Sakamoto Ryoma Latté

I recently heard something interesting about Sakamoto Ryoma. One thing that is noticeable in the picture you always see of him, where he leaning against a sort of podium is that his hands are not visible. Apparently, he didn’t want to show his hands because, in the first attempt on his life, they had been badly cut when he used them to parry a sword blow. The injury was serious and he was unable to rip his sword or pistol–he felt that this was shameful for a samurai.

This may have been a factor in the second attempt, when he was actually assassinated, because he was unable to defend himself. personally though, I doubt that it would have made any difference because this time he had been caught completely by surprise.

I suppose it’s no stranger than us celebrating long-dead presidents’ and civil rights leaders’ birthdays.

While Japanese folks are often easily wowed by gimmicks and willing to overpay for them, I beg to differ that they wouldn’t know the difference.

The coffee otaku here get pretty nuts, case in point: http://ow.ly/1cWjv

But I’ll admit, the majority of the folks hitting that cafe right now could truly care less. They’ve come to see their local hero on top of a coffee.