There are two main traditions marking the beginning of the new year in Hiroshima. Hatsumōde is the first visit of the year to a shrine and takes place throughout Japan....[ Click to read more ]
Christmas Day in Japan is just another working day, for the most part. The most exciting facet of the Christmas and holiday season in Japan is that all traces of...[ Click to read more ]
The turn of the year is holiday time in Japan. People are off work to celebrate the New Year with parties, family gatherings, culinary feasts, and hatsumode. Hatsumode is the...[ Click to read more ]
As an avid cyclist who rides daily for their commute, I tend to fear the winter months. Nothing does for the motivation like the icy wind biting at your fingers,...[ Click to read more ]
Winter is a time where we often have more time on our hands than we know what to do with. It is cold, wet, and mostly dark, so we often...[ Click to read more ]
It been a warm winter so far, but it is finally beginning the drop into the single digits. With that said, the possibility of snow begins to come to mind....[ Click to read more ]
While the cherry blossom is the flower that tends to dominate the imagination of Japanese botanic appreciation, it is perhaps the plum (ume) blossom that should be the more celebrated....[ Click to read more ]
Oshogatsu, or New Year, is the most important holiday in Japan. Businesses shut down from January 1 to January 3, and families gather to spend time together. During the New...[ Click to read more ]
Many people arrive in Japan from places where it simply does not get cold and are unaware that they need to worry about things like frozen pipes. In most places...[ Click to read more ]
Let's be honest for a moment: Tokyo is an amazing place, but sometimes all that concrete and urban bustle can get to even the best of us. What does a...[ Click to read more ]