Uchikura & Co Blog
2026-09-14
Did You Know a U.S. Hydrogen Bomb Is Still Lying on the Ocean Floor About 80 Miles from Japan? On December 5, 1965, a U.S. Navy A-4E Skyhawk carrying a B43 thermonuclear bomb accidentally rolled of...
2026-09-14
Okinawa’s Political Shift For the first time in 12 years, Okinawa has elected a conservative governor who supports closer cooperation with the Japanese central government and takes a more pro-U.S....
2026-09-14
Bad Luck Likes Company There is a Japanese saying: 泣きっ面に蜂 (nakittsura ni hachi). Literally, it means “a bee stings a crying face.” In other words, when someone is already suffering, another probl...
2026-09-14
How to Reply to “Gochisōsama” After finishing a meal in Japan, people often say, “Gochisōsama deshita” (ご馳走様でした) to thank the person who prepared or provided the food. A traditional response is “Os...
2026-09-13
Lost in a Five-Li Fog — 五里霧中 The Japanese expression gori muchū (五里霧中) literally means “in the middle of a five-li fog.” A li was an ancient Chinese unit of distance. The expression comes from an a...
2026-09-13
Mononoke — The Unseen Presence The Japanese word mononoke (もののけ／物の怪) is often translated as “spirit,” “ghost,” or “supernatural creature.” However, none of these words fully captures its meaning. ...
2026-09-13
Kakugo — Being Ready to Accept the Consequences The Japanese word kakugo (覚悟) is often translated as “determination” or “resolve.” However, its meaning goes deeper. Kakugo does not simply mean deci...
2026-09-13
When the Curtain of Night Falls In Japanese, we sometimes say, “Yoru no tobari ga oriru” (夜のとばりが下りる), meaning “the curtain of night falls.” A tobari is an old-fashioned curtain or piece of cloth us...
2026-09-12
If Not Now, When? If Not Me, Who? “If it is not done now, when will it be done? If I do not do it, who will?” Thinking alone does not make anything happen. When we tell ourselves, “I will do it s...
2026-09-12
Noritake: Born from a Desire to Enrich Japan When Japan opened its ports in the nineteenth century, the country was poor and economically vulnerable. Because Japan’s gold-to-silver exchange ratio d...