Tag: gaijin

Japan is a wonderful country, full of friendly people and vibrant culture that seems tailor-made to appeal to gaijin like ...

Before I started J-List in 1996, I had a brief career as a public employee, working in the local City ...

When foreigners visit Japan, they naturally focus on areas of the country that stand out to them as unique, like ...

The word for "foreigner" in Japanese is 外人 gaijin, which actually meals "outside-person" (e.g. outsider), but since this word can ...

Here in Japan it's beginning to look at lot like Christmas, or as it's known locally, Kurisumasu. In addition to ...

One thing that surprised me about the Japanese was how superstitious many people here are, and there are many beliefs ...

Last time I gave a simple overview of Japan's political scene as the country prepares for a general election on ...

Names are important things no matter what country you're in, though in Japan they work a little differently than what ...

Over the weekend I went down to Tokyo to take a tour of the university my son plans on attending, ...

One famous aspect of the Japanese language is its vagueness and subtlety of meaning. For example, passive speech is used ...

The third Evangelion movie is coming in a week, so my son and I re-watched the second film to get ...

I've learned some things about the Japanese people during my time here, which I thought I'd share with you. First, ...

I write often about how the Japanese love it when foreigners take an interest in their culture, and nothing is ...

Kokusai kekkon, or international marriage, is a popular way for Japanese to find a partner who can provide something that ...

One interesting aspect of Japan is that they're the only country in the world that cares what foreigners think about ...

Happy Halloween from Japan! October 31st is a fun day to wear scary costumes and chase ghosts and spirits from ...

Every language has dialects, and Japanese is no different. I've heard that since Japanese people are more likely to stay ...

I like to look at ways we can understand Japan through its language. Here in Japan, there's often "one" correct ...

Do you like karaoke? If so then we have good news: today has been designated as Karaoke Culture Day by ...

The Japanese love to take standardized tests, and many people use them as a tool to better themselves over the ...

Foreigners are fascinated by kanji characters because they're so different from anything we use -- the idea of capturing complex ...

I saw that the U.S. had taken action to freeze the assets of a major yakuza group in the U.S., ...

Japan is a great place, really, with clean streets that are always safe to walk down at night, an excellent ...

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