Hiroko Yoda
@Ninetail_foxQ
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CEO AltJapan Co., Ltd. Tokyo based localizer and author of Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide. Certified kimono fitter. 着物着付け師範
Joined October 2017
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My latest in New Yorker. I deliberately chose to use Japanese words for shukyo (religion) and kami (divine beings). "Religion" has a lot of Western baggage, and when you use God or gods instead of kami, you are back on Western spiritual ground again.
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I want to talk about this AI imagery. I'm certified as a kimono consultant in Japan, and this triggered me in all sorts of ways. Let me tell you about some of them. It might look beautiful on the surface, but a lot of strangeness is at play. (1/6
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True story: In 1993, a tanuki and a fox snuck into a doburoku (unfiltered sake) festival, helped themselves to leftovers and passed out together. Locals captured the scene with a photograph, then watched over them until they woke up the next day and left. Real life folklore🤣
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So you have a white-faced woman wrapped in fabric scrap with odd hair accessories & funeral undergarments; if I ran into her in Kyoto's Gion at night I would probably freak out! The subtleness makes it almost nightmarish.
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Nice to see Japanese folklore get so much attention, but one thing drives me nuts about the coverage: the translations. Sessho-seki is “Life-taking Stone,” not killing. And a ninetailed fox is not a "demon." She's a yokai. Here's why that's important (1/12
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But the biggest issue is super critical. Look closely at her white undergarment visible at collar. It's folded right over left -- used only for the dead. This is super creepy.(6/6
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And the drape makes no sense. If you're folding the collar over this way, the fold should continue in that direction. But beneath the obi it's the wrong side! And what's up with these weird extra sleeves? (3/6
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First issue is shape of the kimono. Kimono are made from single rolls of cloth. No matter how complex the dye or weave, you can see it was made from a single bolt. Not this AI one. It looks like it was made from waste fabric. But expensive-looking waste, so it's kinda eerie. (2/6
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A look at the hem reveals more weirdness. This seems to have been fashioned from an obi belt, judging by thickness and white border. I suspect the AI incorporated it from a photo of an obi hanging at store or museum. (4/6
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Hair accessories are not my specialty, but these do not look right. It looks kind of like a restaurant noren curtain draped behind her head. I'm not saying this is wrong, but I can say as a consultant it doesn't look nice, either.(5/6
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A while back I visited the tomb of Jesus Christ… in Aomori. Locals “found” the grave in '30s. Story goes Jesus’ twin died on the cross while Jesus secretly emigrated to Japan. It’s a tourist spot now. The sign says “Pyramid ahead, Jesus’ tomb on right.” It’s pretty wild.🧵/5
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Shibuya station is surprisingly empty today. But it’s filled with Jujutsu Kaisen imagery.
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I participated in hari-kuyo today, a ritual to thank sewing needles. It's an old tradition: people bring bent or broken needles to temples & stick them in nice soft tofu to thank them for their hard work. I could have just tossed them, but this felt like a nice thing to do.
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Ryuichi Sakamoto asked Tokyo governor Koike not to sacrifice the precious trees of Jingu that our ancestors spent 100 years protecting and nurturing just for quick economic gain. I fully support him, but I didn't realize that these were his last public words.
Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto calls for stop to Jingu redevelopment plan
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In Japan, mountains were once seen as portals to another world. This path in Nagano reminds me why. As I hiked through the mist, I wondered if we might be spirited away.
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Might sound like splitting hairs, but nuance is important. "Demon” is deeply linked to Judeo-Christian good-vs-evil, heaven-vs-hell worldview. Demons are evil. But yokai aren’t from hell. Nor are they necessarily bad. What they are, is personifications of natural forces. (2/12
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I'm really enjoying the new "Shogun," particularly because it nails period style and mannerisms. Take this scene from episode 2. You don't see obi tied this way anymore. The red one is an old Nagoya obi; the other, Hiraguke, both archaic fashions appropriate to the era.
