Parapsychology and the Supernatural in Japan

in Jobs
Much of what westerners perceive as Japanese legends actually come from very serious religious thought. Shinto and Buddhist doctrine has long acted like a guiding light for faithful Japanese practitioners. It isn't accurate to associate these beliefs with wholesale supernatural parapsychology.

That being said, the horror stories that Japanese youths exchange each summer prove that Japan does have a separate tradition of less reverent interest in the supernatural. Organizations like the Japan Nengraphy Association, Japanese Society for Parapsychology and the Psi Science Institute of Japan have conducted various types of supernatural research for quite some time.

An individual named W. Asano founded the original Japanese Society for Psychic Science in 1923. Progress in research, however, was slow. The more recent parapsychology organization was founded in 1968 after a researcher from Duke University paid a visit to Japan.

A popular culture phenomenon started in the 1970s when Uri Geller showed up on Japanese television. Portions of Geller's name would later become controversially applied to the names of certain psychic Pokemon. In 1977, a young man named Masuaki Kiyota claimed to have the ability to bend metal with the power of his mind. Some of the experiments he was involved in were shown on television programs broadcast on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

In 1984, he admitted that at least some of the experiments were fraudulent. Kiyota came clean about cases where he had bent certain metal objects by exerting pressure on them with his hands. As one might expect, the fact that he admitted to these frauds have brought his other performances into question.

Naturally, the Japanese electronics industry is equally as famous as any of these spiritualists. Therefore, it might make some sense that Tomy once tried to marry parapsychology and electronic devices. A while back, Tomy developed an electronic fortune telling system called the Neopentagram Tarotstar. It ran on watch batteries and even came with a tiny set of actual tarot cards. Regardless of whether anyone took it seriously, the Tarotstar machine was apparently designed for those that actually liked to collect supposedly magical objects.

Interestingly enough, there was actually a more toyish version for younger players. The Tomy Tuxedo Sam Tarotstar featured a popular character from Sanrio's Hello Kitty franchise. While Tuxedo Sam isn't nearly as famous as the other characters from that universe, he was prominently featured on the device. As one might figure with a toy like this, it was offered in two different colors.

Gomoku: Gomokunarabe and Renju join Go as Popular Board Games from Hokkaido to Okinawa

in Europe, General
Like go itself, gomoku originated in China but became extremely popular in Japan. Many tourists in Japan will see at least one goban in their travels, and a few might even sit down for a game of go or gomoku. In Japanese, the game is more correctly referred to as gomokunarabe. However, one should expect to see the game under either name.

While go might be more widely known in the west, gomoku is a bit easier to play. As the translation "five in a row" would suggest, the object of the game is to connect a line of five pieces while preventing one's opponent from doing the same thing. Unlike regular go, players don't actually place the piece on the intersection. Instead, it fits inside of the individual squares that the 19 x 19 intersections make.

Most people play the game with a regular go set, or even a computer. However, paper and pencil versions are available. For that matter, some people probably pull out a notebook and make a grid on it whenever they're bored. It would certainly be a good way to pass the time when waiting for the train at Shibuya Station.

Interestingly enough, it enjoyed some popularity in nineteenth century Europe. British players called it Go Bang, which is probably a corruption of the Japanese word goban. Korean players use the term omok, which originated from the same word as the Japanese name. While it might sound rather simple, strategy and tactics are extremely important when playing a game of gomoku.

Moreover, it isn't so permissive as to allow players to simply make any combination that they would like. Standard gomoku games require players to connect exactly five stones, and disqualify rows of six or more. These are called overlines, and are permitted in free-style gomoku. Korean Omok is played on a 15 x 15 board, but the overline rules still apply.

Back in Japan, professional gomoku players have standardized the game called renju on a 15 x 15 grid goban. In this variant, the stones are actually played on the grid line intersections. Ruikou Kuroiwa, a journalist for the Yorozu chouhou newspaper, named the game renju on December 6, 1899. It adds some special conditions for the black stone player, which evens up the game between the black and white players. Renju has become something of an international phenomenon, and some of the more recent world championships have been held in Sweden, Estonia, Russia and the Czech Republic.

