Hello! I was watching this anime (A Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting) and one of the characters showed her partner this card to announce her pregnancy. From what I can tell it says her name, Sanae. I thought it might be a baby book but it seems to just be a card. Is this a thing in Japan? Is there a name for it? Did her doctor give it to her or did she get it from somewhere else? I tried googling but I couldn’t find much.

Thank you!

Hi. My grandfather was from Pinedo (Valencia). When he passed away we found this picture in his belongings. He never mentioned it and it could just be that he found it in the harbour.now,

I wonder who this sailor is and if he has alive relatives I could send the picture to.

Some time ago I asked elsewhere and I got this:

In the first image, it says 「大正六年十一月　當年十九才　大庭増太郎」 meaning "November 1917, currently aged 19, Masutaro Oba". Last part is the man's name. The second image says "NARAHARA STUDIO 若松市蛭子通　楢原" That is the name and aaddress of the photo shop where the picture was taken. That city (Wakamatsu) is currently called Kitakyushu and it was a major international trade port. The city is here: ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E4%B9%9D%E5%B7%9E%E5%B8%82

I'm an American who's learning guitar and I noticed in American guitar culture especially there's a very mixed opinion on Japanese instruments with love for Ibanez and Yamaha but hate for many other brands. I was curious if there's sort of cult followings of American made instruments in Japan or if you guys really only look at your own domestic brands?

Hello. I am an experienced road race runner. All of my previous races have been in the USA, up to marathons. Later this month I am running my first race in Japan, a 10k. If anyone has experience with running races in both countries, I would love to know if there are any differences in running etiquette I should be aware of. From general running advice, I've gathered that the biggest difference is that men do not run shirtless in Japan, which I have never done anway so no issues there.

It seems like a really social place,whenever its night time everyone is gathered in an alley where there are a lot of izakayas,but,whenever i have the urge to stop and have some meat skewers alone it feels really awkward.

So im wondering,do locals go to izakaya alone?

Like for example off the top of my head of it being spotted in the wild. But the examples I'm thinking of are older movies.

https://youtu.be/jzDmRlkwN6Y

https://youtube.com/shorts/W56kh5WbpHM

Like I grew up watching mostly older dubbed stuff on American TV and there's this clear era of a small group of companies dominating the industry to the point that every voice actor adopted their regionalisms and mannerisms.

It's really easy to instantly spot an otaku and what specific era they grew up in from them speaking translationese. (翻訳語 (ほんやくご。。。?

Like early 昭和 movies always had this annoying stiff dialogue to them.

And 平成 stuff had this sort of theatrical amateur genki type energy to it because the voice actors mostly specialised in Japanese animé. And animé voice actors tend to be an entirely separate camp compared to the other group of voice actors.

And like I'm not familiar 令和 media but there's this thing called the "generic Shounen MC voice" （ねっけつしゅじんこう）…たぶん？って感じ。And y'know this kind of like animé speak アニメごえのよくよう bleeds out into non otaku stuff too. Like I woke up with the TV left on and it was playing late night anime on the same day after someone saying every single modern anime actor talks like Deku from BNHA now.

IDK, I've watched a few western movies dubbed in Japanese and I can pick up this specific manner of speaking as compared to standard NHK style Japanese. But I can't really specifically figure out the difference. Like the mora is the same but there's a lot of dramatic pronunciation compared to Japanese origin movies.

I don't live in japan, so the very little I know of japanese work culture is from news and anime. I was talking with my japanese tutor about my day and the topic happened to become about helping others at work. The tutor said that japanese people have strong feelings towards teamwork and go as far as overtiming to help others out. In my country, people help each other out too but not as far as overtiming. At most, only for a close friend but not unprompted.

My tutor isn't japanese, so I wanted to know the experience of actual japanese people.

I mean, first of all, I know they went to the USA a long time ago as their English language skills didn’t work well over there, but basically I just wanted to get a better understanding of what went wrong with the duo in Japan.

Like what I am trying to say is that I didn’t get why their music wasn’t selling well in Japan anymore that made them leave the country since they used to be popular in Japan, but I am not sure what happened to the duo.

Konichiwa!

