For a long time, I ignored that the rickshaw was actually a Japanese invention! This old profession still subsists today in a newer form in Japan: the rickshaw drivers double as guides who often speak several…
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Discover Japan’s National Parks and Nature Conservation: Interview with a Picchio Eco Tour Guide
Seeing Japan’s beautiful nature should be a top priority for every visitor. The best way to do this is to drop by one of Japan’s 30 national parks. This experience can be enhanced further by joining…
‘Becoming Like the Sky’: an Encounter with a Street Monk in Ginza
In Tokyo, Buddhist priests chanting sutras in the streets, with their traditional robes and straw hats, have become an exotic sight not only to foreign tourists but to Tokyoites too. Mr. Mochizuki has been practicing takuhatsu…
Keeping the Legacy Alive: the Singing Mangaka Chie Araki
Chie is a nagashi artist: her job consists of wandering the streets of Arakicho (a part of Shinjuku ward), going from tavern to tavern to play and sing to entertain the customers. She’s also a mangaka and draws people’s portraits…
What We Wish We Had Known Before Moving to Japan
In this roundtable discussion, we look back on our past in Japan to help you plan ahead for your future. Moving to a new country on a whim can be fun and exciting, but as you’ll…
The Best Places to Live, Work, and Play in Tokyo
Tokyo is massive. The megacity, which doubles as a prefecture, includes endless urban cityscapes, tropical islands hundreds of kilometers off the coast, and mountains crisscrossed with hiking trails. A city of cities (also known as wards),…
Things to Consider Before Moving to Japan
With foreign residents in Japan reaching record numbers, our editorial team thought it would be a good time to reminisce about our halcyon days in Tokyo and share a few things that we’ve learned during our…
Three Perspectives on Learning Japanese
As three authors from three different countries, we all share one common thread. We’ve all achieved a working knowledge of Japanese, and each of us has done so in our own unique way. There’s no single…
Clearing Up Misconceptions about Train Punctuality
Japan’s train system is legendary for its punctuality. Peruse any travel book or Japan-related website and you’ll find countless tales of how trains always arrive at their station on time—rarely more than a minute late. If…
The Secrets of the Tatami and Making them for 6 Generations
I had the pleasure to have a talk with Mr. Tsunekawa, a young tatami craftsman. His family has been making tatami for generations in their small, 160 years old workshop in Tokyo. A bit shy at…