genuinely inconsolable I can't have one of these pompeii bread plushies fr.

Blorbo from my mosaics.....

Meiji period fashion was some of the best in the world, speaking purely from an aesthetic standpoint you can really see the collision of European and Japanese standards of beauty and how their broad agreement even in particulars (the similarity between Japanese and Gibson girl bouffants, the obi vs the corset, the obi knot vs the bustle, the mutual covetousness for exotic textiles, the feverish swapping of both art styles and subjects) combined and produced some of the most interesting cultural exchange we have this level of documentation for. Europeans were wearing kimono or adapting them into tea gowns, japanese were pairing lacy Edwardian blouses with skirt hakama and little button up boots. haori jackets with bowler hats and European style lapels. if steampunk was any good as an aesthetic it would steal wholesale from the copious records we have in both graphic arts and photography of how people were dressing in this milieu.

«The botany professor,» from Kkokei Shimbun, October 20, 1908. she's wearing a kimono blouse or haori, edwardian skirt or hakama, gibson girl bouffant, a lacy high-collar blouse with cravat and brooch, and a pocket watch with chain

1910-1930 (Taishō era, right after Meiji, which I should have included in my OP) men's haori with western lapels

I have a love for both kimonos and bustle dresses, so I love seeing how the two fashions influenced each other over this period.  And thanks to Pinterest, I have pictures!

Victorian tea gown that clearly started as a kimono.  It still has the long furisode sleeves, but now they’re gathered at the shoulder and turned around so that the long open side is facing the front instead of the back.  Similarly the back is taken in with curved seams to fit the torso and pleated below that for the skirt.

Woodblock of a woman in a a bustle dress made with colorful patterned fabrics and examples of how a woman could style her hair with it.

More prints to showcase hairstyles, two women wearing western wear and two women wearing kimonos.

This next one’s modern, but it involves hoopskirts so I’ll add it in because it makes me so happy.  There’s been different styles of wedding fashion that take kimonos and give them a more modern look.  Often this involves taking a kimono and then cutting and resewing it into a new dress.  Very pretty, but it can’t ever be worn like a traditional kimono again.  But now there’s another trend where the bride wears a hoopskirt with a white skirt, then you take the kimono and drape it on.  The back of the kimono covers the front of the dress, the long sleeves fall across the sides or the back, and you still wear an obi with it.  The result is pretty and the kimono itself doesn’t have to be altered at all.

And because you mentioned steampunk, I have to add in these two:

Personally I’m a big fan of Taisho Meisen kimono, which are what happen when the Japanese textile industry abruptly gets access to aniline dyes, new spinning and weaving technology, and the concept of Art Deco:

Source

Video of Tama

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

The picture in the background of the second one

Tama is boss

THE TRAINS HAVE CARTOON TAMAS ON THEM

Sad update everyone, Tama recently passed away… An estimated 3,000 people, including railway officials, attended Tama the cat’s funeral on Sunday, days after she died of heart failure aged 16. [x]

For those who haven’t read articles about it, the local shrine elevated her to a god. She’s now the Eternal Stationmaster and patron god of the station.

Beautiful.

Now I’m crying thanks

and a new cat was hired right?

yep! her name is Nitama (essentially ”second tama” or “tama II”) and she served under Tama as an apprentice before being appointed her deputy

she works very hard

Everytime this crosses my dash, I reblog. It is the law.

Law

I’m crying at 11pm over train cats

Nitama, already now a mature cat (born 2010), has a protege named Yontama (fourth Tama, b. 2016).  There is no information available for either the physical befellment or tragic self-disgrace which has removed Santama from contention.

^Nitama majestic, and below with Yontama

Yontama.

a legacy

okay but actually what happened to santama (or sun-tama-tama, which is her name because it’s a pun on santama) was that she was basically sent to train for the position in okayama and they liked her so much they refused to send her back

Every time I see this post there’s new info and it gets better

You are only allowed to scroll pass this after you pay tribute to the great Tama Station masters.

