US Vice President Joe Biden once said that health care is a “big f’in’ deal,” and I tend to agree. I don't just mean in the US, where Biden was referring to Obamacare, but across the world people … [Read more...]
Japan can be a strange and interesting place for first time visitors. Japan has different customs, traditions, and some things that may seem normal in your home country may be the total opposite in the land of the rising … [Read more...]
Japan owes a lot to China, there’s no doubt about that. Almost all Japanese kanji were adopted from Chinese characters. Even hiragana and katakana are just random modified bits of Chinese characters. … [Read more...]
Kawaii (かわいい), most commonly translated as “cute,” is practically everywhere in Japan – and I do mean everywhere. To paraphrase author Mary Roach, the Japanese save money with cute, pray with cute, and even … [Read more...]
The state of the Japanese Internet is very interesting. It's about ten years behind in both how it's used and how it's designed, it doesn't work too well, and like something out of a DC Comics Bizarro World comic, Yahoo … [Read more...]
Rajio taiso (ラジオ体操), or “radio exercises” is an integral (if slightly dorky) part of Japanese culture. You’ve probably come across it even if you don’t live in Japan – it pops up all the time in … [Read more...]