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This is a classic case of a Japanese spiritual practice getting lost in translation. This ritual is an O-harai, which is super common in Shinto. It isn't an exorcism, though I understand why it often gets mistranslated that way. Let me explain... (1/x
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Yokai foxes aren’t seen as evil here. They’re respected for being dangerously powerful -- but also, this is key! -- unpredictable. For example, the Japanese idiom for rain on a sunny day is “Kitsune no yome iri,” literally “a fox’s wedding procession.” (4/12
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In closing, foxes, ninetailed or otherwise, aren’t demons. They are beloved presences here. Check out this capsule toy I got of one a few years back, or the many people who wear fox masks with kimono. Japan loves yokai foxes! I mean, check out my Twitter handle! (11/12)
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In Japanese lore, foxes are tricky shape-shifters. The older they get, the more tails they grow and power they obtain. A nine-tailed fox is at the peak of its supernatural power. (You might know this trope from Sonic’s Tails, or Pokemon’s Ninetales.) (3/12
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This is why I also strongly disagree with the NYT’s claim that the ninetailed fox legend is "misogynistic." Speaking as Japanese, no way. She toppled an Emperor because of her shrewdness. This is why local officials quoted saying “auspicious” she’s loose! (10/12
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If you enjoyed this thread, please check out my books on the subject, including Yokai Attack! The Japanese Survival Guide and the English translation of Sekien’s Japandemonium Illustrated! (12/12)
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Near Life-Taking Stone, there’s Kyubi Inari, a shrine VENERATING the ninetailed fox! The reason being because she’s a personification of powerful natural forces that evoke awe. This isn’t a good vs bad thing. It’s Shinto animism (=everything has a spirit, even the terrain.) (9/12
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Now we know it’s geothermal, but back in time it must have seemed so mysterious. Yokai aren’t demons. That’s too simplistic; they live in a gray zone, embody it. Yokai help explain the inexplicable. So as preface of Yokai Attack! says, best translation of yokai, is yokai! (8/12
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Now on to the stone. Sessho-seki is written 殺生石, which more accurately is “Life-taking stone.” Here’s a photo I took in June 2017. (You can already see the crack!) The reason why this is a better translation than "killing" is simple: (5/12
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It’s also unusually warm. When I hiked behind the stone, I heard cicadas chirping all around a month too early, and only in that one area. Odd! The story of the ninetailed fox and “life-taking” was obviously added to explain the unusual natural phenomena around the stone. (7/12
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It sits on a field of fumaroles spewing volcanic gas; anything that gets too close can die. Here’s an illustration from Toriyama Sekien’s 1779 yokai guide Gazu Hyakki Yagyo, which
@matt_alt
and I translated in 2016 as Japandemonium Illustrated. Note the dead birds. (6/12
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Yasuke is a fascinating historical figure, but we do him no justice with poor AI rendering. How can I tell? (Besides fact cameras didn't exist.) Kimono all wrong: her style didn't exist, weird sleeves; odd ornaments tucked in odd places. Armor's off & hakama looks like patchwork.
I haven't watched the Netflix series or do I have a thorough knowledge of Yasuke but wouldn't his wife/partner have been Japanese?🤔🤫
Or is she, or is it CA as someone said ?🫣
My eyesight is not what it used to be - Rogan. Great at seeing stuff afar though 😁
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I totally agree. This is the coolest crossover I have ever seen too.
This is the coolest crossover I ever seen. Was not expecting dude to take off with the vocals like that.
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I visited a Shinto shrine that only opens its sculpted architecture for viewing once every twelve years! To honor this incredible shrine-carpentry craftwork, I wore a yonezawa-tsumugi kimono featuring a carpenter's square pattern!
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Today is “Kyu-Shogatsu,” the first day of the Lunar New Year. I did the most interesting hatsumode of my life: on snowshoes, deep in the mountains of Yudono-san, Yamagata:
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Every December, the shimenawa rope atop Nachi Falls is replaced. I was given special permission to observe the ceremony as research for the book I am writing right now. 1/3
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@bebechan_france
日本の夏にはそういった素敵な風物詩が沢山ありますよね。でも願わくばもう少し早く日本へいらして欲しかった。温暖化による影響で、夏になると当たり前のようにあった「夕立」が無くなってしまったように思えます。寂しい限りです。
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I created my own new way to tie an obi! I named it 扇蝶, ogi-cho, which means "fan-butterfly." I entered it in a competition at my kimono school, and actually won first place🥰! I'm so happy to have been recognized.
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Here is another example of period costuming from Shogun. Note the pair of women in hats and veils at left. This is called "tsubo-shozoku," travelwear for women of the era. You may have seen similar in Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon."
I'm really enjoying the new "Shogun," particularly because it nails period style and mannerisms. Take this scene from episode 2. You don't see obi tied this way anymore. The red one is an old Nagoya obi; the other, Hiraguke, both archaic fashions appropriate to the era.
