Back in January I accepted WordPress’s Post A Week challenge, although I was worried that I might not be able to keep it up. (There was a Post A Day challenge too, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that!) Now, WordPress has invited us challengers to reflect on our accomplishments with eleven … Continue reading
As a special post-Christmas treat, my mum surprised me by preparing all the ingredients to make the matcha and azuki roll cake I had recently drooled over on the Japan Centre website. I’ll admit that both of us thought it might be a bit of a challenge, but it was a challenge we were willing … Continue reading
Christmas Day had a little burst of Japanese fun this year – Hello Kitty Christmas Crackers! I was really excited to see that my mum had found Kitty-chan crackers in Tesco. Hello Kitty seems to be really popular in the UK at the moment, which is good news for me. The crackers contained some pretty … Continue reading
Merry Christmas everyone! メリークリスマス！ Thank you for reading all year and sticking with me even though I left Japan. Please keep reading in the New Year, as I will strive to keep up my promise of weekly posts about Japan, Japanese culture, and Japanese-related happenings in the UK. If you’ve never experienced Christmas in Japan, … Continue reading
It’s my birthday today, so I’ve decided to write a very self-indulgent post featuring some of the things I love about Japan. I’ve picked 30 random topics off the top of my head, in no particular order – one for every candle on my virtual birthday cake. 😉 1. Takoyaki Osaka’s favourite octopus balls! 2. … Continue reading
It’s J-Festa time again, and this month’s theme is Christmas in Japan. Christmas in Japan is a curious thing. December 25th is not a holiday in Japan, and most of the action takes place on December 24th, which is a big date night. By the end of December 25th, most traces of Christmas have completely gone … Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago I went to a seminar organised by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). The seminar’s title was Information Aid? The role of the media in responding to disasters, and the two speakers were Jon Snow (ITN journalist and Channel 4 … Continue reading
*UPDATE: Unfortunately this video has been removed from YouTube due to copyright issues (apparently it was uploaded illegally). For more information, see the comment thread on Japan Probe.* I rarely re-post something exactly as it was on someone else’s blog, but I need to share this post with you all. I found this on Japan … Continue reading
My A-Z of Japan has finally come to an end. In case you missed any installments, here they all are again: A is for… Azuki Beans B is for… Basho C is for… Cicada D is for… Daibutsu E is for… Ema F is for… Fans G is for… Green Tea Frappuccino H is for… … Continue reading
Here it is – the final installment in my A-Z of Japan! So, what could Z be for? The obvious choice would be zen, but I don’t know enough about it to write a “quick guide to zen”. I also considered writing about the 2003 movie Zatoichi, but I have to confess I didn’t really … Continue reading
Haikugirl's Japan 