Japanese Customs Blog Posts

I recently moved to a new apartment, my sixth since coming to Japan, and I couldn’t be happier. My first place left a wee bit to be desired, consisting of a dreary, small box with alternating views of a machine shop and a cinder-block wall. Wel...

  I’m probably the only person in the world who enjoys going to the dentist. But you know, between running for trains, dashing to the bathroom between English lessons, and constantly being pressured to sing Bowie at karaoke, it’s the...

A reader named Furansujin recently described his stay with a Japanese host family: “They showed complete hysteria when I told them I loved curry or could eat takoyaki . . . the only reason i can think of for so many grins, laughs, and exclamations...

or, How I Became a Japanese Mercenary Last Tuesday around midnight, I found myself in a little Japanese bar, although I had to work Wednesday morning. I have no self control, basically. A couple seats down was a Japanese salaryman, and since the plac...

You never know what the day will bring—that’s the exciting thing about waking up. So this morning, just as I was heading out for a fresh can of coffee at the corner 7-11, I noticed somebody’d pasted a scary Japanese note to the windshield of my...

You should think twice about taking any advice Ken Seeroi has got to give. I mean, who’d listen to a guy who ditched a decent life in a first-world country for a freezing, tiny apartment, sleeping on the floor, and eating rice with sticks? Well, it...

Fruit flies.  I woke up on my futon and all I could see were fruit flies, which for some reason, eh, didn’t seem all that unusual.  Probably because when you live in Japan, strange stuff just happens.  I don’t know why.  Like the other day I...

Summer is a wonderful season in Japan. It’s finally warm enough to peel off down parkas and ski gloves, it’s nice to relax in the park drinking beer, and the girls all wear short skirts. Actually, they wear those in winter too. What a country, se...

I’d been in Japan for almost a year before somebody finally gave me an honest answer. Now going back in time, funny story, I started using chopsticks when I was just a kid.  I don’t know why.  It’s not like my parents are secret ninjas or som...