A: AUM Shinrikyo (Aleph) and Aribi-ya
On March 20, 1995 members of the New Age cult
AUM Shinrikyo
planted bags of the deadly nerve gas Sarin on the Tokyo subway. Twelve people died and 5500 others were injured in Japan's worst terrorist attack.
In what is shaping up...
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B: The Bubble Economy
The
Bubble Economy
began in the mid-1980s when low interest rates fuelled booming land prices and a runaway stock market. It was believed by many that the stock market, which at its height was worth over forty percent of all the world's other...
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C: Comedy
Spend one night watching Japanese television and you'll realize that the stereotype view of the locals being a dour, unfunny lot is rubbish. The Japanese love a laugh and have long enjoyed the skilfully told monologues of
rakugoka
, traditional...
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D: Doraemon and dango
One of Japan's most famous cartoon characters is
Doraemon
, a time-travelling blue robot cat, and Nobita, his ten-year-old pal from suburban Tokyo, both born in December 1969 in a series of educational magazines. Nobita is always getting into...
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E: Enjo Kosai
Subsidized dating, or
enjo kosai
, is the catchphrase that has been coined for the worrying phenomena of teenage prostitution, whereby high-school girls date older men for financial compensation. Held up as an example of declining moral values...
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F: Focus, Friday and Flash
The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, saw Japanese media rip into foreign
paparazzi
, somewhat rich considering the weekly, high-gloss scandal-mongering and intrusive behaviour of the best-selling magazines
Focus, Friday
and
...
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G: Games and Gyaru
Golf
was the sport of the boom decade, but is in the bunker now that recession is biting and casual players can no longer afford the ultra-expensive membership and green fees. When Japan's corporate warriors retire, as often as not they can be found...
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H: Hello Kitty and Hanako
The Japanese have a fatal attraction for cuteness, which manifests itself in a menagerie of cuddly toys and cartoon characters on everything from bank cards to the side of jumbo jets. One design that has made an impact on overseas markets is
Hello...
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I: Idols and iMode
Japanese
idols
(
aidoru
) are a polymorphous bunch, switching between singing, acting and modelling careers, regardless of where they got their start. An idol's time in the sun is usually brief but blazing, their image staring down...
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J: Juku
Japan has one of the most highly educated populations in the world, but its educational system is not without its faults. The pressure-cooker atmosphere created by the need to get good grades to attend the best schools and colleges has led to the...
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K: Karaoke
The Japanese were partial to a good singsong long before
karaoke
, literally meaning "empty orchestra", was invented, possibly by an Osaka record-store manager in the early 1970s. The machines, originally clunky eight-track tape...
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L: Love hotels
There are around 35,000
love hotels
in Japan, which rent rooms by the hour to couples, often married, seeking a little privacy. Once called
tsurekomi ryokan
(drag her/him in hotels), there's now a trend to call them fashion...
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M: Manga and Muji
All types of drawn cartoons, from comic strips to magazines, are known as
manga
, and together they constitute a multi-billion yen business that accounts for around a third of all published material in Japan. The bestseller is
Shukan...
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N: Nihonjinron
Nihonjinron
is a bizarre nationwide phenomenon in which the study of the specialness of Japan has been elevated to a high art. It has led to a host of ludicrous pronouncements that wouldn't be given the time of day anywhere else in the world, such...
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O: Otaku and OLs
Nerdish characters who become obsessive about a particular subject are known as
otaku
and Japan has millions of them, highly knowledgeable about their chosen field, be it a particular cartoon character or computer game. Mostly harmless,
...
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P: Pachinko, Purikura and Pokemon
One of Japan's top pastimes and major industries, raking in a staggering ¥26.3 trillion a year, is
pachinko
, a pinball game of limited skill. It's not difficult to spot
pachinko
parlours - they look like mini-Las Vegas casinos on...
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Q: Quiz shows
The combined travel and general knowledge quiz show
Naruhodo za Warudo (I Understand the World
), which began on Fuji TV in October 1981, revolutionized the
quiz show
genre in Japan, with its lively presentation and use of celebrity...
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R: Rusu sokkusu and robo-pets
It's on the wane now, but you'll still see plenty of high-school girls in
rusu sokkusu
(loose socks), baggy white legwarmer socks, worn as only the most dishevelled granny would do. The socks, which are held up by special glue, are believed to...
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S: Salarymen and soaplands
The dark-suited
salaryman
is generally a clerical office worker, although the term is applied to many other types of jobs. Guaranteed lifetime employment and steady promotion, Japan's corporate warriors during the boom years of the 1960s...
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T: Taiga and trendy dramas
Long-running soap operas are very unusual in Japan, the exception being the public broadcaster NHK's
taiga dramas
. These epic historical sagas, which screen every Sunday night for a year, began in 1963 and have fallen in and out of popularity...
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U: Uyoku
The loud-speaker-mounted trucks of the
uyoku
, or ultra-nationalists, are an inescapable and noisy feature on the streets of every Japanese city. These mobile ghetto blasters, decorated with Rising Sun flags and screaming slogans, blare out...
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V: Virtual pets and pop stars
The virtual pet game Tamagotchi is one of the most successful gizmos of recent years, selling some twenty million units worldwide. Meaning "loveable egg", the pocket game is an egg-shaped key ring with an LCD screen. The aim is to hatch the...
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W: Worlds and Will
The length of Japan it's possible to visit many other
worlds
than the one you're actually travelling in. These theme-park facsimiles of other countries range from Canada World in Hokkaido through to Huis ten Bosch in Kyushu, a painstakingly...
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Y: Yakuza and Yamamba
With membership estimated at around 80,000, the
yakuza
is believed to be a far bigger criminal organization than America's Mafia. Organized crime in Japan is exactly that: a highly stratified, efficient and surprisingly tolerated everyday...
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Z: Zoku and zodiac
Prior to the mid-1980s, Japan's media often reported the latest youth subculture sweeping the country under the tag line of
zoku
(tribe). The most enduring of these labels is the
bosozoku
(wild speed tribe) of the 1970s,...
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