July 20, 2005

so what did my ancestors misunderstand?

One of the better threads on BoingBoing recently has had to do with the extremely strange relationship between Christianity and Japanese popular culture.

One reader describes the town of Herai in Aomori Prefecture:

In a truly bizarre twist on the life of Jesus, the town has two large crosses in a small, out of the way park - one for Jesus, who is supposedly buried there, and one for Isukiri, his brother.
"It turns out, according to local lore, it was Jesus' brother who was crucified so that Jesus could escape and move to Japan, where he lived for many years.

Another writes:
Another Japanese Christmas 'tradition' is the ubiquitous strawberry shortcake, which Japanese believe graces every Christian's table on said day, to go with the Kentucky Fried Chicken. A single woman of 26 used to be considered past her 'sale date' (like a Christmas cake on Dec 26), and so a new pejorative entered the language.

Part one
Part two
more here

I'm sure the Western take on Buddhism is at least as odd.

  • Also: GoogleMaps on the moon. There is, sadly, no way to travel between addresses on the moon and Earth.
    (Update: Zoom in as far as it will let you.)

    Posted by Patrick at July 20, 2005 01:56 PM