Are you on Instagram? Check out Nihongo Flashcards, and learn Japanese. Via Spoon & Tamago. Also, I just have to mention these fabulous Seppuku sweets, which you can only get if you’re in Japan, specifically, Tokyo.
Visit the Kickstarter for a great project, Umi Hashi.
Need to feel a bit ethereal for a while? Check out these watercolour butterfly temporary tattoos:
For Dinosaur Watchers, a beautiful poster of Birds of North America:
Oh, the birds! Did they really get them all? ;)
I doubt it!
If not, it’s pretty close… I can’t see it that well, due to size of the image I have, but haven’t noticed anything missing yet.
An impressive feat!
(The may have taken the liberty of representing the genus Empidonax with a single image, since they’re all pretty much identical to look at anyway…)
I might have to spend the money on that thing, given how much time I end up buried in my Peterson’s, trying to figure out what it was I just photographed.
I like my Sibley’s guide a bit better when I’m home, but it’s a hardcover, big, and way too nice to lug around the field.
I have the Audubon app on my tablet, and it’s really nice for pics and birdcalls, but nothing beats my Peterson’s for shear amount of abuse it gets. :D
Oooh, that seppuku monaka shop is pretty close to my office -- If it’s not too rainy next week, I can see a lunchtime expedition to Shinbashi…I lobe monaka and anko (looks like tsubu-an from the pictures). I have a weak spot for monaka, and this one looks very yummy.
I always think of Chushingura as emblamatic of historic Japanese popular culture (brutally traumatic story, and the “happy ending” has most of the characters killed and the surviving protagonists commiting ritual suicide together (all bar the youngest samurai who, much to his chagrin, is tasked with explaining the bloodbath to the authorities)). I used to live very close to Sengaku-ji, where their grave markers are still revered today.
My daughter, who is a massive Kabuki fan, loves the Chushingura stories in Kabuki plays, although to be fair they usually revolve around disguise and intrigue and it is mostly the climax that is particularly grusome.
Usagichan:
Oh, jealous! Those are delicious treats.
It has a lot in common with Greek Tragedy. Nothing wrong with a good tragedy. :D
Caine:
True that -- catharthis is good for you emotinally. Also, the themes of the story celebrate loyalty and self-sacrifice, and the presentation of the story is very positive. I suppose the challenge for me is cultural -- the concept of ritual suicide is a hard one to come to terms with. But that is my problem as a guest within this culture, not theirs to accomodate my shortcomings ;)
I’ll let you know how the sweets taste.