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I went to Niigata to see yuki-sarashi, an old technique to bleach and renew old hemp kimono fabric. They disassemble kimono, refashion the fabric into long strips, and lay the fabric on the snow under the sun for a week in March. This month is the only time to do it.
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I've seen many vending machines in my day, but never one like this: a Shinto amulet vending machine! This was at Kanda Myojin shrine.
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I never expected to be praised by a crosswalk button: “you’re so beautiful.”
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I’m amazed I can go from Tokyo sunshine to Yamagata blizzards in just a few hours’ bullet train ride.
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Japan is known for its wild anthropomorphic mascots. But we have been putting faces to concepts for a really long time. Meet Cholera! It's from an old newspaper. You can't see bacteria, so they visualized it in a "scary" way to warn people.
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I got my booster shot. The clinic was filled with flowers, and the doctor told me that's how he recycles empty medical bottles. He gave me an empty Pfizer bottle and I turned it into a tiny flower pot. Vaccine ikebana😆
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This “beware of dog” sign I found in Nara makes me want to meet the dog even more.
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I was really surprised to see the word "tatarigami" used untranslated in the latest episode of Shogun. It's a word meaning an angry kami, a furious deity that causes calamity. Some thoughts... 🧵
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YESS!!!🙌 I passed my kimono consultant certification test! Had to wear a kimono in 10min without using mirror, put kimono on a person in 10 min (while explaining), and aced the written exam on kimono history/culture! 💯 Wore a Hokusai wave obi to celebrate.😆
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I went to a kimono school, where I learned so many things: fitting, of course, but also rules, manners, traditions, history and craftsmanship. I completed the advanced curriculum, and this was my graduation ceremony. I'm not planning to teach, but I'm a certified instructor now!
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I'm writing a book in English about Japan’s spiritual traditions. Last year I interviewed a 91 year old Shinto priest who has been taking care of shrines inside the radioactive “hot zone” from the 2011 Fukushima Power Plant disaster. The article link:
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Twin Peaks was HUGE in Japan. I had to wait for almost two years until the peak died down to rent the tapes, so I could do it all at once. Funny I don't remember any of these commercials airing. I must have closed my eyes so as not to ruin my enjoyment.🤣
#NeverForget
that in 1992, David Lynch directed a series of serialized commercials for the Japanese brand, Georgia Coffee set in the world of TWIN PEAKS. The commercials only aired in Japan and only four were produced.
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The shot from last night: the moon eclipse and Gifu castle. And not photoshopped either.
岐阜城と月食のコラボが凄すぎた！
あ、合成じゃないよ！ワンショット！
#皆既月食 #部分月食 #月蝕
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This kind of "cleansing" is key to Shinto, and Japanese culture as a whole. It's linked to our cleaning traditions, too, as I wrote about for the New Yorker a few years back. O-harai isn't about demons, but setting yourself up for success! (5/end
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It seems kimono are the “AI can’t do hands” of Japan. A Ginza kimono event used AI art for their poster, and failed to notice the AI portrayed the kimono collar folded right over left, the style of the dead. But AI isn’t to blame here. As experts, they should have known better.
銀座今昔きもの大市32th
2023 ５.１２（金）ー５月１４（日）
会場：銀座フェニックスプラザ（紙パルプ会館）
時間：AM11:00〜PM６:00（最終日PM５:00）
品数充実のアンティーク着物、リユース着物、帯、古布、和装小物に、メンズも増えて、大セール！
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I've filleted many fish, but I've never filleted a lego tuna or salmon! This is amazingly detailed.
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I am writing a book about Japan’s spiritual traditions. The research is already taking me amazing places. In December, I saw a ritual few get to see up close: the changing of the shimenawa atop 133 meter Nachi Falls. It was an honor to be invited and to interview the priests!
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My debut in the New Yorker! It's about the Japanese tradition of deep cleaning. Even I was surprised how many aspects of my culture connect to cleaning some way, from from religion to pop culture, and even my own childhood.
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Fake news is… fox news? But this isn’t a commentary on the cable channel. It’s a reference to Japanese folklore: foxes are tricksters. Really interesting to see old yokai tales in such a modern context. I spotted this at Fukushima Station.
