Category:

japan

The Blade or the Armor, the Sword or the Ball: Making a Choice in The Book of Boba Fett and Lone Wolf and Cub

Spoiler warnings for Chapter 6 of The Book of Boba Fett and for Lone Wolf and Cub. Early in the first season of The Mandalorian comparisons were made to the classic Japanese manga and later movie series Lone Wolf and Cub. The themes and motifs of the two collided as the Star Wars series has …
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“A Thousand Tidings to the New Daimyo”: The Book of Boba Fett and an Imagined Japan

<warning: mild to moderate spoilers for episodes 1-4 of The Book of Boba Fett follow> Early in episode 1 of The Book of Boba Fett, the titular character receives emissaries from the various factions on Tatooine after taking over as criminal overboss. One, a Trandoshan, addresses Fett with the Japanese title “daimyo” (大名) Daimyo is …
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Kentucky for Christmas: Japan, KFC, and Christmas Dinner

In Japan, Kentucky Fried Chicken has been the traditional Christmas dinner since the 1970s. The popularity of KFC for Christmas means signups for the holiday meal special start in early December, with long lines for those who miss the presale and big profits for the fried chicken chain. The usual KFC holiday meal comes with …
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Resident Evil in Tokyo

With the imminent release of Resident Evil Village on the horizon at the time of the writing of this post, I decided to look back on the Resident Evil collaborations and promotional events I encountered during my stays in Japan. Resident Evil, or Biohazard (バイオハザード) as it is known in Japan, has been an enduring …
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The Curse of Colonel Sanders

The Curse of Colonel Sanders (カーネルサンダースの呪い, Kāneru Sandāsu no Noroi) is a popular Japanese urban legend that claims the Hanshin Tigers baseball team has been under a curse inflicted upon them by the white suited symbol of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain in revenge for a slight committed by Tigers fans. In October of 1985 the …
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Dancing with Myself: Scenes from a Tokyo Nightclub

The origins of Billy Idol’s 1981 hit “Dancing with Myself” trace to a random encounter during Generation X’s 1978 Japan tour. When Idol and other members of the band visited an unnamed dance club in Tokyo, Idol noticed the young Japanese club patrons dancing in front of mirrors–effectively dancing with themselves. Idol further describes the …
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