Flower viewing - or hanami in Japanese, dates back to the Heian period (794-1191). It was the aristocrats together with the imperial family that began celebrating the bloom of sakura (sakura matsuri). There are well over 200 varieties of sakura trees in Japan but most of which do not bear fruit. Excessive cross-breeding have rendered them infertile, in exchange for more petals. The resulting [...]
日本の月 “Nihon no gatsu” 3 – North Korea
Few people can have missed that Dictator Kim Jong Il launched a ballistic missile on April 5th 2009. Moreover, it’s the same Taepodong-2 rocket onto which North Korea presumably may mount nuclear warheads. The Taepodong-2 has a theoretical range of reaching Japan, Hawaii and Alaska. This is as close a nuclear war the world has been since the [...]
日本の月 “Nihon no gatsu” 2 – JAPANLAND
Never before have I seen a documentary that depicts Japan so delicately and with such unpretentiousness as Karin Muller’s JAPANLAND.
Karin Muller left America to travel one year in Japan, with the aim of becoming one with society there. A nearly impossible task. Though she could speak practical Japanese, she was still illiterate when she went there. [...]
日本の月 ”Nihon no gatsu” 1 – New Year, New series
Starting today, a new series of posts will be featured on WebMurder’s Inc.
For the uninitiated, 日本の月 or ”Nihon no tsuki/gatsu (different readings)” means literally ”The moon of Japan”, but can also mean Japan’s month. The choice for this name came naturally, as the posts will be featured (at least) once a month from now on, and they will [...]
Moyashimon!
If there is one anime I really want to see now it’s Moyashimon!
I read about it at Web-Japan’s Kids Web. It’s about this guy who studies at university who can see and talk to germs. The series is centered around fungi, bacteria and viruses and strange things happen involving them! It even has an educative [...]
What D.Gray-man character am I?
Couldn’t help trying this simple test over at theOtaku.com:
What D.Gray-man character are you?
What D.Gray-man Character Are You?
Hosted By theOtaku.com: Anime and Fandom
D.Gray-man is set in an alternative world during a time period that resembles our world’s 19th century. Someone named the Millenium Earl wants to destroy the world as we know it by destroying pieces of [...]
Vid hägerns skarpa skri
Länge tvekade jag ifall jag skulle ta mig an den fjärde delen i Sagan om klanen Otori-serien. De första tre böckerna, som jag älskade och slukade med hela mitt jag, var ju så bra! Kan det bli bättre?
*Light spoiler warning*
Den fjärde delen, Vid hägerns skarpa skri utspelar sig 15 år efter den tredje delen, Under lysande måne. Kaede [...]
J-Pop and How to Get it
It is inevitable that if you watch anime, you will like J-Pop. The opening and ending songs of each anime are often well-composed pieces of music by established Japanese artists or composers. Also, what sets anime apart from western television series is that the opening and ending songs may change during, or between seasons. Therefore with series like Naruto [...]
