Find my Japan

What is "Find my Japan?"

"Find my Japan" is a project run by students and graduates of the University of Tokyo, introducing Japanese contemporary emotional culture and habitats, which makes your Japanese staying more enjoyable one.

We provide articles with pictures of Japanese the most beautiful and intellectual women, most of who are related to the university, focusing on cultures and habitats that are not ”typical” Japanese cultures, such as, Samurai, Kimono and Ninja.. but on ones which normal Japanese people in present day, think as context and as "common".

Through this web site, we want to explain why Japanese people think certain situations as "elegant" by introducing the cultural and habitual backgrounds.

In other words, we want to describe the elegance of Haiku(俳句) such as "Kaki kueba kanega narunari Horyuji(柿食えば　鐘が鳴るなり 法隆寺)", the bell of Horyu-temple rings on the time when he starts eating persimmon.

By hearing this Haiku, most Japanese imagine the situation in which a man in old Japanese fashion like kimono sitting on a wooden chair and seeing a autumn sunset, takes out a persimmon from his bag, then he hears the bell ring, which makes him relaxed.

But why can we imagine this situation though little information is provided, no closes, no seasons and no times? This is because we have context in common;

1. This Haiku was written in Meiji era (19 century) when most Japanese people wears old Japanese fashion;
2. We eat persimmons only in autumn;
3. Bells in temples rings in the early morning and on the sunset.

This web site gives you this kind of Japanese contexts weekly. So please stay tune on our articles!

Introduction of Photographers

Rei Masuda:

Ryota Yano a.k.a yanopyones ("やのぴょねす"):