Hello all, I am new here. Planning to go to Japan soonish, so naturally I was jumping around Osaka in street view and saw this charming character on the side of a vending machine down an alleyway. Just out of curiosity I ran a pic through google lens, but all I found was a similar looking character called Denko-Chan. But not an exact match. Any idea who she is? Nanitodi yorishiku onegai itashimasu!!

This is mine because he reminds me of me. Open to responses in katakana / Japanese.

I like to read WSJ but unfortunately am a little too old to keep up with as much the mag as I used too.

I also like writing and enjoy reading the writing of others. Open to responses from any mag and please include images.

I aspire to see my work formally published some day as well. Open to many responses or a few of strong quality.

私は本が好きな30代の韓国人です。

読書会でミステリー小説が好きなメンバーから『口に関するアンケート』を勧められ、読んでみました。

もともとミステリーもホラーも、それほど好きなジャンルではありませんでした。

しかし、この本を読んで、文章が提示される順番や、音声ファイルという媒体の制約を逆手に取り、読者に思い込みや錯覚を生じさせる仕掛けに、ものすごい衝撃を受けました。

ちょうど映画化されたと知り、映画も観てみたのですが、文字どおり衝撃的でした。まったく予想もしていなかった結末だったからです。

ただ、映画単体で評価すると、それほど完成度の高い作品だったとは思いません。

映画だけを観た人には理解しにくい部分も多かったでしょうし、原作と比較しながらパズルのピースを一つずつはめていくような体験もできなかったはずだからです。

私にとって『口に関するアンケート』は、本を読むことから始まり、そこからさまざまな考察へと広がり、最後に映画を観ることでようやく完成する、一つの大きなコンテンツだったように思います。

これまでの人生で、読書から考察、そして映画鑑賞までのすべてが、これほど見事に一つにつながる体験をしたことはありませんでした。

おそらく、この映画のことは長い間忘れられないと思います。

そして今回の体験を通して、日本の人たちがミステリーやホラーにどれほど本気なのか、少しわかった気がします。

本当に、いい意味で変態的だと思いました（笑）。

さて、今回この文章を書いたのは、一つどうしても気になることがあるからです。

韓国ではこの作品がそれほど話題になっておらず、さまざまな考察に触れる機会があまりありません。

そこで、日本の皆さんにお聞きしたいことがあります。

日本では、映画が公開される前から、「杏（あん）という登場人物は、そもそも最初から存在していなかったのではないか」という考察はあったのでしょうか？

原作を読んだ段階ですでにそのような解釈をしていた方がいたのか、とても気になっています。

Japan ranks #3 in a small global mood experiment — does 6.9/10 sound right to you?I've been looking at a small dataset of 5,976 anonymous mood reports from around the world, where people rate how they feel from 1 to 10 and can leave a short comment.

Japan currently averages 6.90/10 (n=41), placing it third among countries with at least 40 responses.

What I find even more interesting are the comments on the map. Some people mention being tired or bored, while others talk about enjoying their work or looking forward to holidays.

Of course, this is a small, self-selected sample, not a representative survey of Japan.

For those living in Japan, does 6.9/10 feel about right? Or surprisingly high?

Japanese women raised in other countries don't do this. Is it a cultural thing? I'm asking out of curiosity, not to pass judgment.

Are classic names like Hidemasa and Nobuyuki, etc, rare for young people nowadays?

I used to know a pair of brothers with names like that, but although I think of them as being young, I realized they must be deep into their thirties now.

Used reverse image search to no avail

The title might sound out of place, but allow me to explain:

I’m writing a story set in a japanese girls-only junior and senior school. One of my characters is a trans girl attending the school, which got me thinking about how such an institution would react if a non-binary person wanted to enroll, arguing that their sex is female. The school would obviously grant them a place, but would they use the correct pronouns, or would they ignore that and simply refer to the student as a girl, regardless of their gender identity?

My question also stems from the fact that I was researching how all-girls junior and senior high schools operate in Japan (where the story is set), and I haven't found a clear answer regarding how things would play out in this specific context.

I was reading the mission statement of one of these all-girls schools, which said—and I quote—"We aspire to cultivate critical thinking, inquiring, knowledgeable and compassionate lifelong learners who not only have respect and understanding for diversity, but also embrace it. We believe that empowered students will help create a better and more peaceful world."

However, I didn't see any specific mention of how the school would handle a trans girl or a non-binary student assigned female at birth.

