Interesting Things I Learned Last Week

I'll try and post some interesting nuggets gleaned from my renewed education each week. This is the first post of such nuggets.

• Ironic: The American whaling industry is partly responsible for encouraging America to engage in trade with Japan--having drained the Atlantic of whales, Americans wanted access to Pacific oceans and the oil within them. Now, American whale protectors lambast Japan for its whaling practices and even ram their boats into whaling vessels.
  
  
• In German, they call Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally and other such mnemonic devices Eselsbrücke or a "donkey-bridge." Such a more colorful expression than "mnemonic device."
  
  
• Japanese Noh theatre is 600 years old. It is called by some "the art of walking." I understand this completely: the way the actors walk is slow, methodical, and really beautiful. I wish this picture of mine did it justice:
  

• As for Kabuki, the guy with red makeup is the hero, the guy with indigo makeup the villain. Color-coded.
  
  
• I found out it's easy to rent Japanese VHS tapes from Daruma Market in Bethesda, but you need to pay $10 to get a member's card. I feel like I'm betraying Hinata, though...

I guess I'll need to keep a list of interesting things I learn, so as not to overwhelm my poor readers with Japanese trivia.