Did BlueSky change the color of their logo? It is getting more similar to the LinkedIn and Facebook icons:

🐁🐶🐄🐰🐒🐍THE ZODIAC PILGRIMAGE🐅🐉🐗🐎🐓🐐 In the Chinese Zodiac 2026 will be the 'Year of the Fire Horse' (written as '馬', '马' or '午'), aka the 'Red Horse Year' (赤馬年). Kyōto has a special pilgrimage made up of 12 religious sites dedicated to the 12 animals found in the zodiac. #Kyoto #京都 #zodiac

Misu Shrine Torch Festival kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/10/misu...

Asuka Glass Workshop kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/10/asuk...

Kenji Yanobe exhibit of Ship's Cat statues. kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/10/yano...

🔥FIRE FESTIVAL🔥 Yuki-jinja's (由岐神社) 'Hi Matsuri' (鞍馬の火祭 'Fire Festival') on October 22nd is said to have origins in the bonfires lit to guide the shrine's gods as they journeyed from the imperial palace to the mountain village of Kurama (鞍馬). #鞍馬の火祭 #Kyoto #京都

In #JapaneseFolklore there is a giant crab #yokai known as kanibozu. These creatures take on the form of priests and move into empty temples. If a new priest arrives to lead the temple the kanibozu demands they answer a riddle & if they can't solve it, they get eaten. #MythologyMonday 🎨Matthew Meyer

Checking out this IFTT thing I have been hearing about. Seems like it is mostly about saving redundant copies of things on your Google account (calendar, sheets, Gmail, drive, etc). Though, it seems like a good service to automatically share blog posts on social media sites...

Called the IRS. Why do their employees need 10 digit ID numbers when Social Security Numbers, which were supposed to identify all Americans, only have 9 digits?

A bakery in Namba with a vending machine/coin locker for bread.

Dotombori Boat Parade kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/07/doto...

I wouldn't trust these Grok AI companions. One looks like she would write my name in a Death Note, then feed my corpse to that murder gopher thing.

American gets a letter from the IRS while living in Japan: 1. gather documents 2. formulate an idea of what you will ask for and how you will identify yourself and your situation. 3. See that you have to call a landline phone number. 4. Realize that Skype is gone and that you need to find a new app

Shiro-uri (melon cucumbers) being grown at Tamatsukuri-Inari Shrine in Osaka. As the area had many fields for uri, growing them became a tradition and they shrine, they even have an uri mascot. Sometimes, you can find uri at supermarkets in the summer. Good with salt and vinegar.

Got on an elevator with a group of random steangers to go to the 6th floor of a 36-floor building. The people who got in ahead pressed the buttons for the 4th and 5th floor. Then , two more people caught the elevator and pressed buttons for the 7th and 8th floor. An elevator straight flush!

BlueSky has been pretty quiet, and the number of followers on Twitter has reversed course and started going upward again.

Summer; when the supermarket sells uri.

Fujinomori Shrine Hydrangea Festival; Iaido Demonstration kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/06/fuji...

July 2025; Upcoming Kansai Events kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/07/july...

Rainy season reminder to air out your bogu after kendo practice, or it will look like a moldy petri dish culture after a day.

"The Human Faced Stone of Osaka Castle" article from 2019 is suddenly receiving a lot of traffic today, for unknown reasons... but thank you all for your interest in obscure Kansai landmarks. kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-...

ミャクミャク cider

New information kiosk at Osaka station.

Osaka Station

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

Writing classes in Japan often have students write about SDGs (the 17 Sustainable Development Goals from the UN). The vast majority of students focus on the 6 environmental goals - and write to emphasize limiting personal consumption. ...

Darn it, Twitter ads! Your text appearing in the comments section beneath headlines can be very inappropriate and confusing when seen while scrolling!

🍵HUNTING FIREFLIES✨ Each year Shimogamo-jinja (下鴨神社) holds a special tea gathering called 'Hotarubi-no-Chakai' (蛍火の茶会). Over 600 fireflies are released beside the Mitarashi-gawa (御手洗川) as evening falls, bringing an otherworldly feel to the tea ceremony. #Japan #Shimogamojinja #下鴨神社 #fireflies

LinkedIn has little puzzle games and a leader board that shows the average score users based on the University affliation. It seems that Brigham Young University is always no1. Why is that?

Somebody wants us to look out for their runaway turtle.

June 2025; Upcoming Kansai Events kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/05/june...

Nipponbashi Street Festa 2025 kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/05/nipp...

Fujinomori Horse Acrobatics kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/05/hors...

Shiramine Shrine Hozoin Demonstration kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/05/shir...

💦👁️WATER TO HEAL THE EYES👁️🙌 In 811 the great priest Kūkai (空海) left his post at Otokuni-dera (乙訓寺) to visit the nearby temple of Yōkoku-ji (楊谷寺). Whilst on retreat he noticed monkeys returning each day to a spring. Rather than drink, they washed the eyes of a blind infant🙈💦🤔 #Kyoto #楊谷寺 #乙訓寺 #京都

⛈️🙏🐎THE AOI FESTIVAL🐎🎎🌿 The Aoi Matsuri (葵祭) is one of the oldest festivals in the world. It dates to the the reign of Emperor Kinmei (欽明天皇 509-71), when a series of crop-destroying storms were attributed to the Kamo deities (賀茂の神), angry at the lack of respect shown to them by the people. #Kyoto

Blech, avoid the sesame oil and salt chicken at KFC.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has purchased advertising on a Nankai Line train. Interestingly, the first train car was about their green energy initiatives.

Oh, look, an officer Judy Hopps bag at the Disney pop-up store... *opens bag* --> bunny brain surgery

Capcom exhibit at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art (3000 yen)

The Kansai DenRyoku building with MyakuMyaku decorations for Expo 2025.

Detroit Pizza in Osaka. At Mike's Slice of Detroit

Not a big fan of this new nugget pizza sauce at McDonald's

Babe wake up, new completely inscrutable romanization style just dropped

May 2025; Upcoming Kansai Events kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/04/may-...

Magoichi Festival 2025 kansaiculture.blogspot.com/2025/04/mago...

This Temu app ads on Facebook seem really unhinged: They use the worst AI art for the Canvas Art Print ads.... and ain't no way this pictured head is for "makeup practice"

Hyogo Museum of Nature and Human Activities. Had the most impressive taxidermy display I have seen:

Last night, the 500yen live show of Okinawan music really had this izakaya lively.

Kitanosaurus statue with new cartoon copies and safety mascots that look like knock-off Power Rangers