Tag - living-in-japan

 
 

LIVING IN JAPAN

Learning the ropes of Japan’s online marketplaces can yield hidden treasures and also help you freshen up your home or closet from time to time.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 31, 2025
How to navigate Japan’s e-commerce platforms and online flea markets
Looking to refresh your wardrobe or home with the arrival of spring? Check out our tips for how to make the most of Japan’s online marketplaces.
Shogo Yamaguchi shares his love of traditional Japanese culture with an audience of nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 29, 2025
Shogo Yamaguchi: ‘Traditional culture thrives in a peaceful society’
The Kyoto-based content creator shares travel tips and reminisces on the path that led him to where he is today.
Pigeons — and their droppings — can be extremely difficult to manage once they settle in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 25, 2025
A new year, a new home and new unexpected guests: pigeons
They might seem harmless at first, but their droppings pose serious health risks to humans and the birds can be extremely difficult to manage once they settle in.
While you need to pass over cash for taxes, don't fall for scams that trick you into paying what you don't owe.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 6, 2025
Scams, taxes and tariffs: It's that time of year.
Financial scams abound in Japan and a new one uses tax-related terminology.
Lawyers advising in a racial profiling case speak during a news conference on Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 26, 2025
About 70% of foreign nationals questioned by police on the streets: survey
The survey was believed to be the first conducted comparing police questioning between foreign nationals and Japanese on the issue.
Kusatsu Onsen resort, a popular tourist destination in Gunma Prefecture, on Dec. 26, 2022
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025
Gunma ranks top among city dwellers eyeing countryside, survey shows
Respondents picked the prefecture for its child-friendly environment, rich natural surroundings and proximity to the Tokyo metropolitan area.
No South American fare is complete without empanadas, one of the traditional recipes in Kiera Wright-Ruiz's cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025
Chewing on race, culture and 'okonomiyaki' quesadillas
Kiera Wright-Ruiz’s debut cookbook serves up deep thoughts on her biracial heritage alongside delicious recipes.
Tokyo’s notoriously crowded trains and train stations can be stressful for many. Unfortunately, the ぶつかり男 (butsukari otoko, bumping man) takes his stress out on others through shoving, elbowing and shoulder checks.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 31, 2025
Mind the gap — and the shoulder checking: Dealing with pushy people in Japan's crowded spaces
Knowing what to say in the moment is good, knowing how to report it to the authorities is even better.
The Immigration Services Agency says it is unclear whether application fee price hikes will lead to shorter processing times, but would “continue its efforts to improve efficiency to minimize any inconvenience to applicants.”
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025
Japan's immigration processing fees to rise starting April 1
The Immigration Services Agency has cited rising prices and personnel costs for its first price hikes — of as much as 50% — in over four decades.
A reproduction experiment was conducted by placing two gas stoves side by side and heating large iron plates (top photo). The canister on the left stove overheated and ruptured (bottom photo).
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2025
Warnings issued for portable stoves as winter usage increases
The most common issue was improper canister placement leading to overheating and rupture, resulting in fatalities, burns and property damage.
Otono Kuboki, a Japanese Canadian hair stylist for salon chain Sozo, is a key figure in the company's mission to elevate the viability of Japan's hairdressing industry to foreign residents.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 11, 2025
Can an international makeover help Tokyo salons meet foreign demand?
Sozo Education aims to train Tokyo’s next crop of stylists not just in English vocabulary related to hairdressing but in the diverse needs of foreign hair types.
For the 20 Questions column this year, writers asked their interview subjects about everything from their lives in Japan to their thoughts on news topics.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 28, 2024
There were plenty of hot topics to opine on in 2024
We take a look back at some of the best answers that our interviewees gave for 20 Questions from throughout the year.
At each shrine and temple, priests create festive, decorative go-shuin stamps, and you can collect the marks of all seven of the lucky gods on one piece of paper (called a shikishi) to serve as a good-luck talisman.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 27, 2024
Start the new year not with one temple visit, but seven
The seven lucky gods pilgrimage is a less hurried alternative to the often-crowded first temple or shrine visit of the year.
A date night on Christmas Eve typically starts with a romantic dinner at a restaurant often with a great view or a private space.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 18, 2024
Silent night? Not if you want to impress your Christmas Eve date.
In Japan, a date night on Christmas Eve typically starts with a romantic dinner at a restaurant often with a great view or a private space.
Fewer and fewer people are using the administrative consultation system, which will mark its 70th anniversary next year.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 12, 2024
Japan aims to raise awareness of administrative consultation services
Fewer people are using the administrative consultation system, which will mark its 70th anniversary next year.
Kumiko Shichijo provides tips on Japanese etiquette and manners on Instagram and says videos on gift-giving and hand towels have done particularly well.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 29, 2024
Kumiko Shichijo: ‘Living abroad helped me appreciate Japanese etiquette’
Worried about committing a social faux pas while in Japan? This manners expert hopes to help you be your most polite while out and about.
After almost a decade of traveling around the world, a working holiday during the 2019 ski season in Nozawa Onsen was to be Rowie Geraerts’ last hurrah before she settled down in Australia.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 25, 2024
How a solo yoga teacher built a wellness community in the Japanese Alps
A budding entrepreneur from Australia, Rowie Geraerts has created Shizen Collective in Nozawa Onsen — a new home for herself, locals and visitors.
As the weather gets colder, we are seeing an uptick in cases of influenza as well as COVID-19.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 13, 2024
The Japanese you need to get vaccinated before winter comes
With strains of both COVID-19 and the flu circulating, learn the words that will help you navigate a visit to the clinic.
An experiment by NITE shows an oil heater catching fire from leaked kerosene.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 5, 2024
Consumers urged to check heater safety ahead of winter accident surge
Past incidents typically surged in November and peaked in December, with elevated levels of heater-related accidents continuing through April.
About 82% of all toilets in Japan have electric bidet toilet seats, with nearly all homes with flushing toilets having them installed.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 21, 2024
78% of electric bidet toilet accidents involve older models, report finds
Japan's product safety watchdog emphasizes the ubiquitous appliance's limited lifespan and advises users to regularly conduct safety checks to prevent mishaps.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.