If you don’t subscribe to my Japan travel site or the blog where I write about stuff you’d never see anywhere else, here are links to a couple of other things you might enjoy… • From Only In JapanThe most outrageous car show in Japan is BACK Tell me more! • From Seven Perfect DaysContinueContinue reading “Links to fun stuff you might have missed”
Category Archives: April
APR 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Why, Japan, Why?Why don’t we all wear kimonos instead of Control Tops and neckties? Okay, just for a moment, clear your mind of cultural biases and entrenched Western ideas about beauty, and consider how much more comfortable and attractive we all might be if weContinueContinue reading “APR 2025”
Why don’t we all wear kimonos instead of Control Tops and neckties?
Photo thanks to Anji Salz at Salz Tokyo Okay, hear me out. For just a moment, clear your mind of cultural biases and entrenched Western ideas about beauty, and consider how much more comfortable and attractive we all might be if we dressed to impress in Japanese kimonos! (Men, don’t sneak out the back—I thinkContinueContinue reading “Why don’t we all wear kimonos instead of Control Tops and neckties?”
How to Shop for Kimonos
By Anji Salz Author’s experience & expertise: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Accuracy of information: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Quality of recommendations & advice: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: If you’ve ever wanted to collect kimonos and accessories—either to wear or display—this comprehensive guide will help you shop like an expert and put together an ensemble like someone with years of experience. Anji Salz has been dressingContinueContinue reading “How to Shop for Kimonos”
Let’s go back to see the Jōnan-gu Shrine plum garden in bloom!
What a difference two weeks makes! Because you endured last month’s navel-gazing about making rock gardens from rocks, it’s only fair that I take you along on the rinse-and-repeat trip I took to Jōnan-gu Shrine two weeks later, to be rewarded with…this! From the first glimpse of the glories ahead as we round the bend…ContinueContinue reading “Let’s go back to see the Jōnan-gu Shrine plum garden in bloom!”
APR 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond Tokyo:Let’s stay in a traditional Japanese farmhouse in the countryside! Rural farm life is alive and well in the beautiful Japanese countryside, and if you’ve ever dreamed of staying in one of those curvy-beamed, straw-plastered, traditional farmhouses, well, now you can!…read more • Why,ContinueContinue reading “APR 2024”
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
By Toshikazu Kawaguchi Setting & details: ⭐⭐⭐⭐Authenticity of Japanese characters & dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Translation quality: ⭐⭐⭐Entertainment value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: The idea behind these charming connected short stories is a clever one, each one playing out in a way that is uniquely Japanese. The reasons each of these characters longs to go back and relive a momentContinueContinue reading “Before the Coffee Gets Cold”
Why do so many top Japanese restaurants refuse Michelin stars?
If you were as riveted by “The Bear” as I was, you have an idea what a restaurant is willing to go through for even a single shiny star. When the Michelin Guide came to Tokyo for the first time in 2008, they planned to honor a number of restaurants with multiple star ratings, soContinueContinue reading “Why do so many top Japanese restaurants refuse Michelin stars?”
Let’s stay in a traditional farmhouse in the Japanese countryside!
Yokomura Eco-Lodge in Yamanashi Prefecture Japan isn’t all neon lights, tea ceremonies and vending machines—rural farm life is alive and well in the beautiful Japanese countryside, and if you’ve ever dreamed of staying in one of those curvy-beamed, straw-plastered, traditional farmhouses, well, now you can! Yokomura Eco-Lodge was restored by the owners of Kasamatsu FarmsContinueContinue reading “Let’s stay in a traditional farmhouse in the Japanese countryside!”
MAR-APR 2023
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 ticketsContinueContinue reading “MAR-APR 2023”
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 meContinueContinue 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 ebookContinueContinue 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 DressingContinueContinue 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 inContinueContinue 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”ContinueContinue 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 wrongContinueContinue reading “If we’re going to give up cars, we’re going to need more hand towels”
Did you win the Jan-Feb book giveaway?
If you recognize your email, congratulations! You just won a copy of The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi! 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 if paperback, let me know a mailing address you’d like it sent to) and I’ll getContinueContinue reading “Did you win the Jan-Feb book giveaway?”
