Tag: Japanese culture

MUSASHI: Music From The East – A One Night Only Performance In Kuala Lumpur

Curious about the sounds of traditional Japanese music? Four master musicians will be in town on February 11 for MUSASHI: Music From The East – a one-night only performance at Rex KL. Here exclusively on invitation by The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur, the four are Nobuto Yamanaka on the tsugaru-shamisen (a three-stringed instrument with a… Read More MUSASHI: Music From The East – A One Night Only Performance In Kuala Lumpur

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Visiting: The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) Library @ Northpoint, Mid Valley

KL has its fair share of libraries, but did you know that there’s one dedicated exclusively to promoting Japanese language, arts and culture? And it’s been around since the 1990s! The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur Library is located on the 18th floor of Northpoint in Kuala Lumpur, and was established by the Japan Foundation Kuala… Read More Visiting: The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur (JFKL) Library @ Northpoint, Mid Valley

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Travelogue Japan: Making A Sarubobo Doll – Souvenirs from Takayama

Ask any Japanese person about a souvenir to get from Takayama in Gifu prefecture, and top on the list would be sarubobo dolls. Literally translated to ‘baby monkey’ (saru is Japanese for monkey, while bobo is a local  dialect for baby), these featureless, human-shaped dolls usually come in red, with a tiny black hat and vest.… Read More Travelogue Japan: Making A Sarubobo Doll – Souvenirs from Takayama

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Travelogue Japan: Takayama Jinya, Last Surviving Government Building From The Edo Era

The Hida region around Takayama was once prized for its valuable timber resources, so it was only natural for the powerful Tokugawa Shogunate to dispatch officials to oversee things at the place. To cater to this, a local government office was built, which is the Takayama Jinya we see today. As the only building of… Read More Travelogue Japan: Takayama Jinya, Last Surviving Government Building From The Edo Era

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Travelogue Japan: Of High-Tech Toilets, Yukatas and Meeting A Real-Life Ninja

When I was in grade school, I remember seeing a beautiful picture of a perfect cone-shaped mountain, capped with snow and surrounded by pink cherry blossoms, in a book. It was the opening page for a chapter on Japan, and I was fascinated by how beautiful the photos looked. There were pictures of pale-faced women… Read More Travelogue Japan: Of High-Tech Toilets, Yukatas and Meeting A Real-Life Ninja

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