Japan celebrates the new year, called oshogatsu (Japanese:お正月), on the first of January. Many salarymen and salarywomen go back to their hometowns for a few days to celebrate oshogatsu. As a result, most businesses are either closed in the first week of January or have limited operating hours. Families
In Japan, official notices or announcements usually have titles containing these four Japanese characters: お知らせ (oshirase). These notices, often written in formal, honorific Japanese called 敬語 (keigo), are a little difficult for me to comprehend. That said, I can generally guess what a notice is about if I recognise and
The Japanese language is made up of three writing systems: hiragana, katakana and kanji. Most Japanese sentences comprise characters from all three systems. So to be proficient, you have to learn all three systems. You could of course decide to only learn to speak Japanese by watching and listening to
The English word "odyssey" means "a long wandering or voyage marked by many changes of fortune", according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The source of the word is The Odyssey, a 24-volume collection of poems written by a Greek poet called Homer. This book of
A public bathhouse or sentou (Japanese: 銭湯) is a neighbourhood facility that has showering and bathing facilities. Sentou's were particularly widespread in the olden days when many Japanese homes lacked modern bathing facilities. Locals would therefore head to their neighbourhood sentou to have a shower and a good
The other day, I learned something very interesting about Japan's bank notes in the reading class I participate in. To recap, every two weeks we discuss a short story from author Shinichi Hoshi's (Japanese: 新一星) book called "Bokko-chan" (Japanese: ボッコちゃん). The book is
About one year ago, I went for a basic medical checkup and got a big wakeup call from the less-than-stellar results. My low-density lipoprotein ("LDL") levels exceeded the recommended range and my blood pressure was also on the high side. LDL - commonly referred to as
The title is a catchy quote from Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan's Masayoshi Son ("Gambling Man"), a book written by Lionel Barber and published by Penguin Books in Oct 2024. Gambling Man is the biography of Masayoshi Son ("Son"), who is one
Tokyo is a melting pot of architectural styles. You can walk along the same street and easily spot buildings with very contrasting design languages. Good design is always pleasing to the eye, whether it is brutalist or clean and modern. When pairing such walks with good weather and company, you
If you haven't been living under a rock, it is hard to overlook the fact that artificial intelligence ("AI") is a trending topic. Not a day goes by without market-moving news or major developments regarding AI. These range from new ways in which humans are
If you spend a lot of time indoors, something refreshing to do once in a blue moon is to head to a nearby park, sit down and soak in the sights and sounds. Weather permitting, of course. Hibiya Park (Japanese: 日比谷公園), located adjacent to the Imperial Palace (Japanese: 皇居) and
Tokyo recently hosted the 2025 World Athletics Championships (Sept 14th - Sept 21st) at the Kengo Kuma-designed Japan National Stadium. The stadium was purpose-built for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that eventually took place in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, spectators were not allowed into the stadium during