Japan’s Cat Cafés allow pet-less people to hang out with cats for only $11 an hour. Now you know.
I WISH I’d known about this while I was there.
Feminist Icon Dies at 89 »
Beate Sirota Gordon, an integral advocate for women’s rights in Japan, passed away on December 30 at the age of 89. At 22, Gordon became the only woman on the American board that wrote the post-war Japanese constitution. She created the portion on women’s rights and, having witnessed the inferior treatment of Japanese women for ten years, was focused on protecting and improving their quality of life.
With no education pertaining to constitutional law, she spent a week engulfed in research and managed to introduce articles that outlawed discrimination due to “race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.” Another article ensured women’s choice of spouse and living situation, and gave them property rights and the possibility of divorce.
Gordon was extraordinarily gifted with languages, and was fluent in six by the time she helped draft the constitution. She was born in Vienna in 1923, and then lived in Japan from the ages of five to eleven. After attending Mills College, she became a U.S. citizen in 1945 after working for the U.S. Office of War Information. Following the war, Gordon returned to Japan as an interpreter where she was recruited for the constitutional team.
by the lovely Kari Belsheim
Picture of the Day: Paper lanterns floating down the Motoyasu River in front of Hiroshima Peace Memorial (more commonly referred to as the Atomic Bomb Dome) in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. Today marked the 67th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on that city.
Watch: Posted on The Atlantic’s website courtesy of the Prelinger Archive, the US War Department’s archival footage of the bombing of Hiroshima, in the form of a 1946 propaganda documentary entitled A Tale of Two Cities, which documents the testing of atomic weapons and their subsequent use and impact on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Credit: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Via.
(via thepoliticalnotebook)
Kyoto in a word is: great. The sheer number of shrines, temples, and other cultural sites in one place is astounding, and it’s all beautiful. There is too much to do, and I’m not sure you can ever do it all. My favorites definitely included Arashiyama, a western district with bamboo, temples, and monkeys; Fushimi-inari, a 4km torii-lined shrine walk; and visiting nearby Nara, with so many deer and the biggest Buddha in Japan. I was sad to go, but tomorrow I am going to the Studio Ghibli museum, so I’m excited!!
Guys. I fell in love in Hiroshima. Naturally, it was with a food. Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. And yes, when you eat it, sweet love music plays just like in this video.
Having this sold at practically every corner is dangerous for me.
At 8:15 on August 6, 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb used in war just missed its intended target, the Aioi Bridge, and detonated about 150m from Hiroshima’s exhibition hall, now known as the Genbaku Dome / The A-bomb Dome. Because the bomb detonated almost directly above the hall, the buildings vertical columns were able to withstand most of the downward force, and some of the building was able to remain intact, unlike most of the buildings in the area. Everyone in the building died immediately. An estimated 70,000 people in the city died instantly, and another 70,000 died by 1950 due to injuries and radiation.
Hiroshima was rebuilt around the dome, and in 1966 (after much debate) it was decided to preserve the building. In 1996 it was declared part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
Japan - Hida Mts
Set up camp for a few days at a ryokan in Hida-Takayama, which was awesome. The ryokan was a great experience, and the area was so beautiful and luscious. My favorites were visiting Shirakawa-go, a World Heritage traditional gassho-house farming village, and Kamikochi, a hiking base in the Hida Mountains (the central “Japanese Alps”), where I got to be in beautiful nature and stalk wild Japanese macaques that were running around all over the place. Best!
Deer, Japan
Photograph by Angie Sin, Your Shot
Deer in Nara, Japan, are revered as holy messengers of God and are allowed to roam freely. They are well known for their bowing gestures for food.
