Tokyo Fashion City – A Guide to Tokyo’s Trendiest Fashion Districts by Philomena Keet, with photography by Yuri Manabe (Tuttle, 2016) is a fantastically detailed fashion bible, perfect for anyone with an interest in Japanese fashion, street fashion and Japanese culture. It is packed with colourful pictures of young fashionistas on the streets of Tokyo, reminding … Continue reading
I was going to post something longer this week, but this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge theme is ‘H2O‘ and that appealed to me, so here’s another photo blog! When I thought of H2O, I thought of rain, and I immediately thought of this photo I took in Nagoya in 2009: I remember sitting by the temple … Continue reading
This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge theme is ‘nostalgia‘. I wasn’t going to do another photo blog this week, but this theme was too good to resist. The word ‘nostalgia’ instantly makes me think of the Japanese word ‘natsukashii’ (懐かしい), which is one of those wonderful untranslatable words the Japanese language has so many of. It’s feeling … Continue reading
This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge theme is ‘quest‘, which immediately made me think of a number of adventures I’ve had in Japan. Often, both whilst living there and during my other trips, I’ve felt like I am on some kind of quest or mission. Sometimes I’m searching for the perfect photo opportunity, sometimes I’m searching for … Continue reading
“If you must blink, do it now…” What an opening line! I was captivated from the moment the film started, and Kubo & The Two Strings is without a doubt the best animated film I’ve seen this year, and in a long time. Kubo & The Two Strings is not a Japanese film, it’s an … Continue reading
I don’t have much time this week to post, so here’s just a quick heads up for those of you in the UK or with access to UK TV. This week a new three-part series about Japan started, featuring Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley. I haven’t watched it yet, but the images I’ve seen from … Continue reading
It’s been ages since I took part in WordPress’s Weekly Photo Challenge, so I thought this week I’d give it a go. This week the theme is ‘Mirror‘, which got me thinking about reflections. In Japan there are so many good opportunities for photos of reflections – here are just a few pictures I’ve taken … Continue reading
Keeping up with a Japanese culture blog when you lead a busy life can be hard, but it seems that whatever I do, wherever I go, Japan finds me. A lot of my free time these days is taken up with Latin dancing (salsa and bachata), and a while ago my teacher pointed out that one … Continue reading
Miso Tasty, my favourite supplier of miso (みそ) in the UK, created by chef and food blogger extraordinaire Bonnie Chung, has just published a fantastic new cookbook! Not only is this a lovely book to have on your shelf (it feels nice and fabricy and is beautifully designed with delicious photos throughout), it’s also packed … Continue reading
A few weeks ago Bristol saw another fantastic Upfest street art festival take place. Upfest is Europe’s largest free street art and graffiti festival, and the event sees artists travelling from all over the world to take part. There was lots of great artwork there, but today I’d like to highlight a few Japan-inspired pieces … Continue reading
Haikugirl's Japan 