Uchikura & Co Blog
2026-07-22
Hachamecha (破茶滅茶): Complete Chaos If you've ever watched a Japanese comedy, action movie, or even a family gathering that got completely out of control, you may have heard the word hachamecha (破茶滅茶...
2026-07-21
Funeral for Needles? The Japanese Tradition of Hari-Kuyō (針供養) What do you do with a sewing needle after it has served you faithfully for years? In most countries, you simply throw it away. In Japa...
2026-07-21
Don't Ask for Trouble: The Japanese Expression 「藪蛇 (Yabuhebi)」 Have you ever heard the English expressions "Don't look for trouble" or "Don't ask for trouble"? They carry the same basic idea as the...
2026-07-21
Not Bad If you study Japanese, you'll eventually hear someone say 「まんざらではない」 (manzara de wa nai). If you translate it literally, it means "not entirely bad." But that's rarely what it really means....
2026-07-20
Japan's Only Airborne Brigade—and Its First Female Paratrooper When people think of elite airborne forces, they often picture the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division or Britain's Parachute Regiment. F...
2026-07-20
Why Do Wars Keep Happening?People often ask, "Why do wars keep happening?" or "What are people really fighting for?" The answer is often simpler than we think. Most people do not risk their lives...
2026-07-20
July 20, 2026 (Monday) The new PSPINC shopping bags that we ordered some time ago have finally started to arrive. Well, "arrived" is only partially true. Out of the 500 bags we ordered, only 60 wer...
2026-07-20
Ego Narrowing: When Success Becomes a TrapOne interesting Japanese expression is jiga kyōsaku (自我狭窄), which can be translated as "ego narrowing." It describes a person whose thinking becomes increa...
2026-07-20
Make Products That Others Want to Imitate When people talk about Japan’s great innovators, names like Soichiro Honda, Akio Morita, or Eiichi Shibusawa often come to mind. But another remarkable ent...
2026-07-20
Stubborn or Strong-Willed? The Japanese Word 「頑固 (Ganko)」The Japanese word 頑固 (ganko) is often translated as stubborn, but its meaning is more nuanced than that. The first character, 頑, means firm,...