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”
Category Archives: 2021
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”
Why are used cars, beautiful old houses and vintage kimonos so cheap in Japan?
The longer you’re in Japan—a place known for the meticulous preservation of its ancient sites and the intricacy of its recycling rules—the weirder it seems that Japanese people insist on buying only new houses, new cars, new clothing, new everything. Saddest of all, they often even refuse to adopt pets that had previous owners. It’sContinue reading “Why are used cars, beautiful old houses and vintage kimonos so cheap in Japan?”
Feast your eyes on these Japanese New Year 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, but they’re just plain beautiful too! Shimenawas are stuffed with symbolism (red and white, to scare away evil spirits and attract good luck, rice straw for a good harvest/that raise youContinue reading “Feast your eyes on these Japanese New Year decorations”
Let’s go to the odd theme park that’s amazing in the most unexpected way
Tobu World Square in Nikko What if I told you that I’d visited a place in Japan that surprised me in a way that I never expected to be surprised? When I finally made it to this place in October, I expected the space-time continuum to be so warped that in a single day youContinue reading “Let’s go to the odd theme park that’s amazing in the most unexpected way”
JUL-AUG 2022
Click on photo or link to read the feature Why, Japan, Why?: Extreme lunchboxing: The what, how & why of Japanese bentō 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 why they doContinue reading “JUL-AUG 2022”
MAY-JUN 2022
Click on photo or link to read the feature Why, Japan, Why?: International Food Fails of Japan In a country where only 24% of the population even have a passport (compared to 45% of Americans and 78% of Brits), the closest most Japanese have ever been to “foreign” food is the restaurant down the block.Continue reading “MAY-JUN 2022”
MAR-APR 2022
Click on photo or link to read the feature Japanese Home Cooking: Sweet Sesame Spinach As a veteran vegetable hater, I have a special spot in my grinchy heart for leafy greens, but this traditional Japanese way of cooking spinach is so good I can eat a bag of green stuff as big as myContinue reading “MAR-APR 2022”
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, where each member had made one dish to contribute (and they all looked like they had been made by professional chefs and styled by photo stylists aieeee!) When I tasted the eggplant dish,Continue reading “Spicy Japanese Eggplant”
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