Tohoku was pinned on the global map by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and now one festival celebrates their rebuilding, bringing together the traditions...
July 25th is kakigori day! It’s a summer treat dating to the Heian period,made by spinning a block of ice over a blade for a light,...
The contents are not just candy bars and summer drinks. But by far the strangest assortment of vending machines has to be the bizarre cluster on...
These colorful koinobori are a celebration of children and a tradition-filled, cheerful sign of the changing seasons. This year, enjoy the celebrations safely!
One surprise was sakura jelly, consisting of pale pink jelly with a whole, open sakura flower inside. It caught my eye for being one of the...
Japanese companies jump on the sakura theme every spring, introducing every imaginable product in seasonable limited editions. One of the strangest has to be the Fresh...
This picturesque coastal town of Manazuru that has been called the Amalfi of Japan, sits on Sagami Bay, a fisherman’s paradise filled with huge biodiversity among...
Setsubun was originally observed in individual homes to invite in good luck for the coming year. This year Tokyo is under a state of emergency, but...
Some temples and shrines in Tokyo now offer multi-lingual fortune-telling paper strips that have something to say about work, studies, travel, love, and even health or...
One thing that has consistently captivated and delighted me during my tenure here in Japan are the changing seasons. For the first time in my...
We have been coping with the COVID-19 pandemic for over six months now, six of the longest months of any of our lives. And...
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of unemployment, particularly among non-permanent workers, has seen a sharp increase. I know this all...
