What Is Japan’s Golden Week Holiday?
Golden Week in Japan is a holiday from late April to early May with four national holidays. Discover its origins, key dates, and top travel tips to enjoy it.
New Year Shrine Visits in Japan: A Tour of First Prayers for Good Luck
New Year is just around the corner! Ready to welcome it in an ultra-cool way? Join me on a journey to experience Japan’s Hatsumode (初詣), or the first shrine visit…
Japanese Summer Tradition: Cooling Off with Ghost Stories and Courage Test
As scorching summer engulfs Japan, how are you keeping cool? Are you comfortably lounging in an air-conditioned room or finding solace with just a fan? Long before electric fans and…
What is the Japanese Word Toshi Onna and Toshi Otoko?
I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Japanese saying “Toshi otoko/Toshi onna(year man/year woman)”. Toshi otoko/Toshi onna refer to people who were born in the same year as the…
the Japanese Word “Oomisoka”. What Do People Do with the End of the Year in Japan?
If you’ve been following the news from Japan, you should have seen the term “大晦日(Oomisoka)” a lot lately. What exactly does it mean? Is it a holiday? Is it also…
Japanese New Year: the Traditional Japanese Culture in Nenmatsu Nenshi
The year is coming to an end, and as December begins, the Japanese are bustling with activity. One of the most frequently used terms during this time is “年末年始” (Nenmatsu…
Be Careful to Say Happy New Year in Japan?!
The year 2021 is coming to an end and Japan has recently been filled with the atmosphere of the end of the year. What will you say to your friends…
Ten Things to Be Aware of in Japanese Life
Whether you are new to Japan this year or planning a trip to Japan in the future, knowing the “things not to do in Japan”, also known as taboos, will…
Beautiful aliases of Japanese months
Japan is a country that loves “beauty”. For the ordinary red, yellow and blue, they have such names as “akane”, “yamabuki” and “ruri”, and for rain, they have such names…
Japanese Vacation System: The Substitute Holidays
If you have read the article “National Holidays in Japan” which we updated, you should have noticed that there are always one or two “Substitute Holiday” in the list of…
A Shrine For Breakups? Cutting Ties at an Engiri Jinja in Japan
There are times in life when past relationships weigh us down. For whatever reason, we just can’t seem to move forward and grow away from the people we need to.…
What is the green leaf you often see in Japanese sushi and bento?
If you have paid attention to Japanese food, you may find a very interesting thing: in sushi and Japanese bento (such as ekiben, the station bento, that you can often…
Japanese Morning Dramas, An Introduction to the Asadora
Different countries have deliciously different approaches to television. When you hear the word, ‘sitcom’ you might think of 90s television from the US, with quintessential shows like Friends and Seinfeld…
Do People Smoke in Japan?
In the past 30 years, the culture around tobacco has changed in big ways. Now that many countries recognize that second hand smoke has its own slew of health risks,…
Resident Evil 2 Cafe Collaboration in Akihabara through February 2019
The wildly popular game, Resident Evil 2 is coming alive in cafe form! Capcom has done these collaborations before, but this time, to commemorate its sale release, the game (known…
The Secret Behind The Cherry Blossom: Blooms and Berries
In the fall every year, the sakura tree forms its little green buds, which recede into brown in the winter before emerging again in their full pink glory in the…
2019: The Year of the Pig in Japan
It’s 2019! Happy New Year! First, we’d like to say thank you to all our followers who have read our articles throughout 2018, and second, we’d like to say welcome…