If you recognize your email, congratulations! You just won a copy of The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower If you think this is you, shoot a message to JapanagramJonelle@gmail.com and give me a mailing address you’d like it sent to (this one is only available in hardcover) and I’ll get it to you soonest. If IContinue reading “Did you win the May-Jun book giveaway?”
Category Archives: August
Easy Japanese lunchbox supper
It’s summertime, and the last thing you want to do is slave over a hot stove, so what kind of meal can you pull together that turns leftovers and other stuff you’ve already got in your fridge into a feast for the senses? • Easy Japanese Lunchbox Supper Ingredients: Rice (warm or cold) Snap PeasContinue reading “Easy Japanese lunchbox supper”
Let’s stroll through a forest of perfect miniature trees!
Bonsai Village in Ōmiya Bonsai Village is the neighborhood surrounding the Bonsai Art Museum in Ōmiya, which is home to the biggest concentration of bonsai nurseries in Japan. If you’re as much of a tiny tree fangirl as I am, ogling the pristine specimen trees at the museum followed by a stroll through nurseries packedContinue reading “Let’s stroll through a forest of perfect miniature trees!”
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight
By Riku Onda Setting & details: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Authenticity of Japanese characters & dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Translation quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Entertainment value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐My recommendation: A masterful “unreliable narrator” mystery in which both characters believe the other to be the killer, alternating their impressions of events in a way that points the finger of guilt first one way, then the other, rightContinue reading “Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight”
Extreme lunchboxing
The what, how & why of Japanese bentō boxes No country has made more of an art of packing a bag lunch and no moms* put more effort into this most resented of daily chores than those in Japan. Here’s what goes into one, the secrets of how they do it (and a few questionsContinue reading “Extreme lunchboxing”
Floating lanterns on a warm moonlit night
Toro Nagashi at Shinobazu Pond in Asakusa Candle-lit lanterns floating across a pond on a warm moonlit night? Yes, please! This toro nagashi ceremony is held at the temple that sits on an island in Tokyo’s Shinobazu Pond. It signals the end of annual O-bon festivities—the three days in summer when the spirits of ancestorsContinue reading “Floating lanterns on a warm moonlit night”
JUL-AUG 2021
Click on photo or link to read the feature SEASONAL SECRETThe most delightful summer festival in all of Japan is all about…goldfish! There’s nothing more traditional than ogling insanely fancy (and expensive!) goldfish and, of course, catching your own…read more • BEYOND TOKYOLet’s meander through a park with twenty-three thatch-roofed farmhouses The Nihon Minka-en FolkContinue reading “JUL-AUG 2021”
Did you win the May-June book giveaway?
If you recognize your email, congratulations! You just won a copy of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun! 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 itContinue reading “Did you win the May-June book giveaway?”
Green Salad with Japanese Pickled Onions & Wafu Onion Dressing
Nothing tastes better with grilled everything than a crisp green salad bejeweled with tasty pickled onions and a tangy wafu dressing that’ll knock your socks off! Ingredients: Assorted mixed greens, torn into bite-sized pieces (I like a combo of arugula, frisee and red & green lettuces) Avocado, cubed Pine nuts Sliced green onions Cilantro leavesContinue reading “Green Salad with Japanese Pickled Onions & Wafu Onion Dressing”
A whole park full of thatch-roofed farmhouses, just outside of central Tokyo
Nihon Minka-en Japanese Folk House Garden in Kanagawa prefecture One of the most amazing things to see in Japan is buildings constructed without nails, their intricate puzzle-like joinery standing for centuries against the test of time. Everyone thinks you have to travel to some inconveniently remote part of Japan to see these traditional thatch-roofed farmhouses,Continue reading “A whole park full of thatch-roofed farmhouses, just outside of central Tokyo”
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