Six this week, from a kaiju to an obon custom

As I'll be out of town next weekend I am uploading two weeks of new Anime Companion Supplement entries at once.

Gojira (Godzilla) ゴジラ

hanshō (fire alarm bell) 半鐘

hinomi (fire lookout towers) 火見 or ひのみ

tōji (sake master brewer) 杜氏

Tora no Ana とらのあな

tōrō nagashi (lantern floating) 灯籠流し

Oishinbo A La Carte

Oishinbo A La Carte is a manga series being published in translation by Viz Media. The basic story is about Yamaoka Shirô, and Kurita Yûko who have been assigned to a special anniversary project for the newspaper they work for. Their assignment is called The Ultimate Menu and their job is to research food and write about it. Add Shirô's knowledge of food and drink plus a years long conflict with his father and a variety of interesting situations and this is one interesting manga.

What they are doing which is unusual is they are not issuing the volumes in order, rather they are picking individual chapters and story arcs related to a theme and putting them together. This may sound dubious but it works as the reader gets to focus on one aspect of Japanese cuisine at a time. Hopefully some day we shall see a translation in the regular order but until then we have one interesting series to enjoy.

The first volume is devoted in general to Japanese cuisine so we get to see a variety to get us into the swing of things, then comes the second volume Sake. The sake volume is not exactly what many Westerners would expect as sake to the Japanese means any alcoholic beverage rather than Nihonshu, the brewed traditional alcoholic beverage of Japan. But don't let that put you off there is plenty about Nihonshu as well as other Japanese alcoholic beverages. You will even learn about proper storage and use with foods.

This is a title I think would work well with any adult manga collection, and would be popular with some younger readers.

Volume 3 will be Ramen & Gyoza (due May 19), and 4 will be Fish, Sushi,& Sashimi (due July 14)

Item, courtesy and elsewhere

This week I add a traditional household item rarely found in modern homes, a summertime courtesy and a land where visitors occasionally come from.

hibashi (metal hashi) 火箸

shochû-mimai-jô (summertime greeting card) 暑中見舞状

Tokoyo no Kuni (Eternal Land) 常世の国

Manga Cross-Stitch

Oh god it was only a matter of time.

And who else but the wonderful Helen McCarthy could do a book called Manga Cross Stitch.


It will be published in June by Ilex Press in the UK and by Andrews McMeel in the USA.

Stranger fishing promise

This week i chose three unrelated but interesting items ranging from rarely mentioned to often seen.

They are:

marebito 客人

tairyô-bata (large haul flag) 大漁旗

yubikiri (pinky promise) 指切り

Check 'em out and let me know what you think.

Don't hesitate to make requests for items I have yet to cover.

Old household stuff

This week I bring three items found in many houses of the pre modern period, and in some today.

fumiishi (stone step) 踏み石

goemonburo (large iron pot or tub) 五右衛門風呂

kaya (mosquito netting) 蚊帳

Incidentally goemonburo are still made, about 2,000 are sold each year.

Headwear, song and business

This week it is time for a little variety. In other words I just wrote up entries for stuff I thought was interesting.

bōkū-zukin (anti-air raid hood) 防空頭巾

kouta (little song) 小唄 or 小歌

manga kissa (manga cafe) 漫画喫茶 or マンガ喫茶