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DQVIII was like localization camp for us. The text was so large we didn't have a moment to waste. We worked and ate together. Bathroom only escape. Eventually I had a nightmare. (1/x
So some 35th anniversary of Dragon Quest reminiscing.
@Ninetail_foxQ
and I worked on the localization of two of them: Dragon Warrior VII and Dragon Quest VIII. The first through
@JeremyBlaustein
, the second through SQEX directly. (1/x
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Local newspapers mistakenly reported a "70 meter bear" in Akita and a "200 meter bear" in Hokkaido. Nice visualization of those sizes. Boy, they were HUGE🤣
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Complex feelings about this piece. As Japanese I know power of social pressure. Even still wording feels very othering: "not thinking for yourself," shame, "bowing to peer pressure." Sounds like obedience. But I think we see it as courtesy & consideration.
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One day, the papers tell us how critical Japan's financial situation is, with citizens potentially facing far higher taxes. The next, we see government proposing unprecedented 1.6 billion yen for Abe state funeral. This is so tiring for citizens and foreign residents alike.
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Whenever I enter or leave a mountain on a hike, I bow. Mountains in Japan are great for hiking, but they are also traditionally and historically seen as spiritual realms. There are old shrines and statues everywhere if you look for them, still being taken care of today.
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An O-harai is about brushing this negativity away for a clean slate. It isn't an exorcism any more than sweeping dust bunnies out from under your bed is one. It's a refreshing, a spiritual cleaning. (3/x
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Aomori is known for garlic farming. To celebrate the legend of Jesus, they made a “genki mori mori (full of energy) garlic ice cream called... “Dracula.” Why? Who knows! The flavor? Garlic. So much so I almost passed out🤣. (5/5
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Wisteria is in full bloom in Tokyo. It's actually shocking, because it's traditionally a flower of early May in Kanto. Maybe this is the "new normal," due to the global warming? I wore Oshima-tsumugi and an obi with a biwa pattern.
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Life is full of ups and downs. We naturally accrue negativity in our hearts and minds from stress, conflicts, whatever. Just how it goes. Now, the verb "harau" means brushing something off you. This is where O-harai gets its name. (2/x
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Anybody want to purchase the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki's house? It's for sale in Kyoto😆.
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This kind of thing is hard to translate linguistically and culturally, and we Japanese aren't good at it, so things like O-harai get mapped to terms like "exorcism" even though they don't really fit. An exorcism is much "heavier" than an O-harai. (4/x
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This is Japan so of course there’s a convenience store in front of Jesus’ tomb. It is called “Kirisuto-pp” — Christop. It's open between 10:00 and 3:00,” and note the gag: “営業時間は十字架ら.” (ju-ji being a homonym for “10:00" and “crucifix.”) (4/5
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Wow. It is crazy enough that Donald Trump chose to deliver the keynote speech for a Unification Church event today. It is even crazier to see him eulogize Abe, who died because of his connections to the cult, on the big screen there. (1/2
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Every year locals hold Kirisuto-matsuri, Jesus festival. A local Shinto priest (!) holds a ceremony, then local ladies dance around "Jesus’ grave.” It’s kind of a testament to the flexibility of Japanese spirituality that this is all seamlessly incorporated into local lore. (2/5
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This is an amazing old photo of geisha. Look at those ornamental hairpins, thick kimono and obi, and tall geta sandals! So much work. So much respect. Geisha are about more than just beauty; you need a lot of physical strength to wear and walk attractively in those outfits.
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I took this at Nara's Omiwa Jinja, the oldest shrine in Japan. It is a place where you can feel the origins of Japanese spirituality that emerged from living close to nature: it enshrines a mountain. It's one of my favorite places, and I’m writing about it in my upcoming book!
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I had a pair of wooden sandals custom-made with amabie prints last month, but it rained almost every day since. I've only gotten to wear them once so far🥺
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This is crazy. It turns out the man currently heading the investigation into the security lapses in Abe's shooting, National Public Safety Commission's Satoshi Ninoyu, served as executive committee member of a Unification Church event in 2018.
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地震があった時時は大神神社にいた。仕方がないので、ひと気の無い三輪山を登拝したりアライグマと共に山の辺の道を歩いたり、桧原神社でボーっとしたり。バスを乗り継いで京都に着いた今、駅は大混雑😱本当に大変だったんだ…今思えば三輪山にいて良かった。ニュース見るの、怖いな
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Very excited to announce I'm working on a book. So much has been written about my country in English, but very little by native Japanese. I wanted to introduce Japanese spirituality as actually practiced today, to readers everywhere. Stay tuned!
