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Anime
Anime taken from half of the Japanese pronunciation of "animation", Anime, in addition to manga (Japanese comics), is extremely popular in Japan and well known throughout the world.
Anime can be released by television broadcast, directly to video, theatrically, as well as online.
Anime can be hand-drawn or computer animated.

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Bonodori
A traditional dance danced in the summer.

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Chouchin
A paper lantern. It has been used in the early age when there was no electricity.
People put candles inside the lantern made of paper and used it as lightings.
It is not in use now, but can be seen in traditional festivals.

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Daibutsu
A great statue of Buddha.
Japanese people are mainly Buddhist so they build many large sizes of Buddha in the shrines to worship.

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Edo period
A period when Japan was ruled by the Edo bakufu.
It lasted more than 200 years and ended by the Meiji restoration.
It is said to be the early modern period of Japan.

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Fukubukuro
A grab bag. Normally sold on the New Year's Day or the 2nd of January.
It contains clothes and accessories. It costs about 10,000 yen per bag, and clothes contained in it costs more than 30,000 yen.

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Geta
A Japanese wooden sandal.
It is a kind of a sandal with a wooden base and a thong made of fabric.
Geta is normally worn with kimono or yukata (traditional clothes in Japan).

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Hinamatsuri
A Japanese Doll's Festival held on March 3rd.
It is a day to wish the daughter to grow healthily and beautifully.

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Izakaya
Izakaya is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks.
The food is usually more substantial than that offered in other types of drinking establishments in Japan such as bars or snack bars.
They are popular, casual and relatively cheap places for after-work drinking.

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Kabuki
Kabuki is the highly stylised classical Japanese-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.

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Matsuri
Matsuri (Japanese festivals) are traditional festive occasions.
In Japan, festivals are usually sponsored by a local shrine or temple, though they can be secular.
There is no specific matsuri days for all of Japan; dates vary from area to area, and even within a specific area, but festival days do tend to cluster around traditional holidays such as Setsubun or Obon.
Some examples of famous matsuri are the Jidai, Aoi and Gion Matsuri held in Kyoto; Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka; and the Kanda Matsuri, Sanno and Sanja Matsuri of Tokyo.
Especially, Gion Matsuri, Tenjin Matsuri, and Kanda Matsuri are the three most famous Matsuri in Japan.

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Ninja
A ninja is a warrior specially trained in a variety of unorthodox arts of war.
These include assassination, illusion, espionage, and various martial arts.
The exact origin of the ninja is a matter of debate.
It is known that ninja appeared in 14th century Japan and remained active from the Kamakura to the Edo period.[citation needed]
The role of the ninja may have included sabotage, espionage, scouting and assassination as a method of destabilization or to cause social chaos.
Such actions may have taken place at the service of a feudal lord (daimyo, shogun), or other entity waging guerilla warfare

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Otoshidama
A present given to children by their parents or other relatives on the New Year's Day.
The present is mainly money.

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Pachinko
Pachinko is a Japanese gaming device used for amusement and prizes.
Although pachinko machines were originally strictly mechanical, modern pachinko machines are a cross between a pinball machine and a video slot machine.
The machines are widespread in establishments called "pachinko parlors".
Pachinko parlors share the reputation of slot machine dens and casinos the world over - garish decoration; over-the-top architecture; a low-hanging haze of cigarette smoke; the constant din of the machines, music, and announcements; and flashing lights.

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Ryokan
A Ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese inn dating from the Edo period (1603-1868), when they served travelers along Japan's highways.
They typically feature tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata.

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Sumo
A national sport of Japan.
Two men wearing a waistcloth fight on the sumo ring.
Both men try to fall the other off the ring or make them touch the ring with their hands or other parts of the body.

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Tanabata
Star Festival.
On the 7th of July, Japanese people celebrate the day of the Weaver Star and the Cowherd Star meeting only once a year.
They celebrate the day by decorating bamboo tree with colorful strip of paper with one wish written on each paper.

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Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or woodcuts) and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history.
The art form rose to great popularity in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the second half of the 17th century.
Ukiyo-e were affordable because they could be mass-produced.
They were mainly meant for townsmen, who were generally not wealthy enough to afford an original painting.
The original subject of ukiyo-e was city life, in particular activities and scenes from the entertainment district.
Beautiful courtesans, bulky sumo wrestlers and popular actors would be portrayed while engaged in appealing activities.
Later on landscapes also became popular.

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Yakuza
Yakuza, are members of traditional organized crime groups in Japan, and also known as "violence groups".
Today, the Yakuza are among the largest crime organizations in the world.
In Japan, as of 2005, there are some 86,300 known members.

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Zen
Zen (Japanese buddism) The schools of Zen that currently exist in Japan are the Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku.
Of these, Soto is the largest and Obaku the smallest.
In the year 1410 a Zen Buddhist monk from Nanzen-ji, a large temple complex in the Japanese capital of Kyoto, wrote out a landscape poem and had a painting done of the scene described by the poem.

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