Geek in Japan: Discovering the Land of Manga, Anime, Zen, and the Tea Ceremony (Geek In...guides)

As a complement to this text, I recommend the movie Shichinin no Samurai (The Seven Samurai). It contains many elements from bushido, and it’s said that George Lucas was inspired by it in creating Star

This writing system causes the Japanese to think in a different way from us. They organize concepts on the basis of kanji; they draw diagrams with structures that are difficult for us to understand; the order in which their writing flows is different; and, generally speaking, their minds work on the basis of images.

KARESANSUI DRY GARDENS Dry gardens (Japanese rock gardens)— karesansui in Japanese—are characteristic of Zen Buddhism. Their simplicity and harmony make them ideal for meditation.

A totally different language for a totally different culture. If you’d like to take on the difficult but rewarding challenge of learning Japanese, I recommend you start with Marc Bernabé’s books Japanese in Mangaland and Japanese in Mangaland 2, or Japanese for Manga People by Maria Ferrer. To learn kanji, you can start with Kanji De Manga by Glenn

What is expressed orally by the individual is tatemae, and what he really thinks is honne. This may be a fact of life in every country

You shower sitting down and finish off by pouring very cold water over you with the bucket just before you get into the ofuro. It’s time to take your relaxing bath. You ease in little by little, because the water is extremely hot, normally at around 115ºF (45ºC), and you let water cover you up to your neck.

Japanese companies are famous for doing things well but slowly.

SUPER POTATO (3 ON THE MAP) Second-hand retro games store.

in Japan having huge ears is a symbol of good luck and money.