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Now the book I wrote the introduction for, and contributed one story too, is on sale in the U.S. too! I received a copy myself and am so happy to see the actual book. I'm so proud🥰
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This kimono pattern is called yoroke-shima, "wandering stripes." It's a retro pattern -- you can see it in this print by Yumeji Takehisa, the tastemaker of 1910s Tokyo. Makes me feel like I'm time-tripping!
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When they say negi-soba in Minami-Aizu, they mean negi-soba.
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Yokai are like code, always hiding deeper meaning. Take this illustration of cholera. Why this portrayal? The disease was popularly called "korori," sudden death. People used kanji of ferocious tiger (ko), strong wolf (ro), and trickster tanuki(ri) to write it. Thus this drawing.
Japan is known for its wild anthropomorphic mascots. But we have been putting faces to concepts for a really long time. Meet Cholera! It's from an old newspaper. You can't see bacteria, so they visualized it in a "scary" way to warn people.
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Japan is a chauvinistic society in many ways. This is a textbook example. The right to choose one's name is about equality and personal identity. All women should have the same freedom of choice that is afforded to men.
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This ginkgo tree in Nagano is 800 years old. I went a little too early to see its autumn colors, which is bright yellow. It was still beautiful but I want to go back to see it in fall someday.🍂
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PM Suga rejected calls to fire Mori. When pressed, he claimed "I don't know the details." It is incredibly depressing to hear this kind of non-response to what's already an international issue. Total lack of leadership.
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Entertainment in the lockdown era: improvised cosplay from the home center. It took 24 traffic cones to make this!
ホームセンターで買ってきた三角コーン２４個を細かく切って針金でつないで、自分が着られる着ぐるみスーツを作りました。
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I took this video of karaoke inventor Shigeichi Negishi in 2018, when
@Matt_Alt
interviewed him for the book "Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World." I remember how happy Mr. Negishi was showing off his Sparko box. This video still makes me smile. 🧵
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This looks crazy, but it might surprise you to know that there are actually more shrines (80,000) and temples (77,000) in Japan than there are convenience stores (“only” 56,000!)
There’s the 88 temple pilgrimage in Shikoku.
And there’s the 10,000 Conbini crawl in Tokyo.
Which is more sacred?
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Interesting translation in Shogun ep.6. English often refers to all traditional women's wear as kimono, but there are actually many styles, of which kosode are one. Once a kind of underwear, they evolved into outerwear. It's nice seeing words like this get traction abroad.
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Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump was the megahit of my childhood. The jokes were vulgar, even scatological, the kind of thing boys love. But thanks to the twist of having a little girl protagonist, he was able to appeal to everyone. Interesting thing about that...🧵
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Roombas helping at a Shinto shrine! It’s time for O-soji, “great cleaning.” I wrote an article about this annual tradition for The New Yorker. Hard to believe another year will end soon.🥹
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I discovered a cache of old family documents. These are my great-great grandfather's orders to report to the Translation Division of the Japanese Army, Meiji 15 (1882)! He translated French military texts for them. I guess localization runs in the family.😆
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I stumbled across a Shinto style wedding today. What gorgeous kimono for the bride and her mother! Congratulations!
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Today is the anniversary of the passing of the famed Hachiko of Shibuya. He was actually alive when the first statue went up in 1934, and even attended the ceremony. The current statue is the second incarnation.
本日3月8日は忠犬ハチ公の命日。
ハチ公の銅像は1934年に渋谷駅前に建てられ、除幕式にはハチ公自身も参加しています(可愛い)。
しかし現在のハチ公像は2代目。
戦時下の金属資源を補うため、1945年8月14日に初代ハチ公像は溶解されてしまいました。
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花冷え hana-bié is one of many seasonal terms in Japanese. It literally means "flower chill" in English, to describe cold weather (like today in Tokyo), and is only used in late March, the cherry blossom season. It sounds very pretty, which makes it one of my favorite phrases.
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America has “Four Corners,” Japan has three corners: Saitama, Gunma, and Tochigi. 😆
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Yesss! First in my life that I fixed a kimono myself😆! Following instructions from my sensei, I went through trial and error, sewing and removing thread and re-sewing until I got it right. I adjusted the width and length of the sleeves, and now it fits me better! Yay❣️
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