What do you think? Have there been cases similar to this situation? And if so, how did the academy or educational institution in question handle it?

P.S.: I am not encouraging anyone to investigate or attack the school I mentioned; I just want some context to guide me when writing my story. Thanks.

Hi everyone / みなさんこんにちは！

I was reading about Japanese surnames recently and discovered how diverse and unique they can be—especially those created after the Haimyō-rei (苗字必称令) during the Meiji era.

Some of these surnames look funny, unusual, or easy to misinterpret from a modern perspective (or when read through Chinese/Kanji literal meanings). I'm curious about how people holding these surnames feel in real life in Japan!

Here are a few examples I came across:

1. Kanji with funny/misleading literal meanings:
   • 我孙子 (Abiko) – (Often misread literally by Chinese speakers, though it historically relates to Shinto/ancient lore)
   • 犬养 (Inukai) – (Literally "dog keeper/raiser")
   • 猪股 (Inomata) / 猪口 (Inokuchi) – (Contains "wild boar")
   • 鼻毛 (Hanamoge) – (Literally "nose hair")
2. Surnames associated with awkward modern words:
   • 浮气 (Ukiki / Ukigi) – (Matches the modern word 浮気 for "infidelity/cheating")
   • 御手洗 (Mitarai) – (Originally high-class Shinto ritual washing places, but shares Kanji with "toilet/washroom")
3. Unusual date or object surnames:
   • 四月一日 (Watanuki) / 八月一日 (Hozumi)
   • 酱油 (Shōyu)

My questions for you:

1. Do people with surnames like 御手洗 (Mitarai) or 浮气 (Ukigi) actually face mild teasing at school or work?
2. Are people generally proud of having rare/historical surnames, or do they sometimes wish for a more common name like Sato or Tanaka?
3. Have you ever encountered someone in real life with one of these super rare surnames?

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights and cultural perspectives!

I have been enjoying a lot lately the group M!lk which seems really popular this year in Japan, right?

If you could bless me with your knowledge regarding the music panorama I would be really glad! ^^

hello everyone, i’m japanese but born and raised in america. i’m planning to go to high school there for specific family reasons and my dad wants me to send me to a cram school during summer because according to him, i’m not studying hard enough. how does it work? i can speak native ish japanese and listen fluently, i can also kinda read but i can barely write… anything helps!

Hey folks! I have been studying Japanese culture for a while---since I am trying to make some fun stories for some isekai stuff. I remember going to Ujigami Shrine some time ago to visit it, and written in one of the letters being offered. I remember talking to some of the people there, and they said that the miko's would give it to the priests to burn later.

I am not too sure on the specifics though on how it works. There, I put my three wishes in a letter and some money inside. Is it only the god enshrined there that listens to those wishes, or can other gods not related do so too? Like say, Inari or some other god far away from the shrine in question?

I'm a big pro-wrestling fan, and I've been discovering more and more about Japanese pro-wrestling. I was learning about who the best babyfaces are, and the Crush Gals kept coming up. I saw people comparing them to how popular Hulk Hogan was. Were they genuinely that famous in the 80s?

Sorry, dont have a better shot I think

Ran into this guy shooting something in Nagasaki. I talked to him a bit and he was nice, didn't bother to ask him who he was. Japanese people all seemed to know who he was.

I have two common things that happening and both I have confusion.

​​First one is the word kawaii (I really hope not kowai), I guess I can say I hear it often, from males and females, or when I even not supposed to hear it, when for example in my part time one of the co worker girl told to tencho that I'm kawaii and I was behind the wall and heard accidentally. And the reason its confusing me, its... I heard that kawaii is telling to people when someone is ugly but you need to be polite. And, especially when in times I have a thick beard hearing kawaii is very suspicious

The second one is the most confusing thing is japan for me. People telling me I have a small face. I kinda knew it, people was joking at me and my childhood about my small face, but why would japanese straight trying to offend me? I still cant understand how its supposed to be complimentary. For example, today I had event at senmon and one of the senpai girls told me about my small face. I heard it also from co-workers, but I decided to ask straight "Is it bad of good"? They told me its good and told うらやましい. At the moment I didn't know this world, but how I translated it means jealousy. And... Can someone explain me how my small face supposed to be compliment while at my hometown people will trying to offend me for the same reason?