Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret: Hacking cherry blossom season: How to beat peak pricing and crowds, while still enjoying maximum pinkness You go to Japan for cherry blossom season expecting it’ll be all picnics under the spreading boughs of pinkness, but even if you manage to book ticketsContinue reading “MAR-APR 2023”
Category Archives: 2020
Dead-End Memories
By Banana Yoshimoto Setting & details: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Authenticity of Japanese characters & dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Translation quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐Entertainment value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: Although Japanese fiction nearly always loses a lot in translation, this collection of short stories still manages to feature characters and situations that are strangely Japanese, yet truly universal at the same time. If you’ve heard meContinue reading “Dead-End Memories”
Did you win the Jan-Feb Book Giveaway?
If you recognize your email, congratulations! You just won a copy of The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka! If you think this is you, shoot a message to JapanagramJonelle@gmail.com and tell me if you’d like an ebook or paperback, and where you’d like me to send it. (I’ll need an email address for the ebookContinue reading “Did you win the Jan-Feb Book Giveaway?”
Spring Vegetable Salad with Creamy Sesame Dressing
Dress up a bouquet of colorful spring vegetables in this decadently creamy dressing that’s made without cream! The surprise ingredient is silken tofu, so not only will your loved ones be begging for second helpings of vegetables, they’ll get all the enjoyment of cream without the dairy. • Spring Vegetable Salad with Creamy Sesame DressingContinue reading “Spring Vegetable Salad with Creamy Sesame Dressing”
Let’s hike through the cherry blossom forest!
Hanamiyama Park in Fukushima Let’s escape the elbowing cameramen, blossom-hogging selfie-snappers and crowded parks of Tokyo and head up to Tohoku, where kilometers upon kilometers of wild cherry blossoms line the hiking trails at Hanamiyama. “Cherry Blossom Mountain” is a vast private park planted with so many flowering trees that every vista is painted inContinue reading “Let’s hike through the cherry blossom forest!”
Hacking cherry blossom season
How to beat peak pricing and crowds, while still enjoying maximum pinkness! You go to Japan for cherry blossom season expecting it’ll be like this: But if you come during peak season, you’re more likely to get this: And trip dates are becoming harder to guess. Thanks to global warming, the sure bet of “last-few-days-of-March-through-the-first-few-days-of-April”Continue reading “Hacking cherry blossom season”
If we’re going to give up cars, we’re going to need more hand towels
Five unexpected things that explain why 21 million Tokyo dwellers choose the train every day, instead of their cars If you want to convince everyone to use public transportation—rich, poor, young, old—it goes without saying that it needs to be faster, cheaper, more convenient and more reliable than using a car. And it’s not wrongContinue reading “If we’re going to give up cars, we’re going to need more hand towels”
JAN-FEB 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret: Feast your eyes on these Japanese New Year’s decorations From December 28 to January 7, Japanese new year decorations hang on every door, beckoning in good luck and prosperity for the coming year…read more • The Thing I Learned Today: Why do JapaneseContinue reading “JAN-FEB 2023”
Did you win the Nov-Dec Japan Swag Giveaway?
If you recognize your email, congratulations! You just won a realer-than-real sushi fridge magnet! If you think this is you, shoot a message to JapanagramJonelle@gmail.com and tell me where you’d like me to send it! (I’ll need a mailing address for this one,) If I didn’t pull your name from the hat this time, you might getContinue reading “Did you win the Nov-Dec Japan Swag Giveaway?”
The Buddha in the Attic
By Julie Otsuka Setting & details: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Authenticity of Japanese characters & dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Translation quality: N/AEntertainment value: ⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: This book is less like a novel than an epic poem, its layer upon layer of luscious details shining light on every facet of the immigrant experience, mostly through the eyes of the Japanese women who cameContinue reading “The Buddha in the Attic”
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