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What does "feeling of being in Japan" mean?

What does "feeling of being in Japan" mean?

Old Aug 13, 2007, 5:48 pm
  #61  
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Originally Posted by infinityplusone
Although I have nothing to add about "feeling of being in Japan", I do want to say thanks to everyone who shares their experiences and knowledge about Japan, its people and their customs.

This is one of those threads that helps me get in the Japanese mindset.

Japan is at the top of my list of places to visit and right now I am in the research phase. The FT Japan forum has been a great resource. I feel as if I know some of you personally. At the least I do know some of your personalities quite well.
Errr, thanks I think. We can sign you up to new fan club feature. Only 5,000 Yen per person and limited to the first 10 million who apply......(kind of like the SMAP fan club).
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Old Aug 13, 2007, 5:58 pm
  #62  
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Originally Posted by Q Shoe Guy
Errr, thanks I think. We can sign you up to new fan club feature. Only 5,000 Yen per person and limited to the first 10 million who apply......(kind of like the SMAP fan club).
....and we'll even throw in a free bus ticket from Narita to Akihabara!

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Old Aug 13, 2007, 6:13 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
....and we'll even throw in a free bus ticket from Narita to Akihabara!

If it's more than 100 Yen it will eat into our profits.........and Smidgen is a tough six fingered auditor!
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Old Aug 13, 2007, 6:49 pm
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Originally Posted by jib71
Those were the spirits of your ancestors, returning for o-bon.
Merde. I never knew I had such a prolific family. More & more spirits are arriving every day.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 7:36 am
  #65  
 
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Went to this bizarre thing tonight with my kids. On the end of a long bamboo pole was a length of wire attached to a kerosene soaked ball of cloth that was then set alight. All the neighbourhood kids then stood along the edge of a ditch/creek and held these flaming balls over all the reeds and weeds, dipping them in and out of the grass and generally waving them around. It was so surreal. Despite living here for almost 11 years I'm still not anywhere near being able to say I know what's going on.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 9:10 am
  #66  
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Originally Posted by valve bouncer
Despite living here for almost 11 years I'm still not anywhere near being able to say I know what's going on.
After 17 years I still feel the same way........
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 9:12 am
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by Q Shoe Guy
After 17 years I still feel the same way........
Calling DoubleJ....
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 9:38 am
  #68  
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Originally Posted by valve bouncer
Went to this bizarre thing tonight with my kids. On the end of a long bamboo pole was a length of wire attached to a kerosene soaked ball of cloth that was then set alight. All the neighbourhood kids then stood along the edge of a ditch/creek and held these flaming balls over all the reeds and weeds, dipping them in and out of the grass and generally waving them around. It was so surreal. Despite living here for almost 11 years I'm still not anywhere near being able to say I know what's going on.
Scroll down to chapter 12 on this page: http://www.fullbooks.com/Glimpses-of...panx39061.html

"Now the name Sanemori is an illustrious one, that of a famous warrior of old times belonging to the Genji clan. There is a legend that while he was fighting with an enemy on horseback his own steed slipped and fell in a rice-field, and he was consequently overpowered and slain by his antagonist. He became a rice-devouring insect, which is still respectfully called, by the peasantry of Izumo, Sanemori-San. They light fires, on certain summer nights, in the rice-fields, to attract the insect, and beat gongs and sound bamboo flutes, chanting the while, 'O-Sanemori, augustly deign to come hither!' A kannushi performs a religious rite, and a straw figure representing a horse and rider is then either burned or thrown into a neighbouring river or canal. By this ceremony it is believed that the fields are cleared of the insect."

Does sound like a traditional 'rite' to clear insects and protect the rice crop got 'hijacked' in order to encompass this Senemori-San legend in Izumo. But the underlying actions (without the straw horse) seems to be what you've described.

I wonder if killing insects at the creek stops them from breeding.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 9:56 am
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Given the timing, I suspect that's more of a mukae-bi to welcome back the spirits for O-bon, rather than a bug killing technique.

A quote from the Daily Yomiuri that I found online:
As the first day of Bon approached, you'd find small bundles of straw at the florist's shops and supermarkets. On the first day of Bon, the dead are said to find their way back to their families by the light of burning straw (mukaebi or "welcoming fire"). On the last day, straw is burned again (okuribi or "send-off fire") for the dead returning to their own realm.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 10:27 am
  #70  
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Originally Posted by Calcifer
Given the timing, I suspect that's more of a mukae-bi to welcome back the spirits for O-bon, rather than a bug killing technique.
I've just learnt that there are bug killing festivals across Japan (they're usually called mushi-okuri) - but as you implied, the timing is probably wrong, most of them take place a month or so earlier.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 5:01 pm
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Originally Posted by LapLap
I've just learnt that there are bug killing festivals across Japan (they're usually called mushi-okuri) - but as you implied, the timing is probably wrong, most of them take place a month or so earlier.
I've been celebrating this festival for some weeks now.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 6:49 pm
  #72  
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Originally Posted by kcvt750
I've been celebrating this festival for some weeks now.
I hear the Shiro-ari okuri in Kyushu in May is pretty spectacular, especially with its modern spin.
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 7:09 pm
  #73  
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Originally Posted by jib71
Calling DoubleJ....
Don't wake him, he's enjoying his year away!^
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 7:11 pm
  #74  
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Originally Posted by LapLap
I hear the Shiro-ari okuri in Kyushu in May is pretty spectacular, especially with its modern spin.
Har, har.........
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Old Aug 14, 2007, 10:03 pm
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Originally Posted by LapLap
I hear the Shiro-ari okuri in Kyushu in May is pretty spectacular, especially with its modern spin.
I prefer the satisfying crunch of exoskeleton underfoot.
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