A Guide to Japanese Culture
-- for Role Playing Games

This page introduce you various information about Japanese Culture. I hope these information enrich your role playing gaming.


Very Sorry

I was too busy to update the site for these nine years. Though I still cannot promise to resume updates, I'll try maintain this site.

Mirror Site Opened

Because kanawa.com doesn't have wide bandwidth, I set up a fast mirror site.

What's New on the page

Last updated on 95/3/7

Articles prepared primarily for RPGs

Japanese Language Guide for TORG --- GIF images of Japanese kanji characters associated with audio pronunciations. Though it is oriented to TORG , more generic Japanese words are also included. Drawn by nishio@io.com

Yakuza: Past and Present --- An excellent introduction for Yakuza culture written by Adam Johnson, formerly located on www.cas.usf.edu

Yakuza Q&A --- Another introductory text for Japanese yakuza. Though not with so high quality as Adam's, it contains a little other information. Written by nishio@io.com

Japanese Legendary Lives --- A bestiary for legendary race/animal/critters in Japan, with some stats for Shadowrun , and several graphic images drawn by a Japanese illustrator. Written by nishio@io.com

Major Events in Japanese History --- Learn about History of Japan, from 6th to 18th century.

Legendary/Historical Figures in Japan --- Famous figures in Japanese legends and history, with some suggestion for TORG and Shadowrun . Written by nishio@io.com

Names for Japanese --- Name your character a realistic Japanese name.

Japanese Religions --- Short descriptions for several religions in Japan.

Japanese Fairy Tales --- Outlines of several old fairy tales / folk tales in Japan.

Japanese Superstitions --- Several superstitions Japanese have believed in.

Japanese Ancient/Traditional Arts --- Descriptions for several Japanese archeological and historical arts/artifacts.

Japanese Traditional Weapons --- The weapons used by samurai and ninja.

Shadowrun JIS Project --- Some people in Japan are now discussing about Japan Imperial State in 2056, for Shadowrun.

Links to Generic Information for Japan

NTT Japan Page --- A starting point to explore WWW pages in Japan, maintained by Nippon Telephone and Telegram corporation, located on www.ntt.jp

PEC Japan Resource Home Page --- A page for everyone in the world who is interested in sources of everything Japanese located outside Japan. Maintained by Manabu Tokunaga (pec@netcom.com).

The Anti-Japanophile Japan Page --- Visit the page dedicated for Japanophile , to see various information about Japan. Maintained by stevenso@sas.upenn.edu .

Japan Edge --- Japanese Edge Culture Archive, introducing actual Japanese street/underground culture information, maintained by Japan Edge group, located on www.ces.kyutech.ac.jp

Tokyo at a Glance --- A guide to Tokyo, the capital and the largest city in Japan, with plenty of images. Maintained by NTT Lerning Systems and Tokyo Metropolitan Culture Foundation .

Joseph M. Repka's Welcome to Tokyo --- A great page dedicated for information about Tokyo and Japan and the must see. Maintained by Joseph M. Repka Rekishi Kaido (A Bridge to Japanese History and Culture) --- A guide for historical sites and traditional culture in Kansai region. Maintained by Kansai Institute of Information Systems.

Japan Tourist Guide for Kyoto and Nara , including maps, annual events, and so on. Maintained by Japan Window project and Japan National Tourist Organization.

soc.culture.japan FAQ --- A FAQ list for soc.culture.japan newsgroup, located on www.cis.ohio-state.edu.

Kabuki for Everyone --- A visual guide for Kabuki, a traditional play in Japan. Maintained by Matthew Jonson, matthew@gemini.bekkoame.or.jp

Shodouka Homepage --- You want to see Japanese WWW pages though you don't have kanji fonts on your machine? Try Shodouka, a World-Wide Web mediator that renders the kana and kanji on Japanese WWW documents in real-time for any graphical browser.

Japanese-English Dictonary Gateway --- A dictionary server for the Japanese language at www.cs.cmu.edu , maintained by jfriedl@omron.co.jp


If you know other Japanese-culture-related WWW pages, let me know, please. I'll contain thier URLs on this page.

If you have any idea about what you'd like to see on this page, drop a mail on me. Though I cannot promise to realize your request surely, I'll try.

Feel free to drop your comment to nishio@io.com


updated on 2004/3/22
maintained by 4989@kanawa.com, and a few contributors