Impressions of daily life in Japan
There are few Japanese animals as fabled and feared among expats in Japan as the poisonous Japanese centipede (called mukade in Japanese). Proof of this widespread fascination is the number of people who find their way to this blog on a daily basis, looking for mukade information. Having been a Japan geek long before moving... Continue Reading →
Last year around Christmas time, the pictures of an Osaka department store advertising a 'fuckin' sale' went across the globe. I recently came across another funny sales advertisement in Tokyo, although this one had a more positive message: the hopeful sale (or rather, bargain). The Japanese have a habit of combining English adjectives and nouns... Continue Reading →
One of my favourite restaurants in Toyota City is a tavern (or in Japanese, an izakaya) called Tsubasaya. They have a blog where they post pictures of their guests. In the first two months of our stay in Japan, I had managed to end up on their blog twice. The first time was at the... Continue Reading →
One of my favourite things to do in Japan is playing dress up in kimono. And it's not only for women. Men can also look very dashing in a traditional kimono coat and 'hakama' (formal pants). Quite a change from the guys in yukata that you could see in a previous blog post, don't you... Continue Reading →
Whenever I run into a fellow gaijin my attention is drawn towards them. They (we) just stand out so much among the mass of dark-haired, small Japanese people. But this guy on the train stood out more than usual. I name him 'The Sailor Man', as he seems more at home in a sail boat... Continue Reading →
People living abroad often experience 'culture shock'. I find it hard to describe culture shock in just a few words, but simply put it refers to the process we all go through when coming into contact with a culture different from our own (see below for scientific definitions of culture shock). One of the most... Continue Reading →
The Japans 