For those taking extra few days off work (like me!), today is the start of 11 days off Golden Week in Japan. Find out about golden week from my previous post: https://nativeexpat.home.blog/2019/04/26/what-is-golden-week-and-the-cheapest-way-to-narita-airport/ 2025’s Golden Week is what is called “飛び石連休“ （Tobi ishi renkyu or skipping stones public holidays) as the Golden Week is on Tuesday … Continue reading Golden Week 2025 – not so golden?
At the start of the week, cherry blossoms started to bloom with lots of buds still on the trees. Towards mid-week, there were cherry blossoms bit by bit around Tokyo: I thought cherry blossoms are blossoming earlier due to global warming but apparently cherry blossoms are blooming later than usual..or something not at all. I … Continue reading Japanese icons that may become a mere symbol
As Japanese culture is highly linked to seasons, spring equinox (春分の日）which was Thurs March 20 was a public holiday. I've mentioned in previous blog posts that Japanese sweets called 和菓子 (wagashi) is quite seasonal like sakuramochi, refreshing citrus jelly in summer, and chestnut and persimmon filled/inspired sweets in autumn. Not just seasonal, there are sweets … Continue reading Spring equinox – spring Japanese sweets
Last weekend was warm and sunny all around with plum blossoming, early cherry blossoms blooming. It was a perfect time to go for drive to visit a museum. You'd think that visiting a museum is a rainy day activity but I specifically wanted to visit Ichihara Lakeside Museum on a sunny day as it's located … Continue reading Art in Japan – Ichihara Lakeside Museum in Chiba
Post pandemic, weak yen and one of Japan's major holiday seasons, Golden Week (from April 29 - May 6) fueled the overtourism in Japan where not only domestic tourists visited to the main attractions including Kyoto but Japan is inundated with foreign tourists. In fact, one of my friends from Australia is currently visiting and … Continue reading Over tourisms in Japan and Japan’s responses
April 1 is the start of new year in Japan where many graduates started their life in corporate life. When I'm out especially on Friday nights, I have noticed a big group of black suit cladded young people partaking in 飲みニケーション "nommunication" or a Japanese corporate culture where colleagues build bond over alcohol. At the … Continue reading Graduates in Japan -12 office harassment types and surprising usage of their first paycheck
Today starts the long holiday in Japan called Golden Week (read more about what Golden Week from my previous blog) where Monday April 29th, Friday March 3rd and Monday May 6 are public holidays. https://nativeexpat.home.blog/2019/04/26/what-is-golden-week-and-the-cheapest-way-to-narita-airport The first public holiday is Showa Day commemorating Showa emperor's birthday (current emperor's grandfather) and last weekend, I visited a … Continue reading Exploring the sprawling spring symphony at Showa Kinen Park
Japan is one of everyone's hottest travel destinations (unless you're already here like me!) as I see foreign tourists everywhere I go. I have at least 3 sets of friends visiting Japan this year and many more who wants to. According to Japan tourism, JNTO, the number of foreign visitors to Japan reached 2,788,000 in … Continue reading Foreigner perspective of Japan
To celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary, we finally visited the last prefecture we haven't set foot on, 岩手 Iwate prefecture in Tohoku located in the northern part of Japan's main island. We caught the shinkansen from Tokyo to Shinhanamaki station in Iwate to start our weekend. First stop: Bite into Iwate We started our trip … Continue reading A weekend away in Iwate
Tomorrow, March 3 is ひな祭り (hinamatsuri), Girl's Day in Japan. In the previous blog, I have mentioned about Oguro Saburo's cute wooden and modern version of dolls for hinamatsuri that children's can play with: https://nativeexpat.home.blog/2024/02/03/japanese-brand-highlight-u-plan-by-oguro-saburo In this blog, I'll share about the traditional 雛人形（hina dolls) decorated. About Hina dolls When a girl is born, often … Continue reading Girl’s Day’s hina doll explained
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