Because it is a widely held belief outside of Japan I'll probably get in trouble for saying it, but no. That has not been my experience. Fujiyama is the tallest and most sacred location in Japan and is recognized as "The" countries symbol. It is by far the most depicted landscape in all of Japan. Back in the day, it was believed that the great Kami's/God's of Japan resided at the top of Fujiyama, and until the latter 1800's, foreigners were not allowed to set so much as one toe on the mountain. While Fujiyama depictions may be more prevalent in goods produced for foreign customers, it in no way excludes an item intended for a domestic market. Of course, if an item depicts Fujiyama, a Crane, and a fuku/seiko/shiawase kanji, that would be kind of like putting Mt. Rushmore, The Statue of Liberty, and an American Bald Eagle on a plate. That would seem to indicate that it was intended for tourist/foreign markets. KWIM? In the case of this bowl, it is more typical of what you might see in a Japanese home... the depiction of Fujiyama simply lending that the hall/location pictured is religiously sacred. However, it really isn't very common to see "titles" of a depiction on the underside of items intended for domestic sale. So, while the depiction itself may be more "authentic", titling it on the underside would seem to indicate an intended outside market. I'm no expert, but the opinion is free :-)

Whew, I'm glad there doesn't appear to be any serious damage from yesterday's quake. Being a CA native, I've experienced hundreds of quakes but the largest was the 1971 Sylmar jolt. Right after it happened, the USGS said it was 6.8 but it was later revised down to 6.6. Still, it was fierce! I was 20 years old, newly married, & living on the second floor of an older apartment building in Tustin near the Santa Ana line. My memories are that the quake hit at 6:05 a.m.; but Wiki says it was 6:00:55 a.m. I was standing at the bathroom sink brushing my teeth getting ready to head off to work. My husband was at the other end of the apartment. At first, neither of us much reacted but as the quake built in intensity he yelled at me to get out of the building. By that time, everything in the apartment was toppled over, the kitchen looked like a war zone, & our bed had flung itself through the sliding glass doors leading to our miniscule balcony. We ran outside barefoot & still in our nightclothes. The shaking lasted one full minute...a very long time. We got outside & there were lots of other people all of us scared. A hole opened up in the road about 3' long & a few inches wide lifting the pavement. Stucco was flying off the apartment building into the street. We decided we were better off back inside. It all happened so quickly it's like a blur in my memories. Anyway, all TV & radio stations were knocked off the air so there was no communication in the first few minutes. Within 30 minutes the stations were back on the air with emergency power. Still though, nobody knew where the epicenter was or how bad the quake had been. Shortly after the quake there was an aftershock that was almost as large as the initial quake but it didn't last as long. Communications just weren't as good in '71 as they are now. I called my Dad at his office knowing he would have been on the road at the time of the quake. Mom had been killed 5 months earlier & Dad was still reeling from that so I knew the quake would have really jarred him. He'd been on the 605 freeway at the Cerritos exit when the quake hit. It moved his car to the right 3 lanes of traffic. Dad said he thought he'd had a heart attack. It took him a couple minutes to realize what had happened. Back then, the 605 was not heavily traveled & there weren't a lot of other cars around so no accidents. Both my husband & I went to work as normal because we didn't know what else to do? I was working for Allergan Pharmaceuticals & our offices were still in the old facility in Tustin. The Irvine tower was nearing completion & we were scheduled to move into the new facility within a month. I got to work & couldn't get inside...too much damage to the building. We all just hung around outside talking for hours. Most of us had sustained damage at home & didn't want to return there & it felt safer in a group. We still didn't know how bad it had been. There just wasn't the news helicopters & stuff then as now. By mid-morning, we knew it was bad. The VA hospital collapsed & lots of freeway overpasses were down. I remember the worry that the dam was going to break & flood thousands. I eventually went back home but by then the fire department was at our building & wouldn't let anybody inside. So, I went to where my husband worked. They were all gathered outside in the parking lot. He worked for Varian (an electronic company) & there were tons of overhead wires in the building that had come down so they couldn't get inside their facility either. We just hung out there in the parking lot for a couple hours huddled around our car radios. Dad's house had some damage but it was superficial so we went to his place to stay the night. Dad's secretary lived in Huntington Beach. Her place was damaged to the point she was afraid to stay overnight in the house (she was a widow) so she was also at Dad's. We had to find a new apartment. Ours was too damaged to live in for months. We were so lucky though. Had that quake hit an hour later the roads would have been packed with commuters on their way to work. The death toll would have been much greater. The movie 'Earthquake' came out about a year later (not sure of exactly when?). It was about the quake. We went to see it at the Pantages Theater. They had placed vibrators under all of the seats & at the moment the quake hit in the movie they turned on the vibrators! Everybody in the theater screamed!! It was just like going through the quake again...I've not liked disaster movies since. Once you've been through a big quake like this one or that horrible Loma Prieta quake you just never forget it. And your senses get very fine tuned. Years later, I was living in southern NH. I woke up early in the morning & shook my now DH awake saying, "Wake UP! We've just had an earthquake!" He told me I was dreaming...go back to sleep. Well, the next morning, sure enough...we heard on the morning news there'd been a quake at the Canadian border. DH has never experienced a quake so I guess that's why he didn't sense it like I did? Everything is so much better today. Better building codes, communications, news availability, emergency services, etc. If you drive from LA & head over the Grapevine you can still see the fault breaks from the '71 quake. I was last over the Grapevine Jan. '06 & pointed them out to DH. I am very glad everybody's OK & that damage is minimal. /tricia

It is all so very tragic and heart wrenching - does remind you how powerless we are as humans against some of what mother nature doles out. I too have been very struck by the way the Japanese people have responded to this adversity in comparison to the American victims of Katrina based on the story the media presented on both. Something I saw on TV showed a petite, older couple in their 70's back at their home cleaning the floor on their hands and knees with a rag. My vision of Katrina was of people walking around complaining about their plight and the fact the government hadn't come to their rescue. I also saw images of the sleeping area in a shelter for homeless Japanese that was completely tidy and orderly. Katrina - shelter looked like a garbage dump. Certainly some very significant differences in culture if what the media depicts is accurate. I visited Japan a while back. Before I left I was reading about how little crime they have and how you wouldn't get your purse stolen even if you left it unattended. Well, I didn't mean to but I did leave my purse sitting by a chair in the hotel lobby and walked away. A while later I panicked of course that I didn't have my purse. I knew right where I'd left it - went back - still sitting there untouched. I loved Japan and the people I met there - so sad that the Japanese people are suffering now.

Provocative. I get the eating fish thing. Used to wonder if I had it wrong.