Impressions of daily life in Japan
Today is Obon, an important Japanese holiday. Traditionally it is a day for honouring the spirits of one's ancestors. But since the Japanese never pass up an opportunity to have a party, it is also an excellent reason to organise a festival and get together with friends and family. Apart from delicious festival food and... Continue Reading →
The best place for people watching in Nagoya might be The Golden Clock in Nagoya station. It is a favoured meeting place and around every full hour (e.g. 18:00h) the area is positively teeming with people. It is remarkable how much calmer it gets at around the ten minute mark (e.g. 18:10h), when all the... Continue Reading →
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 →
Summer in Japan is in full swing and that means at least two months of extreme heat and humidity. Before moving to Japan I had been warned about the hot and humid Japanese summers. But somehow I wasn't able to fully grasp the meaning of those words until after actually having lived through the experience... Continue Reading →
Today, July 8th, is the start of the Sumo Grand Tournament in Nagoya. There are six tournaments throughout the year, three of which take place in Tokyo. But come July, everyone in the sumo world travels to Nagoya for the July basho. The wrestlers arrive in Nagoya about two weeks prior to the start of... Continue Reading →
Belgium is not a famous country. Whenever I travel abroad and people ask me where I am from, I am usually given a puzzled stare when I answer 'Belgium'. I usually try to clarify, saying 'Europe'. That usually rings a bell: 'Ah Europe! That's where France is, right?'. Right. But not so in Japan. In... Continue Reading →
The Japans 