Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 24/09/2026The rebellion involved Ainu who lived on and around the Shiretoko Peninsula, Kunashiri Island and the Menashi region, who rose up against the severe exploitation and human rights abuses by the Matsumae Domain and contractor Kyūbei Hidaya. 192
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 21/09/2026Modern woodcarvings from Nibutani artisans such as Kaizawa Toru are also on display. The third floor of the museum also showcases a Tonkori from Sakhalin. Every time I visit, I always get a clear feeling of connection between Scotland and Ainu culture. 0100
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 21/09/2026Yesterday I visited the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The “Living Lands” exhibition introduces various Indigenous peoples. It has one of the best permanent displays about Ainu culture outside of Japan, with many of the items coming from Scotsman Neil Gordon Munro, who lived in Nibutani. 2173
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 08/09/2026Looks like Hokkaido is getting another mascot - this time a wolf called Lulo Horkew - with the name being a combination of the Japanese "rurou" (流浪 - wandering) and Ainu "horkew" (wolf). Interesting to see where this one goes 🐺 2276
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 08/09/2026There is also the "Eijihappou" (永字八法), known as the "Eight Principles of Yong" in English, which uses the character 永 (meaning "eternity" and pronounced ei in Japanese and yong in Mandarin) to illustrate the eight fundamental strokes of kanji/hanzi. 071
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 08/09/2026Kanji contain many different strokes. This chart I made shows these various strokes with their Japanese names (and my English translations) by using an aggregate glyph. Many foundries have their own variants of the glyph. An updated chart from my old fonts in games microblog, Fontendo, on Twitter. 1278
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 03/09/2026A while ago I spoke about a Japanese guy on Twitter, here and Instagram who has been using gen AI to cosplay as an Ainu person (and since blocked me for calling him out lol), but today on Twitter I came across an account with almost 20K followers that appears to be a Japanese LARPing as an Emirati. 4130
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 02/09/2026Open up the remote to have a look at the internals. Definitely needs a clean at least, but I wasn’t sure how to disconnect the battery connectors from the case in order to get a proper look at the circuit board. But from this alone the 5 key seems to have started working again, which gives me hope. 230
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 01/09/2026I’m super pleased to have finally obtained the elusive remote for my Sharp Super Famicom TV! It comes with a special function that changes the display settings to something tailored for games - inaccessible without the remote. Not all the buttons respond, but I might be able to fix that. 5611
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 28/08/2026Those "fill in the prefecture" travel maps for Japan have been getting popular again recently, so I decided to make one for Hokkaido specifically, based on the island's Subprefectures. There are still a few places that I need to visit! 170
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 26/08/2026Two things I noticed this time were 1. The positions of kamuy were annotated with small signs for participants who weren’t familiar with the layout of the nusa (altar) 2. The nusa and the sacred area between it and the cise (house) was more clearly delineated with rope and keep out signs. 1111
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 25/08/2026I also went to a separate Kamuynomi afterwards. Two members of the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly were directly participating in the ritual on this occasion. 0140
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 23/08/2026I attended a traditional Ainu wedding, known as “Utomnukar” - meaning “to lock eyes with one another”. Based on materials like films of past weddings from the 70s in Nibutani. Other parts of the ceremony like the bride leaving her old home weren’t performed - only the main ceremony and kamuynomi. 1348
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 19/08/2026My copy just arrived today! I’m glad that this work was able to be reprinted. It features detailed descriptions and pictures of Ainu constellations. Very useful book for anyone researching or learning about Ainu relationships with the cosmos, and the diverse astronomy of the Japanese archipelago. 0163
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 18/08/2026Was tidying a bunch of old documents and came across the workbook I had for a “Japanese business life for foreigners and Japanese returnees” class my company signed me up for when I first arrived in Japan in 2022. Behold: characteristics of the Japanese and their communication 1120
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 17/08/2026Oh! That’s good to know. I hope they can fix this though because it might deter some users 100
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 17/08/2026Here is an easy way (with a phrase from the book) to spot the difference between Mainland Chinese glyph conventions versus Japanese conventions in fonts. People *will* notice and it can affect the credibility of your work - if something basic like the font is wrong, how can I trust everything else? 54513
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 17/08/2026I recently got this monograph about the Ryukyu Islands by Gregory Smits. Though my expertise lies in the opposite side of the Japanese archipelago, from what I’ve read so far it appears to be very well researched and written… But the book seems to use a Chinese font for all the Japanese text 😅 2262
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 16/08/2026If you’re travelling to Akita and interested in the Matagi, I recommend staying at Matagi no Yu (Utto Onsen). There is a Matagi museum which is free entry for overnight guests, and they also serve a variety of local Matagi foods such as bear. 0100
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 15/08/2026A selection of some of the Ainuic toponyms I spotted while travelling around Akita Prefecture. Some like Yonaizawa preserve the Ainu nay (river) while also attaching a Japanese translation (zawa = mountain stream) on the end! 1173
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 14/08/2026A surprisingly interesting visit today was the Akita Prefectural Museum of Agricultural Science. They had a very detailed exhibit about how rice is grown in Japan. I always knew long grain rice was more popular in general but I didn’t know it made up 90% of all consumed rice globally. 2100
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 14/08/2026Some parties like the Japan Communist Party have advocated for return of the full island chain, but the government’s policy is that they don’t claim anything outside the bottom 1/3 of the chain - while also not recognising Russian ownership of the rest, or South Sakhalin (Karafuto). 070
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 13/08/2026Visited Japan’s lowest vending machine(s)! In Ōgata village, Hachirōgata - reclaimed land that makes up Japan’s lowest point, at an average of three metres below sea level. 2194
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 13/08/2026When looking at these two dogū with their spiral patterns, the cultural continuity to Ainu pattern work is quite clear. (Embroidered robe on the right is from artisan Naganawa Yukari). 紋様が似ているんですね。 0132
