I figure that I’ll answer this question once and for all; or at least until people forget that I wrote this post and start asking me again.

While I skim a lot of the sites loaded up into my RSS reader, there are a select few that I really enjoy reading, teach me a lot, and keep me coming back for more.

I should clarify that this list contains blogs about Japan written in English with a Western audience in mind. If you want to find blogs written in Japanese, that’s another post for another time.

Here are some of my favorite Japan blogs, in no particular order:

Gakuranman

Long time Tofugu collaborator Gakuranman is more than just a manly, manly rayon body pillow; he’s also an avid haikyo (abandoned building) explorer.

He visited Japan’s forbidden island, Gunkanjima, long before James Bond was taken there in Skyfall; and while the internet was marvelling at the Japanese “anti-zombie fortress” from afar, Gakuranman was able to actually visit the Shime coal mine and tell us a little bit about its history.

While I was lucky enough to explore an old amusement park and the long-abandoned school on Cat Island with Gakuranman, I’m not sure that the haikyo lifestyle is for me; but I’m glad that I can visit see these beautiful, abandoned places in Japan without ever leaving my apartment because of him.

This Japanese Life

This Japanese Life isn’t produced by WBEZ Chicago and has no relation to the popular radio show, but the way that author Eryk tells stories would make Ira Glass proud.

The best posts on This Japanese Life are first-person narratives of Eryk’s life as an English teacher in Japan. The slice-of-life qualities of these posts cut through the popular misconceptions of Weird Japan and reveal the really strange parts of Japanese culture (see the post on kindness and obligation).

I also just really enjoy the writing on This Japanese Life, which is peppered with unique phrases like “Willy Wonka-san” and “kabuki juggalo.” This kind of writing might not be the kind of thing you’d hear in act one of our program, but it’s been more than enough to keep me reading.

Shisaku

Japanese politics can be a mystery. Not only does the Japanese political system function completely differently than the political system of my home country, the United States, but most of the news that us Westerners get about Japanese politics focuses on a few, paltry subjects. Unless a Japanese politician reaches the level of prime minister or says something incredibly stupid about Japan’s military past, then chances are the AP, Reuters, and other big news organizations won’t care at all.

Fortunately, Shisaku is there to pick up the slack. Run by Tokyo-based Michael Cucek, Shisaku is full of independent analysis about Japanese politics. So if I open up the New York Times and find an article about a high-level Japanese diplomat traveling to North Korea, I can count on Shisaku to give me some in-depth context and analysis of the event.

Reading Shiasku is almost enough to make me feel like an expert in Japanese politics. Almost.

Surviving in Japan

While I enjoy blogs that talk very broadly about large, cultural issues in Japan, I’ve been a huge fan of Surviving in Japan for years because it offers a lot of very practical, down-to-earth advice about living day-to-day life in Japan. After all, once you get past the bigger cultural differences, you still have to do all of those mundane, everyday things that you take for granted.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another site that offers as many guides and how-tos on topics like banking, finding personal care products, and how to deal with the different seasons in Japan.

Even though the updates on the site have slowed a bit since its creator has moved out of Japan, Surviving in Japan still gets the occasional new post and has a wealth of information in the archives.

Japan Subculture Research Center

Author and journalist Jake Adelstein has been having a pretty good year so far. His book, Tokyo Vice, is being turned into a movie with Harry Potter alumnus Daniel Radcliffe starring.

But aside from his recent Hollywood success, Adelstein is a seasoned Japanese reporter who broke many barriers for foreign reporters in Japan; he was the first foreign staff reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun and first to be included in the Tokyo Metropolitan Press Club.

Japan Subculture Research Center is Adelstein’s web presence and, together with a few other writers, does a great job covering Japan’s seedy underbelly. You’ll not only find a wealth of information about the yakuza (Adelstein’s area of expertise), but also information about the myriad not-so-legal activities that are usually hidden from public view.

If you want to know about all of Japan and not just the shiny image that’s usually presented to the West, Japan Subculture Research Center is a great place to start.

Spoon & Tamago

Japan has long had a worldwide reputation as a design powerhouse, but it’s sometimes difficult to find concrete examples of that. Fortunately, Spoon & Tamago manages to do a good job at exposing me to Japanese art and design and making me feel at least somewhat educated in the process.