The shrine of Tama Daimyōjin (Great gracious deity Tama), next to the Kishi station where she worked.

Nitama presenting her yearly offerings to Tama Daimyōjin on the anniversary of Tama’s Death, June 23 (The offerings are presented by the company president, as Nitama is a cat and thus can’t hold the offerings herself) (Not pictured, but also present, Yontama)

Slowpoke is the new Governor of Kagawa, Japan (which has been renamed in his honor)

Foreigners in Japan by country of citizenship.

Surprised? Brazilians aren’t.

Brazil has the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan. 

There was a huge celebration for the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil a little while back. They had mascots and special coins and everything.

What?

Why are Japanese people telling me that only Japanese people have seasonal allergies? Where did this come from? Do they think that only trees in Japan have pollen?

Only Japan has seasons, the rest of the world is trapped in a vague, incomprehensible singular season or otherwise completely indistinguishable 13 seasons that blend together into a cartwheel of changes in weather. Only Japan, the master of the 4 Seasons, can unlock the True Seasonal Allergy combo pack.

Is this the Japanese version of the "we bare bears"?

Paris Syndrome

This one is from Bluechair! –> bluechair-webtoon.com

BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT ILLUSTRATE FB POST WITH “SAINT SEIYA”

Well, we surely didn’t see this coming. The official Brazilian Senate Facebook Fanpage posted a Saint Seiya image to illustrate a Facebook post celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Japan-Brazil Friendship Treaty.

“Saint Seiya” is being credited for raising awareness about japanese culture in the country. The post also includes a link to a government podcast where they discuss the arrival of the anime in the country, and how it boosted the interest in learning japanese language and cultural aspects like anime and manga.

You can check the post here.

Teach children that this is not ok

Teach children that there’s nothing wrong with this

I’m really not understanding why you think cultural appropriation would be ok, unless you are assuming that the girl in the picture is part Japanese.

Yellow face yet she’s using white makeup in the traditional style but okay.

Cultural appropriation isn’t a thing, hon. ☺️ Cultures should be shared by all means.

I disagree. The makeup is clearly reflective of traditional Geisha makeup which is yellowface and therefore racist. Furthermore, the girl is wearing a kimono, a garment that has for ages carried cultural significance. Assuming that she is white how can you think this is ok? And cultural appropriation isn’t a thing? What rock do you live under? I suggest you educate yourself on the differences between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation.

I am japanese, in japan at this very moment. The only people who think culture shouldnt be shared are racists like you.

A vast majority of Japanese people actually enjoy other people making an effort to spread and enjoy japanese culture, and encourage it. Many make businesses in deliberately taking pictures of people in kimono. A common omiage (gift) for foreigners from japanese people is traditional japanese things such as kimonos, tea seats, shisa dog statues, ect.

And to top it off, basically 80 percent of japanese customs, traditions, and food, came from other countries. Japanese is an integration of different cultures, like america. Japan takes influences from places like korea, china, russia, and europe. If japan stuck to itself, there would be no tempura, japanese tea, tea ceremonies, kabuki, japanese bread, japanese curry, j- pop, anime, cars, or modern fishing techniques. The picture is not “yellow face” they are not making fun of asians. In fact, it looks like they put extra care and research into their work.

The only reason that you have a problem with this is because that little girl is white and you know that it is acceptable on tumblr to crap all over white people. The only racist here is you.

Source

Video of Tama

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

The picture in the background of the second one

Tama is boss

THE TRAINS HAVE CARTOON TAMAS ON THEM

Sad update everyone, Tama recently passed away… An estimated 3,000 people, including railway officials, attended Tama the cat’s funeral on Sunday, days after she died of heart failure aged 16. [x]

For those who haven’t read articles about it, the local shrine elevated her to a god. She’s now the Eternal Stationmaster and patron god of the station.