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 12/08/2026The purpose of the stone circles are not entirely clear, and more of the site will be excavated in the future. Some 200 clay dogu have also been found here, many of which appear to have been intentionally broken. The plate-shaped dogū (marked ① in the photo) is one of the notable finds unearthed. 060
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 12/08/2026Today I also visited the Isedōtai Jōmon archeological site. Dated to the late Jōmon period (~2000 BC), it features 3 large stone circles on an artificially flattened plateau. It’s both a National Historic Site of Japan and on UNESCO’s “Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan” World Heritage list. 190
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 12/08/2026The villagers enshrine a deity in a small Shintō shrine on the edge of town who they also consider to be Kannon - the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion. They also continue to pass down Bangaku, a form of dance older than Kōwaka-mai - itself a medieval dance that predates Noh. 1141
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 12/08/2026Today I visited Nekko, a tiny village hidden deep in the Akita hills which is believed to be the birthplace of the Matagi hunters and culture. The only way to get to the village is through a long, narrow tunnel that fits just one car at a time. 3232
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 12/08/2026Yesterday I tried bear meat for the first time. Local Asian black bear. Tasted like beef more or less. 070
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 11/08/2026For the next few days I’ll be visiting “Matagi no sato” (Matagi village) - a region in Akita thought to be the origin of the Matagi - mountain hunters of Tōhoku. Because they revere bears and share vocabulary with Ainu, it’s believed the two groups are connected in some way. 490
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 11/08/2026If you go up into the hills outside of town, there is a cenotaph dedicated to Aterui and another Emishi chief called More, who lived around the same time. It’s deep in a forest, next to a shrine that looks almost abandoned. 060
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 10/08/2026Today I travelled around Iwate. I visited Ōshū - home of famous Emishi chief Aterui - who fought against Japanese incursions from the south in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. The city has a statue in his honour which draws from Jōmon pottery motifs. 2122
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 09/08/2026Today I visited the Tomizawa Archeological Site in Sendai, where remnants of a 20,000 year old pine marsh are preserved underground - which was once surface level. Remnants of a campfire are also visible - created around the same time by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers. 0203
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 09/08/2026Yasukuni Shrine - infamous for its enshrining of war criminals - has released an official proclamation banning “cosplay”, specifically the wearing of military uniforms, inside the shrine grounds. Groups sympathetic to Imperial Japan have previously visited the shrine in old Imperial uniform. 1112
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 08/08/2026Today was the last day of Sendai’s Tanabata celebrations. I saw one set of decorations made of a million paper cranes - as a memorial for the victims of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan, and as a symbol of peace. I was also given a chain of paper cranes by the organising group! 1140
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 08/08/2026My parents have been to Japan quite a few times now, but today I decided to show them the wonder that is Saizeriya. They seemed to like it (especially the prices!) 0141
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 08/08/2026Hello Sendai! For the next week, I will be travelling throughout the Tōhoku region. It’s my first time up here. 2160
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 07/08/2026The franchise relies heavily on Fontworks' Oedokanteiryū typeface - based on Kanteiryū lettering of the Edo period. Initially used for advertising kabuki performances, you see it a lot at summer festivals and the like. But many Japanese foundries offer their own Kanteiryū, so they can easily switch. 1201
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 07/08/2026Taiko no Tatsujin is changing the fonts used in the arcade version of the game. Likely a result of Monotype's acquisition of Fontworks and their decision to hike up prices more than tenfold. Even though it was sort of walked back, it got developers rattled enough to ditch them entirely. 312959
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 05/08/2026I have translated the key points of the statement as reported by the Hokkaido Shimbun: 270
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 03/08/2026Shakouki-dogū are called such due to how their eyes resemble snow goggles worn by Indigenous Arctic peoples. The most famous one was excavated at the Kamegaoka Site in Tsugaru City, Aomori Prefecture, and probably served as the inspiration for most dogū/dogū-inspired things you see in media. 2111
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 03/08/2026Saw some chatter on Twitter about this item in Splatoon Raiders that’s clearly based on a dogū. It’s funny how Shakouki-dogū have such an big influence on how Jōmon culture appears in popular media considering they only represent about 10% of all excavated dogū. But you can’t deny they’re iconic. 2163
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 03/08/2026My new Sharp TV appears to be using a Chinese font for Japanese text… 290
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 28/07/2026Finally got a LAN port installed in my home office. After moving in I was using the wifi card in my desktop with its goofy looking external antenna, but it was really jumpy and I had to constantly resest the network adapter. No more problems now! 150
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 23/07/2026Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of Japanese fonts which cover a huge variety of historical styles - from Edomoji lettering like Kanteiryū and Kakumoji, to older calligraphy such as folded seal script, regular seal-script, grass script, clerical script - all the way back to Oracle Bone inspired! 2164
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 23/07/2026※ Also I should add that Lightmorning is specifically emulating Mincho typefaces which makes it look a bit stilted - there are more general Japanese typefaces which mimic specific styles of penmanship which work much better. 151
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 23/07/2026What interests me more is how they showed off a book they read called “The Discovery of God” by Nakazawa Shinichi. The contents seem to mention “spirit” quite a bit - something that also appears in the narrative of the games. Might have to give this one a read and see how they drew from it. 160
Daniel / 妥仁得 @kaihat.su · 23/07/2026The section of the documentary about how the development team came up with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl’s creation myth was interesting. It seems they read through quite a few books on Greek Mythology (evident in the final product), including Robert Graves’ notable “The Greek Myths” compendium. 2100