Almost all the Japanese people can't help feeling "I have to go home" whenever hearing the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne." The song is very popular and recognized in Japan as a song to inform closing time of shops, restaurants, etc. The Japanese title of the song is "The Light of Fireflies." People in Hokkaido have been working hard to recover the environment to see fireflies again.

Japan and India seem to have their own unique box lunch cultures: Japanese bento and Indian dabba. Among other things, the tidy content arrangement of Japanese bento is one of a kind, while the lunch delivery system (dabbawala) in Mumbai is unequaled in the world.

The biggest festival of design and creativity in Hokkaido was back! Why do we need real communication events like this, though it's not good in efficiency? If efficiency is prioritized most, we have no other choice but to stop living our lives.

Instant noodles were invented in Japan in 1968. The inventor's name was Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin, the top instant noodle brand in Japan. Let's see the background story of how he invented instant noodles and his company has been improved them.

Why do we like gossip? As Yuval Noah Harari says, it's because we are first and foremost social animals and designed to feel good by gossiping. We human beings can't live without communication with others including gossiping. The biggest festival of design and creativity in Hokkaido was back after the COVID! We need real communication events like this.

Gacha, Japanese capsule toy vending machines come back in style! The biggest Japanese advertising agency brought about a revolution in the Gacha industry. They've started to install Gacha in some international airports in Japan. Their target customers are foreign tourists who have too much time and too many Japanese coins on their hands.

In the popular places for cherry blossoms in the peak season, you can see many blue ground sheets spreading all over under cherry trees. Even though a good spot is secured somehow, most people just enjoy drinking and eating, and only few people look up cherry blossoms. This is the reality of cherry blossom viewing parties in contemporary Japan.

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 different museums in Paris, Tokyo, and Madrid respectively, but there is one such what-if place in Japan.

Hokkaido is famous for delicious seafood like sushi and sashimi because it's surrounded by the bountiful sea. My hometown Asahikawa is located in the very middle of Hokkaido, surrounded by mountains, far away from the sea, but you can have the best sushi because the town is the central distribution base of Hokkaido.

The number of deer has increased up to about 700,000 in Hokkaido, Japan, which causes problems such as car accidents and deforestation. About 100,000 deer are hunted every year, but that's not enough to stop them from increasing too many. There are many good restaurants serving deer meat dishes here. Let's eat more!