Discover the Wonders of Japan
Embark on an unforgettable journey through Japan's culture.
Discover the Wonders of Japan
Embark on an unforgettable journey through Japan's culture.
Discover Jump to Japan
Explore Japanese Culture
Dive into the rich traditions and vibrant culture of Japan. From mythical creatures to traditional arts, learn how these practises shape the Japanese way of life.
Explore Japanese Culture
Many of the unusual topics are unfamiliar even to native Japanese people. Friends have told me they learned new things about their own culture from these stories!
Tanuki the Trickster
You see a tanuki figurine just about any time you stroll through a Japanese neighborhood, and he shows up in America frequently, too. Who is this little critter and why is he so popular?
Tanuki is a real-life creature, a raccoon-faced canine native to Eastern Asia. He weighs about fifteen pounds and has been hunted for his meat and prized brushes are made from his fur. He is often mistaken for a badger.
However, it is the ceramic tanuki we are most familiar with. Thousands of them are still made in Shigaraki, a pottery town in the hills outside Kyoto. These tanukis come in many sizes and find their way to the gardens of inns, temples and homes, and are fixtures in many businesses. Tanuki is his true self standing in the doorway of a restaurant or snack bar.* Tanuki is the original party animal with his over-stuffed belly and ever-ready sake bottle.
It is tanuki’s supernatural qualities that make him beloved. He is mischievous and is able to take human form and play tricks on people. Tanuki’s tricks are usually good-natured and humorous. He often wraps himself in a lotus leaf and masquerades as a monk, but tanuki is a little o-cho-ko-choi (scatterbrained) and he might forget to hide his tail. In one folk tale he takes the shape of a tea kettle and performs circus tricks, making a fortune for his owner. Japanese grandmas warn children that if they go outside alone in the dark tanuki will play a trick on them. Even Ieyasu Tokugawa, the most famous shogun, could not escape the tanuki mystique: his nickname was Furu Tanuki (Old Tanuki).
Over the centuries many symbolic messages have been attributed to tanuki figurines: his big hat offers protection from accidents, his jolly face makes us cheerful, his big eyes seem alert and watchful, the ledger he carries is a reminder to repay debts when the shopkeeper extends credit, and his empty sake bottle cautions to not drink to excess. His big belly symbolizes the Japanese belief that decisions are made from the gut. However, his most distinguishing characteristic is his enormous kin bukuro, which translates as “money bags,” but is slang for scrotum. Reputedly, tanuki’s kin bukuro are the size of eight tatami mats. That translates as a lot of good luck!
The Japanese view tanuki’s remarkable scrotum with humor, a little surprising for most Americans.
*Snack bars are small bars serving alcohol, often to regular customers.
How to Buy Jump to Japan
Current retail establishments.
Annie Bloom Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway, Portland, OR
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR
Postcard Shop, inside CARGO, 81 SE Yamhill, Portland, OR
Portland Japanese Garden Gift Shop, 611 SW Kingston Avenue
Watch for more to be added.
Book signing events will be posted as they are scheduled.
August 2, 2025. Obonfest at Oregon Buddhist Temple, 3720 SE 34th Avenue, Portland
3:30: Lynn will give a short talk and be available to sell and sign books.
Invite Lynn to speak to your organization. She will bring books!
Contact Lynn Geis at jtojbook@gmail.com
Place an order. Books are $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping (USPS);
international postage will be $30-35
Pay with Venmo, or PayPal
Venmo: @Geisha24.
Jump to Japan Sticks the Landing
A Glowing Review by Writer, John Thomas
Even the most casual reader of The Yuuyake Shimbun has likely read at least one of Lynn
Geis’s columns. An experienced teacher and guide, Geis has also been writing for this
newsmagazine for many years, and I can’t remember an issue that didn’t have one of her
insightful and often funny cultural lessons.
She has now collected over 60 of the best columns into a new book entitled Jump to Japan.
This travel-sized tome is filled with answers to questions anyone from Nihon newbies to grizzled
veterans might have. This book has an even balance of traditional cultural folktales and myths,
like the opening chapters on Tanuki and Maneki Neko, as well as timely and timeless cultural
hurdles like kimono (or is it yukata?) and celebrating traditional holidays in the modern age.
But make no mistake, this isn’t a Japanese culture textbook. Geis has an inviting and engaging
way of sharing her rich knowledge of Japan through full colorful pictures and her colorful
personal experiences, which are compelling and often very funny. People considering a trip or
long stay in Japan can avoid some of the mishaps Geis fell into, and those who have more
experience in Japan will appreciate the honest confessions of situations we have also probably
had ourselves.
For example, the chapter entitled “Slip Ups in Slippers– and More” is a collection of blush-
inducing stories that reminded me of some of my “greatest hits” in Japan. Geis’s stories of
slipper faux pas reminded me of attending the better part of my first school event as a new
teacher in bathroom slippers. Decades later I still feel a hot flash of embarrassment thinking
about it, but it’s reassuring that I’m not the only one to make the bathroom slipper error. And
Lynn has some doozies!
Although I enjoy the nostalgic stories, I got the most from Jump to Japan with some of the more
“boss-level” chapters on everyday items with rich histories. I had always seen tenugui cloths as
artwork appropriate for hanging or for a great tool for wrapping food on a picnic, but in “Ways to
Wear a Wrag” we learn the dozens of ways a tenugui can transform into a hachimaki and be
worn on the head by both men and women. These can be both useful and fashionable.
Living in Osaka, I knew about Ebisu, the god of fishermen and merchants, but the richer stories
of the other Seven Gods of Good Fortune were news to me. The Japanese are great adopters
of ideas from other countries and making them their own. From Buddhism to Valentine’s Day,
Geis has perceptive insights on Japan’s choices in “nipponifying” certain holidays like
Halloween… but why not Easter?
As a man of a certain age, Nintendo video games have been around a majority of my life, but I
had no idea of Nintendo’s history that started in the 1800s. Naturally they weren’t making video
games back then. What were they making? It was a different kind of entertainment that requires
hand-eye coordination: Hana Fuda card games! Geis is able to weave this history into a
personal story about touring Nintendo’s hometown of Kyoto.
Even those with a cursory interest in Japan will find something fascinating in Jump to Japan. Its
compact size and bite-size chapters make it a great companion on your next trip to Japan. It fits
in the side pocket of a backpack and can educate and entertain while on the train, in the
capsule hotel, or even in the ofuro! Jump to Japan is available now.
