Culture

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15 strange things foreigners noticed after returning home from Japan

One of the best reasons to travel is to broaden your mind and gather a variety of life experiences to help better understand the world, its people, and culture.
Photos by Takahiro Takiguchi
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Food & Drink
Cuisine: Japanese

Sweet potatoes. Sweet beans. Rice. Time for some traditional Japanese sweets!

If you have sampled the traditional sweets of Japan, you might have been surprised how different the tastes – and ingredients that include sweet potatoes, sweet beans and rice - are from Western sweets.
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VIDEO| Virtual Vacation: Yonaguni Island, Okinawa

Welcome to virtual vacation video series where we can explore destinations from the comfort of our homes. Join us as we take a short virtual journey to Yonaguni Island.
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Community News
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Did you know?: Mikoshi parades and Japanese culture

Mikoshi parades are an indispensable element of Japanese culture. A mikoshi is used as a vehicle for a Shinto god during the parades.
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VIDEO| Virtual Vacation: Osaka, Japan

Osaka has plenty of culture, shopping, activities and food, which make it a great place for a quick getaway.
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A terrific trip to Thailand

My husband and I settled in for a 12-hour flight to Thailand, eager to leave behind winter in Germany. The plane soared above cloudy Frankfurt, and I saw the sun for the first time in months. As the plane engines hummed, I grew drowsy but never drifted off to sleep.
Photo by Takahiro Takiguchi
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VIDEO| Get your game on in Akihabara

Called Akiba for short, the Akihabara district of Tokyo is known for its hundreds of electronics shops and game arcades.
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Mental Notes with Hilary Valdez: Finding your place in intercultural marriage

Well, I fell in love a few times. Both to Japanese women. The initial “honeymoon phase” was fun, easy, loving and light. The Yin and Yang was perfectly balanced and harmony prevailed. We had a perfect marriage learning to enjoy and joke about our differences.
Harumi Kondo, left, and Eiko Kato, staff members at the Camp Zama Library, hand Elizabeth Brown, 6, a member of Daisy Troop 57, a Hinamatsuri doll for display at the Camp Zama Library, Camp Zama, Japan, Feb. 26, 2020.
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Camp Zama Library displays dolls for Japan’s Girls’ Day celebration

One by one, members of local Girl Scout organizations took traditional Japanese “Hinamatsuri” dolls off a table at the Camp Zama Library here Feb. 26, 2020, and placed them on a seven-tiered display covered with red cloth.
Photo by Tetsuo Nakahara
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VIDEO| Hinamatsuri on March 3 celebrates Japan’s daughters

Hinamatsuri, also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a time when Japanese families display a set of dolls of the emperor and empress in traditional kimono attire.