HIGHTECH
The largest PHP event in Japan, PHP Conference Japan 2019, was held on December 1st, 2019. PHP Conference Japan is actually the world’s first PHP Conference.
The question of combining Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) and privileged access control is an important part of the company’s information security.
WORK
Japan is well-known for its zealous workers and what often comes to mind when referring to its office workers are usually exhausted employees passed out on the train.
In many western countries people use signatures when validating documents.
However, in Japan people often use personal seals to the same effect. These seals are called はんこ hanko or 印章 insho.
When trying to picture a Japanese city like Tokyo and its inhabitants, one of the first things that comes to mind is a crowd of straight-backed people with stern faces.
LIFE & RESIDENCE
In Japan, the Kanto region attracts the vast majority of people on account of the plentiful jobs and the convenience of living in one of the world’s most dynamic and modern cities. However, despite Tokyo’s huge size, newcomers may need to think small when choosing where to live.
STUDY
Welcome to a new series, where I’ll be walking you through some of the stranger twists and turns of the Japanese language. As languages go, it’s probably the most reasonable one I speak (certainly makes more sense than English), but it’s different enough from most other languages that there are still lots of things to trip over for a potential student.
Picture this: a typical Japanese junior high school class is suddenly interrupted by the entrance through an open window of a large bee which swooping low and erratically over the heads of the students causes them to duck and squeal creating quite a commotion. Their teacher, a gentleman in his early 50's, beams at the class and announces:
CULTURE
Setsubun is an annual festival celebrated widely both in private homes and public areas that at first glance seems to consist of equal parts charm and eccentricity. Can you imagine wearing a plastic devil-mask while the rest of your family gleefully pelts you with dried beans? This is a key part of the Setsubun celebration!
The health benefits of eating seaweed regularly are now well known, but just as the English-speaking world is waking up to them, we are being told that the traditional diet and consumption of seaweed in Japan are “on the decline” as people turn to more “westernized” food.
If you live in Japan, or you’re just visiting, you’ll probably be visiting a shinto shrine at some point, for any number of reasons (but probably sightseeing). If not, you really should. It’s a chance to see something very different from home, and beautiful as well.
TRAVEL
This is the second part of our introduction to the main elements of Kyō-ryōri; the traditional cuisine of Kyoto, and the best Kyō-ryōri restaurants. In Part 1, we looked at some key ingredients such as tofu, fu, and fish. In Part 2 we will look briefly at matcha sweets, before examining some of the main styles of Kyoto cuisine from homely obanzai side dishes to high-grade kaiseki multi-course meals.
Tourism is a funny thing, and recommending it, doubly so: A place’s name can sometimes be all the advertisement it really needs.
