Category Archives for "Japanese Culture"

No matter how you stir it, slice it or serve it, more often than not, teaching public school is a full-time job. So your school becomes like a second home of sorts. This is true whether you’re teaching in the U.S. or teaching in Japan. Spending lots of time at your school means that you’ll […]

Ever heard the term otaku before? An English student of mine once explained that オタク translates to mean mania or enthusiast, and later became associated with those endaring expressions “geek” or “nerd.” You probably know the traditional nerd stereotype already: the glasses-wearing, fashion-aloof, pocket-protector wearing, Mark Zuckerberg-ish (sorry, Mark), man or woman who keeps to […]

Since coming here in 2008, I’ve gotten to have some downright fascinating discussions about Japanese culture and why certain aspects of the culture are the way they are. A subject that’s been discussed and rehashed, time and time again, is Japanese beauty. Before you call me a chauvinist and put my head on a spike, please […]

Many a foreigner will confess that Japan can be a super easy place to live. For those who have been here for maybe two years or longer, you may start to experience that cycle. You told your family and friends that Japan was temporary, that you’d just be here for a year. One year becomes […]

Mochi is probably one of the chewiest Japanese foods you can possibly eat. In its hot, ground, raw form, I think someone could replace Spiderman’s web cartridges with mochi, and Spidey wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. What is Mochi? Some dictionaries define mochi as a “Japanese rice cake,” but after seeing how […]

Woohoo! It’s 2014 baby! If you haven’t celebrated New Year’s in your time zone yet, please let me be the first to travel back in time to wish you the best New Year ever! Being in Japan often means celebrating the differences between cultures. One major difference between Japanese and American culture, among others, is […]

Finding a place to live is just one of those realities of life, one of the basic human necessities. I remember seeing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in school and if I recall it right, shelter is among the most important human, physiological needs (food, water, shelter, etc.), right at the base of the pyramid: What […]