Evidence-led guides to Japanese language, names, culture, travel, food, anime, the Chinese zodiac and Japanese eras.
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Japanese Food
Regional Ramen Styles, and the Four Variables
Tonkotsu is a soup and shoyu is a seasoning, which is why tonkotsu shoyu is not a contradiction. Four independent variables, eight regional styles, and how to order.
Japanese Food
Sushi vs Sashimi: The Difference Is the Rice
Sushi is a word about rice, not about fish. Which is why a cucumber roll is sushi, a plate of raw tuna is not, and a seafood rice bowl still is not.
Japanese Food
Japanese Food for Beginners: How to Read a Menu
A Japanese menu lists techniques, not ingredients. Learn six characters and most of it explains itself - plus what to order first and how each kind of restaurant works.
Travel to Japan
The Apps You Actually Need in Japan
Six apps and one website cover a whole trip. Plus the honest answer on Suica: brilliant on an iPhone, mostly unavailable on Android, and what to do instead.
Travel to Japan
The Best Time of Year to Visit Japan
The best weather and the biggest crowds fall in different months, and that gap is the whole opportunity. Month by month, plus the three weeks the entire country travels.
Travel to Japan
How Much Money to Bring to Japan
Three daily budgets with what each one buys, the taxes that rose in 2026, and the tax-free change on 1 November that moves your refund from the till to the airport.
Travel to Japan
Is the Japan Rail Pass Worth It in 2026?
Tokyo to Kyoto to Hiroshima and back comes to about 44,760 yen against a 50,000 yen pass. The classic route does not break even, and from 1 October the pass costs more.
Travel to Japan
Planning a First Trip to Japan: The Order That Works
Seven decisions in the order they should be made, plus the four things that changed in 2026 and quietly made a lot of older Japan advice wrong.
Japanese Culture
Lucky and Unlucky Numbers in Japan
Four sounds like death and nine like suffering, so Japanese quietly says yon and kyu instead. Eight is lucky for the opposite kind of reason - the shape of the character.
Japanese Culture
Japanese Gift Giving: Occasions, Wrapping and Taboos
Omiyage, temiyage, ochugen, oseibo, and two kinds of envelope that mean opposite things. New notes for a wedding, old notes for a funeral - and why the knot decides.
Japanese Culture
Bowing in Japan: The Three Angles Explained
Eshaku, keirei and saikeirei - fifteen, thirty and forty-five degrees. A visitor spends almost the whole trip inside the first one, and here is when that stops being true.
Japanese Culture
Japanese Festivals by Season: A Year-Round Guide
Hanami in spring, Gion and Obon in summer, autumn leaves and Jidai Matsuri, then New Year. The festival year laid out, with the two weeks when everyone is travelling at once.