Before I moved to Japan, I imagined carbonated lakes, rivers running thick with bubbling sugar, a snack-food nation governed by Willy Wonka-san. Japan really is a refreshment paradise, and I’m excited to taste whatever drinks the mad scientists are brewing up every few months. There was the legendary Cucumber Pepsi, and a soda that tasted [...]
Japan is expensive. At least, that’s what they tell us. Travelers. Expats living in Japan. Or these guys. But is it really as expensive as people say it is? In the four years I’ve been living here, although some things cost more in general, I’ve discovered many ways to save money, both as a resident [...]
Today’s guest post comes from everybody’s favorite Kiwi, the awesome Hikosaemon. He’s an incredibly prolific video blogger living in Tokyo, and his post today is about coming to understand Japanese values. Enjoy! About five years ago now, I sat in a meeting room being interviewed by a very senior woman executive of the American company [...]
Michael from Gakuranman.com is an adventurer. He’s currently living in Japan, and one of his favorite things to do is to explore and discover haikyo (abandoned sites / ruins) in Japan. For Tofugu’s current series of “scary” Japanese things, Michael has kindly offered to share with us the things that scare him most about his [...]
Learning Japanese is pretty tough on its own, but what lots of people don’t know is that there are a ton of different Japanese dialects, depending what part of the country you’re in. The way people talk in the northern part of Japan can be totally different than the way people sound in the south, [...]
Today’s guest cartoon comes from one of our intern applicants, Aerin! You can check out more of her awesome artwork on her website, http://invertedpath.com/. You might remember back in the day when Godzilla moved to the USA and started an office job; this comic is a continuation of that. Anyways, seriously cool artist. We definitely enjoyed [...]
Deas lives on and blogs from Hakatajima, halfway between Honshu and Shikoku. He’s a fellow wonky culture lover who tends to write about his personal struggle to conquer the Japanese language, as well as about trips abroad, adventures in eating, life as an ALT, and comedy. From tongue twisters, to old radio dramas and just [...]