The team of writers at Spoon & Tamago cover all aspects of Japanese art and design, from architecture to photography, to the design of small, everyday things. The best part: it’s all very accessible to those who have absolutely not background in art of design.

Japanese Rule of 7

Every once in a while, I’ll read something that just completely hooks me. For Japanese Rule of 7, the blog by Ken Seeroi, it was comparing knowing Japanese to being like David Blaine doing magic tricks at a party:

Your magic trick is that you can speak English. That’s what everyone wants you to do. And every time you do it, and tell them about how big the cheeseburgers are back home and how people wear shoes inside the house, their eyes will light up and they’ll be like, Wow, amazing!

Seeroi’s sometimes cynical writing, paired with his great stories of Japan, paints an entertaining picture of everyday life in Japan for an expat.

Honorable Mentions

There are a few authors and blogs that I enjoy a lot but, for whatever reason, didn’t quite make the cut. Here they are:

Hikosaemon

While Hikosaemon’s actual blog is infrequently updated, his presence on the rest of the internet more than makes up for it. This Kiwi is a social media God, posting so many insightful links and updates via his Twitter and Google+, it’s scary.

That’s not even to mention his YouTube channel. Between his solo videos and his weekly YouTube show with Gimmeaflakeman (and the occasional appearance by Milkjamjuice) Two and a Half Oyajis, there are probably days’ worth of amazing discussion on Japan on Hikosaemon’s channel.

And when Hiko does decide to sit down and crank out a long-form blog entry, he does an amazing job condensing his experiences living and working for over a decade in Japan. His guest post for us here at Tofugu from a few years back is based on a level of life experience that’s impossible to fake.

Culture Japan

I hesitate to include Culture Japan because I don’t watch anime, read manga, or do any of the things that fall under the umbrella of otaku culture. Given that, it’s sometimes hard for me to understand the allure of Culture Japan, the Dollfie-loving, body pillow-filled otaku haven run by internet superstar Danny Choo.

Even if I don’t always understand the appeal of Culture Japan, it undeniable that Danny Choo is a massive figure online. His blog post “How Discovering Japan Changed My Life” is incredibly popular among Japanophiles, and you’ve probably seen him dressed up as a Star Wars storm trooper, dancing on the streets of Tokyo to Earth, Wind, and Fire.

But beyond his internet fame, Danny Choo does a lot of hard work promoting Japan and Japanese culture. He works for the Japanese government under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and produces and directs a TV show about Japan also called Culture Japan. So while I might be turned off by figurines and wall scrolls, there’s a lot to be said about Danny Choo and Culture Japan’s contributions.

These are just my personal picks—your mileage with these sites may vary; and I’m sure that I’m missing some amazing sites and writers, so share your favorites in the comments.

Bonus Wallpapers and GIFs!

Our talented illustrator Aya has whipped up some desktop backgrounds and animated GIFs for your enjoyment:

Wallpaper (1280×800)
Wallpaper (2560×1440)

GIF (700×438)
GIF (1280×800)

Japanese Websites

Let’s start out by looking at some bigger Japanese websites. These are just a few examples that will give you an idea about the “Japanese aesthetic” when it comes to web design.

Rakuten

Rakuten is a lot like the Amazon of Japan (with a bit of Ebay thrown in). Japanese websites love text, and this is no exception. While there’s a few images here, the more you scroll down, the more text you end up seeing. You’d think that a shopping site would want to have more images to entice you, but the Japanese web aesthetic of textiness is strong with this one.

NicoNicoDouga

NicoNicoDouga is like the YouTube of Japan if YouTube wasn’t already the YouTube of Japan. It’s particularly known for the ability to add comments right onto the video screen. Once again, we see a ton of text. We’ll delve into why this is in a little bit, but it must be important if you cover your video website with text instead of video, right?

Gigazine

Gigazine is a popular tech blog in Japan. It’s full of strange color choices, missing padding, and advertisements. Though this site is fairly image heavy for a Japanese website, just keep in mind that it’s catered towards the more tech-savvy, which is obviously why this is such a beautiful website. Speaking of which, how many ads can you spot?

Japanese Website Aesthetic

So what is the “Japanese Website Aesthetic?” There are quite a few patterns that show up again and again in Japanese web design, I think.

