Japan Travel in the Know– category –

【Funny Japanglish by the Prime Minister】 In 2000, the then Japanese Prime Minister wanted to make greetings in English at the first summit meeting with President Clinton. He tried to cram the following exchange of basic phrases: "How a...

【A home is a place to long for from a distance】 A journey itself is worthless, but it's what we learn from a journey that counts. It is a part of the subject of my previous article. As some of the readers may notice, it is inspired by ...

When conservative civil servants try to be creative, the results are often hilariously sorrowful. Explore the baffling world of Hokkaido's town taglines—where bells and flowers become "unique" features—and discover why Asahikawa chose furniture over its 100 rivers.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel survived the Great Kanto Earthquake on its opening day in $1923$ due to his innovative floating structure—a profound, immediate validation of his genius. Seeing the meticulous carvings, I recall the dictum: "God is in the details." This detail-orientation is a Japanese trait (our furniture is "full of God"), but it’s a paradox: some Japanese products, like certain cars, excel in detail yet "can't see the wood for the trees," resulting in a poor overall design. This is the Japanese Paradox: excelling at the micro-level while sometimes faltering at the macro-level. We strive to master both the detail and the clean, coherent form.