-th April, 2017 the Embassy of Japan to Ukraine planted in Kyiv sakuras. The event happened in Botanic garden named after academic O.V. Fomim, Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchenko with the participation of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi and rector of Kyiv National University named after Taras Shevchenko Leonid Guberskyy as well as near National Opera of Ukraine involving Kyiv city head Vitaliy Klichko.

12.04.2017 | Japan, diplomacy

The Embassy of Japan will plant more than one thousand sakura in twenty cities of Ukraine

This year it will have been 25 years since the moment of establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Ukraine. The events in the course of celebration of ‘Japan’s year in Ukraine’ have already been organized actively. As the sakura is the symbol of Japan, the Embassy starts campaign on the tree-planting of sakura along all the territory of Ukraine so as to give to majority of Ukrainians the possibility to savor its beauty.

23.03.2017 | Japan, nature, diplomacy

Japanese Culture Day

Culture Day is celebrated in Japan today on November 3. This is probably one of the most memorable events in the world thanks to breathtaking parties held by samurai offsprings. The most exciting is that various events are traditionally held around the world. For sure the Japanese in Ukraine are also feasting today. So, if you know any representatives of this nation, you may safely thrust yourself upon a party.

03.11.2014 | Japan

Mentality bank. Japan: At home among strangers

The Japanese cultivate sakura, consume tons of rice, make rolls artfully, walk around in kimono and… call bad manners NOT to champ at table. While former facts are strongly associated with the Land of the Rising Sun inhabitants, the latter one isn’t common knowledge. However, aside from unusual protocol, the nation has a dozen distinctives proper to them alone.

16.06.2014 | Japan, traditions, do you know, MENTALITY BANK