Tag: Japan

The anime industry has certainly gone through changes over the years. You could break it down into different eras, perhaps ...

I took a couple of days off this week to travel with an Italian friend of mine to Hakone, a ...

One of the more welcome developments in the anime world has been the return of Sailor Moon merchandise after an ...

There are some things you say when you live in Japan that you'd certainly never utter back home. For example, ...

Maid cafes have become one of the more famous images of modern Japan, and when foreigners visit Akihabara they'll often ...

"The distance from Earth to space is the same as from Tokyo to Hakone, about 50 miles/80 km." This was ...

In Japan there are certain jobs that best performed by gaijin, a word that means foreigner, though in practice it ...

The Japanese are masters when it comes to committing information to memory, like the man who memorized pi to 100,000 ...

I caught an interesting show on Japanese TV the other day called 子供に聞かせたい Kodomo ni Kikasetai! or "I Want to ...

One important concept in Japan is 和洋折衷 wayoh-setchu, which means "a blending of Japanese and Western" and which describes the ...

I've written before about the way Japan-related fandom can be a place where dreams come true. Many of Japan's professional ...

Although Japan has no historical connection to the American (actually Scottish) tradition of Halloween, there's been more and more attention ...

When you study a foreign language, it's natural to want to learn the "naughty" words first, but there's just one ...

Over the weekend I went to my son's high school to attend his last 文化祭 bunka-sai or culture festival, since ...

There are some rather unique professions in Japan, from the waitresses who work at cat girl maid cafes to people ...

There are many sides to Japanese pop culture, including anime, manga, moe-kei games, and cosplay. Another category with a long ...

What color is the sun? You might answer that it's yellow, or orange, or white. However, when asked this question ...

As with other countries, fashions are constantly in motion in Japan, heading off in new directions then doubling back every ...

Everyone is familiar with Japanese sake (酒, pronounced SAH-kay, never "saki"), the distilled rice wine known as "spring water" to ...

Quick, what color are your eyes? You may have answered blue or hazel or brown, but if you were Japanese, ...

In 1989 Japan enacted its first consumption tax (e.g. VAT or sales tax), forcing a 3% tax on purchases on ...

Fall is here in Japan, without a doubt my favorite time of the year since the weather is mild and ...

When you're married to a Japanese woman you should be prepared to hear some surprising observations every once in a ...

Living in a foreign country changes you, a fact I learned when, after just a year living in New Zealand ...