JUL-AUG 2026


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Beyond Tokyo
Let’s go to hell with a blue beer chaser and ice cream on top!

Beppu is famous for its hells. There are seven pools of the damned, each more beautiful than the last. Beppu’s jigoku are natural volcanic mineral pools dressed in astonishingly unnatural-looking colors. These steamy blue, green, red and white cauldrons get their hues from…read more

The Thing I Learned Today
Why is it so hard to swear in Japanese?

You can tell when translators are truly bi-cultural because Japanese-Americans translate J-drama subtitles using four-letter words, even though they don’t appear anywhere in the script. Many a foreign teenager has scoured their bilingual dictionary for the equivalents of…read more

Seasonal Secret
There isn’t just one famous Japanese flower season. There are twelve.

This is your sign from the universe to stop trying to be in Japan for The Classic Pinkness, because you’re about to get clued in on the other flower wow that Japan has been dishing up year-round for centuries. Because there isn’t just one flower season in Japan. There are twelve…read more

Why, Japan, Why?
More failed rock gardens of Japan

I know I already showed you my collection of the finest failed rock gardens in all of Japan, but I had no idea there would be more. So many more! Less-than-serene attempts at creating the contemplative landscapes for which Japan is so famous began appearing around every…read more

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Looking for a book that will whisk you away to Japan, no matter where you are?

Meet Birdie, a vulnerable young courtesan’s apprentice who must untangle a murder tied up with the secret of her own birth, while keeping herself safe from the powerful men and desperate women who surround her.

“…a complete immersion in a world of beauty, drama, secrets, and betrayals.”
Kim Hays, author of the Polizei Bern series

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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly Japanagram newsletter, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had

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