Janken, or Rock-Paper-Scissors, Made Takashi Hashiyama a Famous Man

in Shopping

Takashi Hashiyama was serving as the CEO of Maspro Denkoh, which manufactures electronics and television equipment in Japan. Pieces of art by Van Gogh, Picasso and Cézanne had come into the company's hands over time. Eventually, Takashi Hashiyama decided to auction off this impressive collection of impressionist paintings.

Hashiyama contacted both Sotheyby's and Christie's, and he asked them about the best way to bring the paintings to market. Naturally, he was concerned about how each individual auction house would try and maximize the amount of money from the sales. Each of the firms presented him with an elaborate proposal in the hopes that they would gain his business.

Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan by Paul Cézanne

Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan

However, neither of them was actually convincing and Hashiyama had no interest in splitting up the large collection into separate auctions. The painting Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan by Paul Cézanne was worth upwards of $16 million alone, so neither of the auction houses wanted to loose his business. On the other hand, they weren't able to reach a decision. In a shocking decision, the CEO told the two firms to play a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get the rights to auction the material in 2005.

In a strange twist of fate, rock-paper-scissors has a fairly big following in Japan as a whole. Most Japanese people call the game janken, which is a contraction of the phrase jan-ken-pon. The actual origin of the name seems relatively sketchy. Ken is the Japanese word for fist, and janken falls into a series of ken games. Older ken games include san sukumi ken. Interestingly enough, the name refers to the manner in which snakes, frogs and slugs can instill fear in one another with their glances. Such an observation of nature seems to fit Japanese philosophy as a whole. Some Japanese card-based video games even use a combat system based around the same concept as rock-paper-scissors.

Ultimately, Christie's won the match. They had suggested that the 11-year-old twin daughters of the department that handles such artwork at their organization should pick their strategy. Naturally, rock-paper-scissors has little real strategy, and Sotheby's simply choose to play paper. Unfortunately for them, Christie's choose scissors because of the idea that most people expect one to choose rock. In the end, that game of rock-paper-scissors cost Sotheby's a large $20 million auction. Maspro Denkoh must surely have been proud of Takashi Hashiyama for making that sort of money for the company.

Omnibot, Shaberoku and the Japanese Robotics Revolution

in Shopping

For many people, robotics and electronics represent the most important iconic industry in Japan. In the 1980s, Tomy decided to take things to the next level and released the Omnibot series. Sequences of commands could be recorded on cassette tape, which was relatively common for computer technology developed at that time period. Naturally, the Omnibot robots could also play regular cassettes, so fans of 80s hair metal must have also loved the machines.

While the original Omnibot had a strange plastic bubble around its head, the more advanced Omnibot 2000 lacked this feature. Omnibot 2000 stood at 25 inches tall. A 6-volt lead-acid battery provided power for the circuitry along side of a pair of AA batteries. Users could move the right arm with a remote control, but the left arm could only be posed by physically manipulating it.

Japanese Electronic Robot Toy

1980s era Tomy Omnibot 2000

The robotic designs varied slightly. Some of the smaller ones weren't actually as impressive. For instance, Flipbot was supposed to be an athletic design that rolled around and flipped up when he struck something. He didn't do much beyond that, however.

Shaberoku moved his mouth and hands in time with music. This music was provided by an internal AM and FM radio receiver. The Pocket Bots by Tomy were more like conventional robotic toys, and they worked via a wind up clockwork mechanism. During their production run, these were probably quite collectible and might have occasionally made it into gashapon machines.

Predictably, Tomy produced one in the shape of a cat. Nyanko, or Kitbot to Americans, was supposed to look like a sweet little kitten. Fans of Japanese popular culture might notice that nyan is in the name. Nyan is the Japanese analog of meow, and indicates a purring sound. However, one of the stranger designs of this era might very well have been a certain mechanical cow.

The Japanese toy industry is certainly quite fascinating. Bandai came out with the Gyudon hoeing cow toy in 1985. She was six inches long with black extremities. Some models also shipped with pink extremities. The robot moves around frantically for a while before she suddenly stops and started to move a plastic hoe in the manner of a farmer.

In today's world, many of these toys are collectible on both sides of the Pacific. Many older works of anime and manga prominently depicted such designs, and robotics is still a popular industry in Japan. In fact, many of today's models can be traced to these early outings.

