This article from the Daily Yomiuri discusses wa or social harmony in Japan. I found the following excerpt to be very interesting:
The researchers found that the Japanese were more than twice as likely as the Americans to opt for the ambiguous response … One of the question topics with the highest rate of ambiguous […]

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Well today was just another day closer to our departure to Japan. My husband will leave in two weeks and I will leave at the end of February to meet up with him in Chiba (our home base for the next two years, at least). It has been an interesting road so […]

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This weeks quote isn’t a quote at all but a Japanese proverb or Kotowaza. The image you get with the direct translation gave me a kick and I though that you might enjoy it too!

The literal meaning of the Kanji above is “breaking wind, closing buttocks”. Translated it means there is no […]

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2008 Preview from the Daily Yomiuri is an interesting story about events that will be happening in Japan this year. Of particular interest to me is the listing of major art exhibitions that include several exhibits of national treasures and a retrospective of Renoir.
A video via Japan Probe showing you how to make spaghetti, […]

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It is a widely held belief that living in Japan is very expensive and I was a little intimidated by that when told I was headed to Japan the first time. I claim to be cheap but my husband is kind and says that I am frugal. Merriam Webster defines cheap as obtaining […]

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An otaku is defined as a geek, nerd or enthusiast by Freedict.com. It is a relatively new use of the world and relates primarily to those obsessed with manga (Japanese comic books) and anime (Janapese cartoons, usually derived from manga) and is often used as an insult. The Japan Times had a […]

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I recently read an article in the Daily Yomiuri that advocates the ‘good enough’ or ‘just try’ approach to conversational English. This brings a new perspective to my goal of improving my communication skills in Japan. I would be happy to speak ‘good enough’ Japanese but the question then becomes what is […]

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In my quest to learn more about Japan and get involved in the Japan blogging community I have joined a new social bookmarking site called JapanSoc. This is a project developed by Nick Ramsay of LongCountdown and you can read more about it here. The site is similar to Del.icio.us […]

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Have you ever thought about what the ever after meant in all of those fairy tales you read as a kid? Who hasn’t, at some point in their life, struggled with the fact their life hasn’t turned out the way that they wanted or that it was supposed to? Who determined how it […]

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In Japan one of the traditional activities of the new year celebration is the pounding of mochi. We also pound mochi here in Hawaii to celebrate the new year and if you click on the picture to the left you can view more photos and a video on mochi pounding in action (via […]

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