Japan is not all Kabuki drama, baseball and matcha tea. There’s a haunted side to the nation’s biggest city, and plenty of tourists flock to it, on buses, in taxis, by train, and on foot.… Read More
A Scary, but Fun, Guided Ghost Tour of Tokyo
Category: Japan
Being Polite in Corporate Japan
Corporate etiquette is serious business in Japan, where a wrong word or gesture has the potential to condemn an otherwise profitable deal to certain death. Matcha tea and traditional Japanese kimono are not part of… Read More
Otakus: Uniqueness the Japanese Way
A whirlwind tour-bus jaunt around Tokyo might take a rider to the Ueno Zoo, the Yasukuni Shrine, the Imperial Palace, a Kabuki performance, or a matcha tea-tasting. Amid all the tradition of Japan, however, no… Read More
Exploring Kyoto’s Past and Present
Officially known as Japan’s “historic” city, Kyoto has become one of the top travel destinations in the world. In fact, some neighborhoods give one the impression of being lost in a time warp from the… Read More
The Modern Face of Zen Buddhism in Japan
About one-third of Japan’s 130 million citizens are followers of Buddhism, but that bare statistic far underestimates the religion’s influence on the nation’s history, culture and collective character. Long before Chinese Buddhist monks brought matcha… Read More
Pachinko Insanity and J-Pop Madness
What are pachinko and J-pop? Simply put, pachinko is a game that looks a lot like pinball, but with a Las Vegas, pool-hall twist. So-called “pachinko parlors” pack hundreds of machines into the smallest possible… Read More
Wonderful and Weird Curiosities of Japanese Cuisine
It’s no secret that Japan has some of the finest foods in the world: teriyaki, sushi, matcha tea, and other traditional fare are renowned for their taste, nutritional content and artistic beauty. In fact, the… Read More
The Secret, Quiet World of Ikebana
Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging. It is also known by its other name, kado, which literally means “the way of flowers.” Many Westerners have heard of ikebana and assume that the English… Read More
Tokyo Days and Nights: Mystery, Excitement and Taxicabs
Tokyo is one of the most global cities in the world. At least 50 languages can be heard on its main streets on a busy day, and the number of Westerners in some neighborhoods is uncommonly… Read More
Is English Japan’s Second Language?
Visitors to Japan often ask whether they’ll be able to “get by” with speaking only English and/or just a few words of Japanese during their stay. The short answer to that question is yes. In… Read More