Qigong and Tai Chi: Are They Different Forms of Meditation?

in Meditation

Many individuals simply feel that Tai Chi is a type of exercise that is done in parks, but this is based partially around a misunderstanding. The discipline that surrounds the alignment of movements, awareness and breath is referred to as Qigong. This is sometimes also rendered as Chi Kung, and it refers to something that almost transcends meditative practice. Some individuals consider it a form of exercise or even a sort of alternative medicine. Naturally, it should be noted that the popular opinion of people in pre-scientific cultures did not divide these concepts in the same way that modern people do. That is one of the reasons that this disparity exists in modern meditative literature.

The idea, from a philosophical standpoint, is to aid in the development of human potential as well as help one to discover their personal true nature. It heavily relies on the concept of Chi, which is a fundamental energy flow. There are numerous versions of the practice, since they have had many millennia to be developed. Meditation in the Taoist and Buddhist doctrines has long promoted Qigong, and Confucianism has considered it to be a method to develop both personal moral character and one's longevity.

One of the reasons that they are so well known is because of the mass migration of Chinese Diaspora around the world. This allowed many people worldwide to view the practice from a first hand point of view. Increased globalization and tourism in the Far East have also played a part in the spread of Qigong, but one should not confuse genuine meditative concepts with simple gimmicks. Sadly, there are those that have developed sketchy systems and tried to profit off of ancient concepts. However, a decent level of diligence should always be used anyway when evaluating these sorts of things.

Tai chi ch'uan is slightly different, and is comprised of a specific style of internal marital arts. Naturally, this Tai Chi practice also has integrated meditative concepts that make up the fluid motions that it demands of people who engage in it. Naturally, any of these practices present unique challenges and rewards to those who use them as part of a greater part of their meditation. Indeed, despite the fact that the concept of Chi sometimes comes under fire, there is very little controversy over the benefit of properly executed relaxation and exercise motions from the art of Qigong.

The Use of Yoga in Meditation

April 17, 2012

Just like Tai Chi and Qigong, those who seek to incorporate it into a greater level of meditative practice often misunderstand Yoga. While it is often used to improve health, yoga as a practice originally stems from a quest in ancient India to achieve spiritual understanding and a deep inner tranquility. Perhaps, in today’s estranged [...]

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Zazen: The Soul of Zen Buddhist Meditative Practices

April 10, 2012

There is perhaps no greater symbol of meditation in western civilization than the Zen Master, though this is a bit ironic since there are many schools of meditation that are actually indigenous to the west. Regardless of history, the concept is very important but such a wide level of recognition has lead to a gross [...]

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Finding Your Best Meditation Techniques

April 2, 2012

Different things work best for different people, and finding your best meditation techniques can be very rewarding. However, at first, it can also be very confusing. There are so many different methods that it can be tempting to give up after a bit of information overload, but this is actually contradictory to the practice of [...]

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What is Stress and how can Meditation Help with It?

March 26, 2012

Some experts have defined stress as a two-sided coin where some aspects of stress are beneficial and other aspects are harmful, but with meditation one can actually make stress work for them. This might be contradictory to what most people have heard, but true stress management refers to the use of stress to your advantage. [...]

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Basic Meditation Techniques and Pointers

March 19, 2012

When just starting out with the practice of meditation, it really helps to understand a few basic meditation techniques that can be used to take those first steps into the fulfilling discipline. If at first you have some difficulties with concentrating, you should not become too concerned. This is perfectly normal. The regular world is [...]

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What is Meditation and How Would it be Helpful to Me?

March 12, 2012

At first, meditation might sound like some sort of superstitious nonsense, and you might be inclined to ask what it is. This is perfectly normal. In today’s society, we’re taught to question everything, but meditation should not be thought of as some sort of absurd fallacy. In fact, there has been a fair amount of [...]

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Mindfulness: Meditation with an Element of Awareness

March 5, 2012

Mindfulness has roots that stretch back into Buddhist meditation, but the concept has been discussed in clinical psychology and psychiatry for some time now. Sadly, this naturally means that some of the discussion in relation to the practice has a questionable basis. Nevertheless, an air of criticism should not necessarily surround the idea itself, but [...]

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Machiya: A Traditional Japanese House at Work

February 20, 2012

The historical city of Kyoto might be the location that is most associated with Machiya, which is a style of traditional Japanese house. The traditional wooden townhouses that Japan is known for are one of the two categories of minka folk dwellings. The other design is called no-ka, and this category constitutes a certain type [...]

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