Month: December 2009

The current outbreak of the "new type influenza virus" (as H1N1 is callled in the Japanese media) is having a ...

Christmas is upon us, and for a gaijin living in Japan that means one thing: being asked to dress up ...

This has really been an awesome year to be an anime fan in Japan. In addition to the usual stream ...

Coming to live in Japan means getting used to new things, like navigating streets with large uncovered ditches beside them ...

I caught a TV show the other day that dealt with the issue of Japan's falling population, focusing not on ...

On Sunday it was time for our family's Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, I know, whoever heard of an American having Thanksgiving ...

Over the weekend I made the 65 km journey to the nearest Costco, the membership warehouse chain from the U.S., ...

Although Japanese are now quite familiar with images of Christmas presents being delivered by "Santa-san" (as he's usually called) it ...

When you start to learn Japanese, the first thing you need to tackle is hiragana, the basic writing system that ...

The other day I met an American friend for drinks. Because his wife is from China, their kids grow up ...

One of the more interesting aspects of living in Japan is seeing famous faces from back home starring in local ...

One of the most famous phrases related to Japan is deru kui wa utararu (de-ru KOO-ee wa oo-TAH-reh-roo), which means ...

I've always thought my life would make a good basis for a 4-koma (4-panel) manga, perhaps called "Papa wa Gaikoujin" ...

There are many benefits of learning Japanese. You get to interact with some of the friendliest people in the world ...

We're declaring today to be Awesome Bento Day, when we bring you some of the most excellent bento boxes from ...