The Gion Matsuri story crosses many cultural lines. Was Muto-shin really Susanoo-no-Mikoto or a...
John Carroll
John J. Carroll is a Kyoto-based freelance writer and translator who has lived in Japan for three decades. He is author of several books, including Trails of Two Cities: A Walker’s Guide to Yokohama and Kamakura and Japan: Soul of a Nation, as well as numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He received his M.A. degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he was concurrently a fellow at the East-West Center. He served with the U.S. State Department in China for three years through the spring of 2018 as vice-consul in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Seen during the Gion Matsuri, many Kyotoites to this day still paste such charms...
The history of the kami honored at the Gion Festival have intriguing parallels...
It’s hardly surprising that the Gion festival became an annual event since epidemics have...
This mid-summer spectacle was born from fear, nourished by hope, and today is an...
The security flaws in My 2022 app, which China requires visitors to install on...
Native to Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture, the endangered animal is one of only...
The tiny island is full of surprising treasures and traditions in the midst of...
The need for lightweight souvenirs gave birth in the 1620s to the Otsu-e, simple...
Bookmark is a JAPAN Forward feature that gives you long reads for the...
Sometime in late last year, somewhere in Hubei Province in central China,...
The “Year of the Rat” has certainly gotten off to an inauspicious...