Let’s hike through bowers of flowers
Shiofune Kannon-ji Temple in Ome The Shiofune Kannon-ji grounds are HUGE. It’s like the Nezu Shrine on steroids. Every April, this temple’s kilometers upon kilometers of hiking trails look out on riotously blooming azaleas, as far as the eye can see. Around every bend, each view is more jaw-dropping than the last. Shiofune Kannon-ji is out inContinueContinue reading “Let’s hike through bowers of flowers”
The Wizard of Oz is alive and well
…and living in Japan Behold the Japanese train ticket vending machine, which is about as close to infallible as a machine can get. You stick in your money, and—unlike the ticket machine I once encountered in San Francisco, which rained down $14.00 IN CHANGE like some sort of demented Vegas slot machine—even if you putContinueContinue reading “The Wizard of Oz is alive and well”
Fiddler on the Roof…in Japanese
Japanese musicals: So far off Broadway, they’re an art form in themselves There’s nothing more entertaining than a good old-fashioned musical, performed by an all-Japanese cast. Boggle along with me as they tackle these classics of stage and screen… Mozart-san Yep, it’s the thoroughly be-wigged, all-Japanese production of Amadeus. • Just a spoonful of nattōContinueContinue reading “Fiddler on the Roof…in Japanese”
Sweet Sesame Greens
Horensō Goma-ae This magical Japanese way to serve up spinach reduces an entire day’s worth of virtuous greens to a few delicious bites that will leave your family asking if there’s more. Yes, it’s that good. (And it’s fast! Five ingredients, fifteen minutes.) Ingredients: Serves 4 8 oz. (227g) baby spinach leaves 1/4 cup (35g)ContinueContinue reading “Sweet Sesame Greens”
All I Asking For Is My Body
By Milton Murayama Setting & details: ⭐⭐⭐⭐Authenticity of Japanese characters & dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Translation quality: N/AEntertainment value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: Told by a Japanese-American boy caught between cultures, this entertaining and poignant memoir spotlights the traditions and ways of thinking (both the sublime and the ridiculous) that Japanese emigrants take with them wherever they go. “All IContinueContinue reading “All I Asking For Is My Body”
JAN-FEB 2022
Click on photo or link to read the feature Japanese Home Cooking: Spicy Japanese Eggplant One day in Tokyo, I was at a lunch made by the women in this crazy Japanese women’s club I belong to. When I tasted the eggplant dish, I moaned with delight and said, “OMG who made this? It isContinueContinue reading “JAN-FEB 2022”
MAR-APR 2021
Click on photo or link to read the feature Why, Japan, Why?: Japanese ceremonies we didn’t know we needed Everybody knows about Japan’s famous tea ceremony, and of course they also mark weddings, funerals and graduations with appropriate pomp, but the Japanese have ceremonies for all kinds of great things besides the biggies…read more • BeyondContinueContinue reading “MAR-APR 2021”
Beyond the cherry blossoms
Pink things that only appear during The Season Sure, the cherry trees are pretty in pink, but The Season offers far more delights (and horrors) than elbowing a million other flower fanatics out of the way for that perfect shot. For example… The sublime: Things lit up in pink at night These buildings deck themselvesContinueContinue reading “Beyond the cherry blossoms”
The cherry blossoms of your dreams…a month after all the rest are history
Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture See all the crowds? Me neither Cherry blossom season is legendary for good reason—even I have to admit that the pinkness in all its glory WILL take your breath away—but the downside of that is that everybody in the world knows it too. From the middle of March to theContinueContinue reading “The cherry blossoms of your dreams…a month after all the rest are history”
The Aosawa Murders
By Riku Onda Setting & details: ⭐⭐⭐⭐Authenticity of Japanese characters & dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Translation quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Entertainment value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: This book is one of those rare Japanese mysteries that don’t lose something essential in translation. It’s told in such a way that the reader collects each piece of the puzzle from characters who didn’t necessarily revealContinueContinue reading “The Aosawa Murders”
Japanese Treasure Rice
If you have a rice cooker, this is the easiest made-from-scratch meal ever. All you have to do is measure the dry rice into the cooker, then toss in the raw veggies and cooking broth (plus the raw marinated chicken pieces, if you want to make a meal of it). Turn it on, and theContinueContinue reading “Japanese Treasure Rice”
Japanese ceremonies we didn’t know we needed
In Japan, there are ceremonies for some very odd things Everybody knows about Japan’s famous tea ceremony, and of course they also mark weddings, funerals and graduations with ceremonies. But one of the most interesting discussions we’ve been having at book zooms about The Last Tea Bowl Thief is about how the Japanese have ceremoniesContinueContinue reading “Japanese ceremonies we didn’t know we needed”
Did you win the February book giveaway?
If you recognize your email, congratulations! You just won a copy of Jake Adelstein’s Tokyo Vice! 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 if paperback, let me know a mailing address you’d like it sent to) and I’ll get it to youContinueContinue reading “Did you win the February book giveaway?”
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