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Post Japanese-related YouTube links here

I can't resist posting a video that contains the term "ja no me" in a song called "It's Raining" (Ame furi) (あめ ふり) (雨降り). In the song, a child is wet from the rain and finds safety from the rain under his mother's ja no me umbrella. (This is one of the first songs I learned in Japanese. Learning children's songs is an excellent way for beginners to learn Japanese.)

あめ あめ ふれ ふれ かあさん が
じゃのめ で おむかえ うれしい な。
ピッチ ピッチ チャップ チャップ
ラン ラン ラン。

 
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How rooms were illuminated in Ancient Japan

 
One of the best known Japanese illuminations is the paper lantern. Here is a video showing the huge paper lantern at Tokyo's oldest temple, Sensoji Temple. Take a look at 2:25.



Here is a video on the making of paper lanterns. Watch the winding of wire from 5:57. Look at the unusual shapes at 0:48.

 
One of the best things about Japan is its wonderful festivals. Some of the most visually spectacular are the lantern festivals. Take a look at the large numbers of lanterns starting at 1:27, with 300 lanterns on each float!



Here is a fascinating festival where women dancers wear lanterns on their heads (Kumamoto Prefecture).

 
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Here is a very unique festival, where two large floats crash into each other, like a crazy game of jousting. (And at least one of the floats has a 'fire-breathing' dragon.)

 
One of the coolest festivals in Japan is the floating paper lantern ceremony. Take a look from 0:50.



Someone came up with a really neat 'launching dock' to help 'launch' lanterns without stepping into the water. Take a look from 0:35.

 
Japanese paper lantern festivals don't happen only in Japan. Here is one in Hawaii, USA. Look at the colorful lanterns from 1:26.


Here is a paper lantern festival in Ft. Worth, Texas, USA. Take a look from 0:49.

 
One type of Japanese lantern is a 'sky lantern'. Lightweight paper 'balloons' with a burning candle in the bottom rise like hot air balloons. (But these things could be fire hazards when they land on someone's thatched roof.)


Some can be quite large. Take a look from 0:22.

 
Perhaps the best-known example of Japanese lanterns are stone lanterns. Here is a number of beautiful photos stone lanterns arranged into a video.


Take a look from 2: 11 to see a stone lantern that a professional stone lantern builder has built.


Watch as a 'gaijin' (western foreigner) tries to assemble a stone lantern in his garden. He had no idea he would need a small crane. Watch as he finally uses the crane from 13:37 to lift the heavy stone parts to assemble the stone lantern (which is actually quite dangerous).

 
My favorite Japanese lantern is 'red paper lantern' (aka chouchin) (あか ちょうちん) (赤提灯), which means tiny bar or pub; a drinking establishment. (Some 赤提灯 have as few as four seats for customers.) In Tokyo, there are many 赤提灯 located in tiny alleys off of a main road. Look at this video and see how there is 赤提灯 after 赤提灯 located along this tiny alley.

 
No discussion about akachouchin would be complete without giving everyone a feel for the most common type of akachouchin food — yakitori. Yakitori (やきとり) (焼鳥) are small pieces of chicken on wooden sticks, looking like tiny 'shishkabob'. Take a look at this video from 0:32 and watch as yakitori are prepared on a small grill right in front of the customers. (I had yakitori and rice for dinner many, many times in Tokyo, and it was always delicious.) Watching this video is very 'natsukashii' for me. Natsukashii (なつかしい) (懐かしい) can be translated as "It reminds me of the good ol' days."

 
Oshibori (おしぼり) are small hot-towels that you will receive at some restaurants in Japan. (It is also common to receive them after you board a flight to Japan.) Do not use them to wipe your face or wipe the table!

 
One piece of Japanese tableware you may not have heard of is the object that you rest your chopsticks on, called a hashioki (はしおき) (箸置き).


You can make your own 箸置き out of the paper sleeve your chopsticks come in. Here is one that seems simple to make.


Here is a 箸置き that looks like a boat.


Here is one that looks like a peacock.


For all you 箸置き enthusiasts out there, there are several more videos of various paper-folded shapes on YouTube.
 
Buntaro said:
One piece of Japanese tableware you may not have heard of is the object that you rest your chopsticks on, called a hashioki (はしおき) (箸置き).
Click to expand...
And what do you put your 箸置き on? Sometimes you put them on a chabudai (ちゃぶ台). In popular lore, chabudai's are meant to be flipped over in anger.
 
Here is one for your "Do not do this in Japan" list of rules. (I learned this one the hard way after I had first arrived in Japan. If you want to put your chopsticks down while eating, do not stick them in your bowl of rice. (This makes Japanese people think of funerals.) Take a look from 4:47.

 
Another Japanese food just as popular as yakitori is gyouza (ぎょうざ) (餃子). (The following video writes them as ギョーザ.) For people who have never heard of them, I call them 'Japanese ravioli'. In restaurants in America, I have them heard them called everything from 'dumplings' to 'pot stickers'. Take a look at gyouza from 3:14.


Watch as gyouza are prepared.

 
It is Christmas time, so this is a good time to post a video about an important Christmas custom in Japan — eating Kentucky Fired Chicken! I have heard reports that Japanese people wait in lines to get their KFC chicken, and some stores even take reservations in order to help cut down on the crush of customers.

 
Buntaro said:
Oshibori (おしぼり) are small hot-towels that you will receive at some restaurants in Japan. (It is also common to receive them after you board a flight to Japan.) Do not use them to wipe your face or wipe the table!

Click to expand...
What are they used for then
 
Another Christmas tradition in Japan is going out for dinner on Christmas Eve. This, too, has become a tradition that a large number of Japanese enjoy. (In addition, Japanese people spend New Years at home.) In America, New Years is for going out and Christmas is for spending time at home, whereas in Japan it is the opposite.

The following video says that people in Japan must book Christmas Eve dinner reservations months in advance. Take a look from 0:56.

(I should add that 'a large number' may be misleading. It is my understanding that the majority of Japanese people do not observe Christmas in any way.)

 
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Sharing a very short horror video, it has Japanese thematic so it fits the thread, it involves their Setsubun tradition, and Bakemono
 
One of the oldest Christmas traditions in Japan is eating Christmas cake. For this, too, people have to line up, even make reservations just to buy one. Take a look from 2:19.


Apparently, Seven-11 is a popular place to buy Christmas cakes at. In the following video, the woman talks about both the KFC part of Japanese Christmas and the Christmas cake part. (Yes, her Christmas Eve lunch will consist of KFC and cake!) The woman also says Seven-11 actually takes pre-orders for Christmas cake. Take a look from 0:43. (She paid $50 US for one cake??)

 
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New Years is upon us. Learn how to say Happy New Year in Japanese. The phrase is spoken from 1:12.

 
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