Tag: gaijin

When is a graveyard likely to be filled with tourists snapping pictures? When it's a gaijin bochi, or "foreigners' graveyard," ...

I wrote recently about how Japanese ESL students were sometimes surprised that Americans have a subject in school called English, ...

I like living in Japan, really I do, but there are some frustrations a poor gaijin must endure. Things you ...

I mentioned last time that Japan has very few lawyers. It's true -- there's just one lawyer for every 7325 ...

Whenever I'm in the U.S., I find myself doing things in a slightly more Japanese way, just as I'm not ...

There have been a lot of changes in Japanese society since we started J-List in 1996. First, the old concept ...

Ask any gaijin living in Japan about dentists, and you'll be sure to get an earful. While Japanese dentists are ...

Sometimes I think that no one is happier with the changes that have been brought on by the arrival of ...

Last time I talked about how there are times when gaijin in Japan might find that some doors open for ...

Between studying Japanese for four years at SDSU and living here for 17, I've pretty much got the Japanese language ...

As an American living in Japan, I know how surprised Japanese can get when foreigners internalize the society around them ...

Japan is a great country, with a lot to offer both short-term visitors and tourists as well as people like ...

One of the first things you learn as a foreigner in Japan is that people here will assume you're intimately ...

If you've ever visited Japan, you've probably answered the call of nature at some point, and seen the famous TOTO ...

I write often about how harmonious Japan appears to foreigners living here. Seen from our special position as outsiders (which ...

"Even monkeys fall from trees." This is one of the many bits of wisdom you can glean by studying Japanese ...

Last time I mentioned that the word "taco" (tako) happens to mean something very different in Japan: octopus. The Japanese ...

Last time I talked about what makes the Japanese the way they are, putting forth the theory that the strict ...

The question of "What makes the Japanese the way they are?" is an interesting one, and I'm certainly not the ...

I took the kids out for ramen last night, and while we were waiting for our gyoza dumplings to be ...

When Japanese think of foreigners, they think of overly tall, blonde Americans or Europeans with huge feet, trying to find ...

Starbucks Japan has a new product for the coming summer season: the Coffee Jelly Frapachino, which is a coffee frap ...

Quick, what's the square root of five? I have no idea, but my wife knows: it's 2.2360679. How about the ...

One of the surprising things about living in a country like Japan is, is how you can get used to ...