Which do you prefer, Kindle or physical books? This question has been much talked about on the Internet. I thought I preferred Kindle. In fact, I’ve been buying many books on Kindle. As you know, it makes it much easier for us to buy new...

Have you ever had Japanese instant noodles? Having made some research, I found more than 100 billion meals of instant noodles are eaten annually in the world. Considering the world population of 7.5 billion, people eat instant noodles at...

Do you like gossip? You may believe “No way! I’m not such a person who gossips around.” I know how you feel, but I’m afraid you can’t see yourself. In fact, it seems that a man is an animal to gossip. According to a study by UC Riverside...

Galapagos-ization: phenomenon of companies becoming overly specialized in developing products for the domestic market (Wikipedia definition). This happens very often in Japan. Mind you. It’s not about our furniture but about Japanese kid...

Have you ever heard the words “The official announcement of cherry blossom flowering?” We very often hear the words in Japan in March to April. Let me explain what it is. There are 58 sample cherry trees across Japan, and the officers of...

What if there’s a museum where you can see all the masterpieces of art at a time? Like “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, “Sunflowers” by Vincent Van Gogh, “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso, etc. Of course, I know they are exhibited in differen...

Sushi and sashimi are Japanese specialty foods, and I believe they are definitely what many of the people coming from overseas look forward to eating in Japan. How often do you think Japanese people eat such Japanese specilty foods? Acco...

January and February are said to be the coldest months in Japan. It’s in the middle of winter, and almost all of the fields are fully covered with snow in Hokkaido, the northernmost area of Japan. Some weeks ago, one day in January, I dr...

Last week I went to see an ice hockey match. Here in Hokkaido, skiing and skating are the two major winter sports, but ski and skate areas are completely separate. My hometown is a ski area, and I haven’t skated so much and had never eve...

What do you think the smell of your country is like? This may be a difficult question to answer because it is said that we can’t smell our own house. A sense of smell is likely to decrease more easily than other senses, and we soon get u...