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 getContinue reading “Did you win the Jan-Feb book giveaway?”
Category Archives: April
Let’s hike through bowers of flowers
Shiofune Kannon-ji Temple in Ome 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 in Ome, about an hour and a half train ride from Shinjuku (which makesContinue 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 putContinue 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 nattōContinue 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)Continue 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 IContinue 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 isContinue 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 • BeyondContinue 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 themselvesContinue reading “Beyond the cherry blossoms”
The cherry blossoms of your dreams…a month after all the rest are history
Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture 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 the middle of April, everything becomes muchContinue reading “The cherry blossoms of your dreams…a month after all the rest are history”
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