• A lot of text, really packed in there
• Smallish sized images
• Columns, usually three of them.
• Poor use of white space / padding
• (often) blue URL coloring
• CHAOS

What does this sounds like… does it sound like American web design in the 90s / Yahoo’s current design to you? It certainly feels that way to me. How did this come to be? Why is Japan, the world’s leader in robotics, hybrid cars, and Gundam models, so far behind when it comes to the web? Where did they go wrong?

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones have ruled in Japan for quite a while, though personal computers are definitely catching up. Back when Americans were getting heavy laptops and Gateway computers, the Japanese were texting up a storm on their futuristic cell phones. Because of this alternate tech history, a lot of Japanese websites were designed for flip phones and eventually this became part of the aesthetic. To make a website work well on phones like this, you need to do a few things:

• Skinny columns (that just go on top of each other on a mobile device)
• Textiness… lots and lots of textiness.
• Smaller images (they load faster!)

If you look at the example websites above, you’ll see that they have all of these things. While a lot of bigger companies have the resources to create completely separate designs for mobile and computer, smaller companies can’t do this. What’s the solution? They just end up making a website that (sort of) works in both. That explains why so many websites kind of look like they’re supposed be viewed on your phone… because they should viewed on your phone!

Slow Personal Computer Adoption

Nowadays individual computer use is really picking up in Japan. Ten or fifteen years ago, not so much. As I mentioned before, it was cell phones that won this war of Internet dominance. Now though, more and more people are starting to use personal computers. Although the current aesthetic has been built up around mobile phone use, I expect to see a shift as more and more people hop on computers. I don’t think Japan will catch up right away (it’s kind of like how developing nations are supposed to go through their industrial revolution, or something), though I do hope it moves pretty fast. I do not enjoy navigating you, Japanese web. You hurt my eyes.

Internet Explorer 6

When it comes to Internet Explorer 6 usage, Japan actually rolls in at third for the entire world. Only China (23.8%) and Korea (6.3%) out-muscle Japan (6.1%) in this out-of-date-browser-war. When you have this many people using such a terrible browser, you have to design with it in mind. IE6 limits what you can do design-wise, which means you have to make a choice: Do I make my website look not as good as it could be? Or, do I ignore this 6.1% of people and design how I want?

This isn’t even when you take into account IE7, which is better, but still not all that great to work with. Until people upgrade to better and more modern browsers, better design will remain more difficult. Not impossible, but this certainly doesn’t make things any easier. How do you get around this? Flashhhhh.

Flash

Remember when America was all into Flash? I feel like Japan’s been going through that lately, which seems right on target because they’ve always been about 10 years behind in the game that is web design. If you design in Flash, you don’t have to worry so much about IE6. That being said, the most popular phone in Japan (iPhone) doesn’t work with Flash. Right now Japanese web design is a little too buddy-buddy with flash in my opinion. It makes for poor user experience, generally, which goes right along with all the other problems that Japanese web design has. Hopefully we’ll see them kick this “fad” to the side of the road here pretty soon, especially with touchscreen mobile getting so important.

It’s Not All Bad, Though

All that being said, there’s a lot of great web design coming from Japan as well. To round out this article, I thought I’d share some examples of beautiful web design. Click on the images to see the actual site in action.

Uniqlo

Ishiyama Senkoh

Toyota Municipal Museum Of Art

Hanamichiya

Swiss

Taromagazine

Takeo Paper Show

While a lot of these websites are a lot better looking (in my opinion) than the examples shown at the top of this article, though some of them are done in Flash (ick). I suppose if you’re looking to design with IE6 in mind, Flash is a good way to get around that?

Whatever happens, though, I’m really looking forward to the evolution of Japanese web design. With everything except web design, Japan has such an interesting aesthetic. If it could be applied to Japanese web design, well, I think we’ll end up seeing some really innovative stuff.

So, here’s to hoping they don’t actually follow in our footsteps. If they can avoid the phase where everything’s a ridiculous gradient… well… I’ll be happy. Wabi-sabi it up, please.

But believe it or not, Japanese architecture isn’t just a field for for museums or skyscrapers. Some people live in these spectacular works of art. Let’s take a look at the coolest houses in recent years in Japan.

Ring House

Not pictured: a creepy girl from “The Ring”

Named after the series of wood and glass rings that make up the building (not the Japanese movie of the same name), the Ring House (輪の家) is located in a country retreat near Nagano.

