You may feel like one Valentine’s Day a year is enough, but Japan’s confectionery industry thinks otherwise. In addition to celebrating Valentine’s Day on February 14th, Japan’s 2nd Valentine’s Day, known as White Day in Japan, occurs exactly one month after on March 14th. So, why have two Valentine’s Days and how are they different […]
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Valentine’s Day in Japan: The Meaning of the Chocolate you Give
You might be surprised to learn that Valentine’s Day in Japan is celebrated rather differently than in much of the rest of the world. Firstly, it’s a day when only women give gifts to men, usually in the form of chocolates or cookies. And, secondly, it’s not an exclusively romantic holiday. Valentine’s Day in Japan […]
Seijin no Hi: What Happens on Coming of Age Day in Japan
Coming of Age Day in Japan or Seijin no Hi (成人の日) is an important Japanese holiday held annually in January each year marking the rite of passage into adulthood for 20-year-olds. Japan’s Coming of Age Day, a national holiday, celebrates young people becoming legal adults, entering society with new freedoms that come with adulthood as […]
Fugu Fish: The poisonous Japanese Puffer Fish you can buy online
Fugu fish may just be Japan’s most notorious dish. In the country’s capital, fugu, also known as Japanese puffer fish, blowfish or globe fish, is a seasonal delicacy. Highly sought after in winter when fugu are at their plumpest, Tokyo’s fugu restaurants proudly display the latest bulbous catch in highly-visible tanks, later to be served […]
Japanese Rock Paper Scissors: How ‘Janken’ Rules Life in Japan
You may view ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ as just another children’s game that, like other hand gesture games or ditties, passes the time and keeps them amused for a while. However, Japanese rock paper scissors, known as janken (じゃん拳) or janken pon (じゃん拳ぽん), takes on a whole new level of meaning and importance in daily life. […]
Dublin Statues and their Surprising, Tongue-in-cheek Nicknames
The Irish love poking fun. Nowhere is that more apparent than a look at the many Dublin statues and monuments whose names have been given a little dose of Irish humour. So engrained into local culture have the nicknames become, that some might be hard pressed to remember their real names! So grab your walking […]
Inu no Hi: Japan’s ‘day of the dog’ for pregnant women
Inu no Hi, literally meaning the ‘Day of the Dog,’ is an important pregnancy ritual and rite of passage for pregnant women in Japan. As dogs are widely believed to have easy and uncomplicated births as well as large litters, dogs are considered to be a symbol of smooth delivery and an animal deity of […]
Japanese Dates: How to Read a Japanese Calendar
Understanding how to read a Japanese calendar is an important part of life in Japan. While it may seem intimidating at first when you see a combination of letters and numbers, luckily the Japanese date system is extremely easy to master once you understand a few basic concepts. First of all, to understand Japanese dates […]
A Japanese Christmas: How Christmas in Japan is unlike anywhere else
Like a number of Western holidays in Japan, Christmas seems to be getting bigger every year. Christmas in Japan is an interesting mix of traditions from abroad with some unique Japanese Christmas interpretations thrown in. Here are 8 things that make the Japanese Christmas experience its own. Table of Contents 1. Christmas Eve is the […]
How our Front Yard became a Tourist Attraction in the Middle of a Pandemic
Today is a story about a tree. An unbelievable series of stories about a tree. It’s a pomegranate tree, to be exact, that’s in our front yard and it’s been a bigger part of our lives over the past year than we ever could have imagined. Last fruiting season, we posted about the bizarre happenings […]