When I was earning my MBA in the mid-2000s, not a day went by when I wasn’t pouring over a case study. As a car enthusiast, the business vignettes from automotive-industry case studies were naturally the most memorable. These cases are where I first learned that, up until the mid-1990s, most American cars sold in…
Ben Shearon: Investing and Saving for Retirement as a Foreign Resident in Japan
Investing and saving for retirement is an intimidating prospect, even in your home country. Add in the layers of complexity that come with retiring as a foreign resident abroad, and you may be tempted to give up on the endeavor entirely. That would be a grave mistake, as Ben Shearon, founder of RetireJapan, explains in…
Driving in Japan: Thoughts and Tips
Japan is famous for its comprehensive, efficient, and punctual (for the most part) public transportation system. However, when it comes to reaching more remote areas or experiencing some of the country’s unrivaled scenic locales, you’re going to need a car. Before you get behind the wheel, check out our roundtable discussion for three unique international…
Norifumi Suzuki: Now Is the Time to Launch a Startup in Japan
Japan’s expanding startup ecosystem can be enigmatic to the outside world. There’s no shortage of online debates as to whether Japan should emulate the popular startup ecosystems of the United States or, in typical fashion, blaze its own trail to success. One thing that most experts agree on, however, is that a robust startup ecosystem…
Read the Air to Learn Japanese Language and Culture Anywhere
I vividly remember the moment when I learned the Japanese word for soft-boiled egg: hanjuku tamago. It wasn’t long after I had arrived in Japan in January 2009, with little more than a year of elementary Japanese floating around in my head. I was able to survive most day-to-day interactions in Japanese, but moving from…
Cardemy: An Integrated, Personalized, and Authentic Way to Learn Japanese
This article was produced in cooperation with Cardemy and contains affiliate links. I’ve studied Japanese on and off since I was in college, encountering several progress plateaus along the way. Whenever I managed to cross one of those plateaus, it was due to one of the following pillars of my language-learning journey. The first one…
Andrew Hankinson: Transporting You to Japan through the Power of Podcasting
Whether you’re curious about culture, eager to start a business, or fascinated by the arts, podcasts are an excellent way to immerse yourself in the contemporary zeitgeist of Japan. One of the rising stars in the ever-growing Japan podcast scene is Now and Zen Japan, produced by Andrew Hankinson, senior managing director at Zwilling J.A….
Beginner Japanese Tip: Overcoming the Ambiguity of “Daijobu”
One of the more challenging aspects of learning Japanese is dealing with words that have multiple—often opposite—meanings. For beginners, one prominent example of this phenomenon is the word daijobu. Essentially, this word represents the concept of being “OK” or “all right.” For example, if you trip and fall in public, a passerby may ask, “daijobu…
Norio Tera: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Japan’s Media and Entertainment Industry
Following the news is critical for getting a pulse on what’s really happening in Japan—the events and trends that are shaping Japanese culture in real time. Additionally, Japanese entertainment such as television shows, video games, and comics refract culture as a prism does light, enabling people all over the world to analyze and reflect its…
Why the Japanese Nintendo 3DS Is an Amazing Device for Learning Japanese
In my ongoing (and perhaps never-ending) quest to achieve full Japanese literacy, I’ve developed a reputation for being a digital flashcard addict. However, effective as they are, flashcards alone are not enough to become fully literate in Japanese (as friends and colleagues often remind me). Going beyond textbooks and immersing yourself in native Japanese content…