When developers were having difficulty selling land, they hired architecture firm Takei-Nabeshima Architects (TNA) to design something unique that would attract people to buy up land and live there. What TNA delivered went above and beyond everybody’s expectations.

The house definitely looks cool, but I’m not sure how comfortable I would be with all of those windows all over the house. I’ve seen enough movies to know that lots of windows in a house in the middle of the woods spells bad news.

More pictures on the architecture firm’s site here.

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3Way House

No, it’s not that kind of house, you perv. The 3Way House, while looking normal on the outside, is named for the three ways that people can move around the house.

Most houses just have stairs to move up and down between levels, but the 3Way House has freakin’ ladders and a rock climbing wall that goes all the way up through the center of the house.

It’s basically the house you dreamed of as a kid. All that’s missing are fireman’s poles and slides.

A married couple and their two children live in this house and I’ll admit that I’m a little jealous that these kids get to grow up in a house like this. Maybe I can convince these people to adopt me into their family (please?).

More about the 3Way house on the architect’s site here.

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Garden & House

Located in the heart of Tokyo, this aptly named Garden & House maximizes the limited space that it’s given. Real estate is obviously at a premium in the country’s capital, so Garden & House does its best to expand up.

Designed by Pritzker-winning architect Ryue Nishizawa, the four-story house is mostly white with giant, floor-to-ceiling windows that are only covered by curtains. There aren’t even any interior walls to help out with privacy.

As if the dozens of house plants weren’t enough, one floor of the house even has a thin layer of dirt to make the house feel more organic.

Read more and see more pictures at domus.

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Jyubako/Lunchbox House

The Jyubako House (重箱の家) is a three-tiered house in Tokyo modeled after jyubaku, a traditional stacked Japanese lunchbox, like the one above.

The house was designed for its owner’s love of two things: food and bath. The second floor contains a beautiful, open kitchen and dining room, and that’s pretty much it.

The third floor holds a bathtub and little else. The top of the house is completely open so you can laze in the tub and watch the sky for hours. Absolutely beautiful.

For more, see the Tezuka architects’ site.

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Drawer House

One Japanese custom I think is interesting is how the Japanese pack up their futons in the morning and store them away during the day. To me, it’s pretty darn cool that you can transform the functionality of a room so quickly and easily.

The Drawer House takes that to the next and tries to hide everything that’s not in use, leaving only bare wooden walls and floors. Walls fold out to reveal staircases, counter tops, shelving, and more.

The result is a very clean, simple house nestled in Tokyo, a city that is anything but.

More info and pictures at the architect’s site.

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Which one of these house would you like to live in? I can’t decide which one would be the most fun, but my vote goes to climbing wall 3Way house. When it comes down to it, I’m just a child stuck in a really really good looking and buff man’s body.

P.S. You can rock-climb your way to our hearts by following us on Twitter
P.P.S. We have a couple dirt floors too over on Facebook and Google+!

Here’s the concept behind phonetikana: 1. Katakana is irritating to learn / you don’t have the time to learn it / you’re lazy. 2. Katakana often spells out words that English speakers can kind-of-sort-of understand. 3. If you add the English phonetic pronunciation to the katakana, you’ll be able to read it and possibly decipher it. 4. Integrate it into the actual katakana to get that “aww, that’s boootiful effect.”

Let’s put it more simply (and visually). Here’s how you’d write “Uniqlo” in Japanese (Uniqlo is a big ol’ Japanese clothes company).

Now, let’s phonetikana it!

Now you can read it phonetically! Yoo-Nee-Koo-Roh. Doesn’t get you perfect pronunciation, but close enough for someone who doesn’t really want to learn Japanese in the first place.

What does a Cow say? Good job!

Who’s the top Banana here? Profess your Top-banana-ness in the comments below!

There are a ton more examples over on Johnson Bank‘s post about phonetikana. If you haven’t gotten all the Top Bananas you can handle, be sure to go take a look. It’s pretty fascinating. I’ve always been into typography, but am totally incapable of making anything look nice (Anyone want to teach me about typography on eduFire? I’ll pay you).

Please start a flame war in the comments arguing about who’s the top banana, please, please, please. Use logic to prove your perspectives.