This was a great story from beginning to end.

Kind of Happy Uptade: After the 50 day of mourning , the new StationMaster was presented to the public. Her name is NITAMA (2ªTama) and she is 5years old.

ps: she went trough Cat’s Station Master School and was coached by the original Tama.

Im asking mysef how many people actually know Japanese... Because I think is beautiful that in English the wrote "welcome to Japan" but in Japanese its more "welcome back home"

Osaka - Dia 06 Último dia real de viagem, também chamado de “o dia da água”. Porque? Além de ter chovido o dia todo, fomos para o Aquário de Osaka, que tem um tanque gigantesco bem no centro, cheio de tubarões (incluindo um tubarão baleia, que é gigante) e outros com lontras*-*, golfinhos, focas, etc. Depois partimos para o Spa World, uma casa de banhos com um monte de banhos temáticos (fomos no andar asiático, banho tradicional japonês, bali, Tailândia, etc) e por fim uma massagem depois de todo o cansaço da viagem.

—————————————————————  Osaka- Day 06 Last day of the trip, a.k.a: “the water day”. Why? Because, it was raining and besides that, we when to Osaka’s Aquarium. They have a gigantic tank with one giant Whale Shark inside, and of course, dolphins, penguins, seals and otters *-*. After that we went to Spa World, a thematic bath house (we stayed at the Asian floor, with traditional japanese baths and others like Bali, Thai,etc) and to end the trip a massage after all the walk we did in the week. 

Kyoto -> Osaka - Dia 04 Como eu disse no post sobre ontem, acordamos as 5h porque fomos rezar/meditar com os monges do templo Nishi Hongan-ji que ficava perto do nosso hotel (aproveitamos para treinar nossa leitura de furiganas para cantar as rezas junto com todos). Depois de um grande café da manhã, partimos de trem para Osaka de trem. Tivemos que esperar um pouco para o horário do check-in, mas assim que nossas coisas estavam nas nossas capsulas fomos para o Castelo de Osaka (ficamos desapontadas com o museu que tinha dentro) e pra terminar o dia um passeio pela area de Dotonbori para comermos Yakiniku.

—————————————————————————————— Kyoto -> Osaka - Day 04 Like I said before, we woke up at 5am to go and pray with the monks of Nishi Hongan-ji (a temple near my hostel), and we used the time to make our reading faster, since we were trying to read the prayers with everybody. After that a good breakfast and then a train to Osaka. We had to wait sometime to make the check-in time. So after our things were in our capsules, we went to Osaka Castle (that made our disappointed with the museum that they have inside). To finish off the day we went to eat Yakiniku in Dotonbori and see a little os Nightlife of Osaka.

Kyoto - Dia 03 Dia da raposa/ escada. Nesse dia fomos ao templo de Fushimi Inari. Um templo para a Deusa Inari, que tem como um de seus símbolos, raposas. E seu templo fica na base de uma montanha, na qual você pode subir (via escadas e rampas) até o topo enquanto passar por um caminho inteiro de Toriis (portais japoneses) e templos menores. Ficamos cerca de 5 horas no templo, sendo que provavelmente 3h foram para chegar no topo. Depois uma rápida passada em Gyon, pra comer e depois de volta pro Hotel onde conheci uma argentina que morou no Rio e ficamos conversando por horas, e então cama, por que o próximo dia ia começar cedo. 

———————————————————————————- Kyoto - Day 03 Fox/ Stairs Day. We went to Fushimi Inari Temple. A temple made for the goddess Inari, which has foxes as a main symbol. This temple is located in the base of a mountain, so you can climb to the top (stairs and ramps) through a path full of Torii Gates and smallers alters. We stayed for almost 5h in the temple, probably 3 of it was to get to the top. After that we went quickly to Gyon and had lunch, then we went back to the hostel, where I met an Argentinian who lived in Brazil and we talked for some time. But after that, we went to bed, cause the next day would start really early.