The Yakuza and the Way of the Would-Be Warrior
Ian Buruma on “Yakuza: A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld,” by Andrew Rankin.
culture
Why Halloween’s ‘Poison Candy’ Myth Endures
Even though we know better.
whatmart
Original designs, defunct pop culture, cult, subculture, counterculture, and forgotten marginalia. Reproductions, redesigns, memes, and memories. These are a few of your favorite things. Mostly tshirts. Doormats, mugs, fanny packs, and candles. Designs you won't find anywhere…
The Story of Storytelling, by Ferris Jabr
What the hidden relationships of ancient folktales reveal about their evolution—and our own
The Ass Camouflage Construction
What an African American English expression teaches us about the world’s languages
America’s Greatest Hot Dog
The price and quality of the $1.50 Costco frank haven’t budged in 40 years. It’s the last—and best—deal in the country.
A new cookbook pays tribute to two New Orleans staples — 'Rhythm & Roux'
At Bayou Bar, music and food go hand in hand. Which is why a new cookbook from chef Brian Landry and bandleader Peter Harris has recipes from the menu and stories from the musicians who play there.
My Descent Into Mah-Jongg
The game seems to be everywhere, all at once.
The American Religion of Self-Storage Facilities
David Owen on our obsession with putting our belongings in metal boxes and then never looking at them again.
Where do writing systems come from?
Writing was invented three different times in world history—in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica. But not all writing systems derive from those three original scripts. How can this be?
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/japan-sewer-day-manhole-cover-sale/
A College Caught in the Middle of America’s Football Obsession
Jesse Dougherty on the football culture at Oberlin College and how it reflects the sport’s fanfare in America.
Why We Like Things
What Silicon Valley gets wrong about taste.
But it was also, as I began to realize in my professional life, something that made people like, trust, and value you more.
shifting the focus of knowledge work from production to selection and curation.
App Life in China
“It’s really tough doing anything in China right now,” my friend told me. He’s a serial entrepreneur in Shanghai with a locked-in grin. We were waiting for our food in a Taiwanese restaurant in a lovingly-renovated toy factory in Shanghai. China was my home for 20 years, before…
The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn
Our love for telling tales reveals the workings of the mind
How to survive in a Louisiana swamp - UnHerd
Read 20,000+ Golden Age Comic Books Free Online: Superheroes, Westerns, Romance, Horror, and More
For generations of kids in the twentieth century, few pleasures were as intoxicating as a trip to the comic-book shop with the week's allowance fresh in hand.
The Lost Civic Life of Movie Rental Stores
Decades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of taste-making.
You and Me and QVC - Longreads
How a home shopping channel became the soundtrack to a friendship.
QVC’s innovation, as well as its biggest challenge, was to make its advertisements seem less like corporate directives and more like recommendations from friends or peers.
Today’s Instagram influencers talk about how and when they use certain products in the same relatable way
How the Beach Vacation Became a Country-Music Trope
Kelefa Sanneh on the song “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, which was a diversion from a genre that extolls the virtue of staying close to your home town.
Why is tiny Norway so good at sports? It’s more than Erling Haaland.
The success of Norway’s athletes might be rooted in the way its youth learn sports – by first focusing on the process, rather than on wins and losses.
Japanese symbols that speak without words
I look at the Japanese symbols that carry meaning entirely on their own.
Submitting to the Beast
Author and essayist Todd Kliman takes his thirteen-year-old son on a culinary field trip to New Orleans.
How funerals keep Africa poor
Why the poorest people in the world spend fortunes burying their dead
Gate-Keeping is Back, But Different
Consumers are closing ranks to stop the internet ruining everything.
Gen Z Is Ignoring Phone Calls, and Their Reason for Doing So Is Actually Pretty Valid
The phone call used to mean someone needed you. Now it usually means spam, scams, or somebody demanding your attention without warning.
How the Classic American Game of Twister Went From Risqué to Record-Breaking
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Sixty years ago, Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor played Twister on the “Tonight Show,” and the public took it as permission to buy the controversial game
Language Birth
Since 1960, the world has lost hundreds of languages — and gained thousands.
Toki Pona has only 120 words. None of them change form, in any way, in any context. The grammar is nearly the bare minimum — specified word order, and a few particles to denote a predicate, a direct object, subordination, negation. Interpreting any utterance takes a lot of context clues, or a lot…
Alan Lomax's Massive Music Archive Is Online: Features 20,000 Historic Blues & Folk Recordings
A huge treasure trove of songs and interviews recorded by the legendary folklorist Alan Lomax from the 1940s into the 1990s has been digitized and made available online for free listening.
The Hidden Bias in Language That Turned Left-Handedness Into a Bad Thing
While the days of forcing left-handed children to use their right hands are mostly over, the bias against lefties continues in most languages around the world.
How to build team spirit | Psyche Guides
The glue, or spirit, that binds certain teams is not mystical – you can cultivate it by changing how you work together
Table for One: Why McDonald’s Solo Seats Are Viral in China
The design taps into a growing demand for low-pressure public spaces, as digital life reshapes how people interact.
The Birth of Espresso: The Story Behind the Coffee Shots That Fuel Modern Life
Espresso is neither bean nor roast. It is a method of pressurized coffee brewing that ensures speedy delivery, and it has birthed a whole culture.
The 5 Most Significant Non-Abrahamic World Religions and Philosophies | TheCollector
Read on and discover five non-Abrahamic World Religions to better understand yourself and the world you live in.
Why Frozen Food Gets an Icy Reception in China
Chinese diets are dictated by a culture of eating ingredients just hours after slaughtering or harvesting.
The Psychological Value of Repentance
Every major world religion has a process for moral accounting. That’s something we rarely talk about in secular society.
Why 'hearing voices' is welcomed in these cultures
Western medicine views hearing disembodied voices as a symptom of psychosis. But that's not the case everywhere.
The Sealy Barbecue Joint That Inspired Robert Earl Keen's “Barbeque” Song
We tracked down the family of the now-closed Texas restaurant.
Celebrating 50 years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
“It’s had a profound impact on our culture, especially on people who’ve felt different and marginalized.”…
My Favorite Restaurant Served Gas — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
With the arrival of Thank You Please Come Again, our new book by Kate Medley, we present its opening essay.
How 'Am I The Asshole' Became Everyone's Favorite Subreddit
'Am I the Asshole?' on Reddit has amassed more than 11.4 million subscribers. Here's the history of the subreddit that everyone loves to read.
A User’s Guide to Building a Subculture—Asterisk
First, you’re going to need something to care about.
Movie stars, matchmakers, and aunties: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable cultural force
The world’s most popular messaging platform is synonymous with the internet for millions of people.
Nabeel S. Qureshi
Personal writing and other things by Nabeel Qureshi.
How to Cultivate Taste in the Age of Algorithms
When we turn to algorithms for recommendations instead of asking friends or going down hard-won cultural rabbit holes, what do we give up?
Build Your Culture Like a Product — Lessons from Asana’s Head of People
Anna Binder, Asana's Head of People and the company's first HR hire, shares her step-by-step approach to intentionally building the company culture.
How Art Creates Us
Consuming culture gives us the emotional knowledge that can make us better people.
The Culture Map: How to Navigate Foreign Cultures in Business
A Japanese Island Where the Wild Things Are
In the pantheon of yokai, spooky beings of Japanese folklore embody anxieties ancient and modern. On Shodoshima, an art contest helps bring new ones to life.
How Cookie Jars Capture American Kitsch
The cookie jar continues to be a vessel for cheeky self expression, if not for cookies themselves.