Evidence-led guides to Japanese language, names, culture, travel, food, anime, the Chinese zodiac and Japanese eras.
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Your Name in Japanese
Surname First or Last: What to Write Where
Japan flipped its own romanized name order in January 2020. What that means for the order you write, and where a swapped name creates a mismatch.
Writing & Language
Why the Second Alphabet Trips Everyone
Four look-alike pairs, a long-vowel bar with no hiragana equivalent, and words you have to decode back into English. Where katakana really breaks down.
Japanese Phrases
The Word You Will Use Fifty Times a Day
Sumimasen calls a waiter, apologizes, thanks, squeezes past, opens a question and softens a request. Which job the tone and the situation assign.
Japanese Food
Paying Before You Sit Down
Buy the ticket, hand it over, sit and wait. Where the topping buttons hide, what kaedama costs, and why the machine wants cash far more often than cards.
Travel to Japan
Fares by Season, Departure City and Booking Window
West Coast nonstops run hundreds below East Coast ones, and late March costs the most of any month. The fare pattern by month and when to buy.
Japanese Crafts
How a Square of Cloth Carries a Bottle
Two knots do most of the work. Which cloth size to buy, how to wrap a box, a bottle and a watermelon, and why the plastic bag fee revived the habit.
Japanese Beauty
Oil First, Foam Second, and Why
The habit began with makeup that water would not move, and modern sunscreen kept it alive. When the second cleanse is pointless, and when it is not.
Japanese Eras
1 April 2019, and the Board Held Up
Suga held the card up before midday, thirty years after Obuchi did the same for Heisei. What happened in the room, and why the name stayed sealed.
Anime & Manga
Why the Studio Rarely Owns the Show
A publisher, a TV station, a label and a toy maker each buy a share of an anime. The studio that draws it usually holds none, and that decides sequels.
Your Name in Japanese
How a Foreign Name Becomes a Carved Seal
A hanko is not a signature and not always required any more. What a katakana seal costs, where banks still ask for one, and which shops carve them.
Japanese Food
The Small Dish You Never Ordered and Must Pay For
Otoshi is a seat charge served as food, usually 300 to 500 yen a head. Why it is not a scam, how nomihodai timing works, and ordering in rounds.
Writing & Language
A Two-Day Schedule for 46 Characters
Five blocks a day, written by hand, reading real words by Sunday night. The order that works, and the three characters worth extra time on day two.