japan– tag –

I rarely buy flowers. It's only on Mother's Day, though I forget even that sometimes. In addition, there's a mental wall in us, I guess. In fact, I've never seen anyone who is waiting for his/her date with a flower bouquet, and so I believe it only happens in the movies.

In 2021, due to the epidemic, foreign tourists can't come to Japan. Otherwise, this period of the year (I'm writing this in July) is usually the peak period of tourism in Hokkaido in early summer, though flowers bloom brilliantly as usua...

【A Dog of Flanders is too early for kids】 Have you ever read "A Dog of Flanders?" I don't know why that is, but the story is very popular in Japan. It was even made into an animated TV show. Probably, more than 90% of Japanese kids kne...

Travel by train in Japan is safe, punctual in time, etc. There are many advantages, but in Hokkaido, the infrastructure may be gone in the not-so-distant future. Please come here to travel around by rail before that happens.

The small town is called as "a town of miracle." It has no rail line, major route, and water infrastructure in it. Japan is facing a declining population, which is most obvious in rural areas. Nevertheless, the population of the town has been on the increase for these 20 years, surprisingly.

【It's safe but boring just to praise classic things】 Do you like antiques or vintage stuff? There are many classic cars that I like, but I don't like motor journalists or car critics who excessively praise classic cars. That's because ...

Soba, buckwheat noodle, is very popular in Japan. The harvest season of buckwheat is autumn, the same as wheat, but funnily enough, only soba noodles are recognized as an autumn seasonal food in Japan. And also, many Japanese people see Soba noodles more elegant than Ramen and Udon noodles.

As this may sound strange to people outside Japan, all the high school and university graduates join companies and start working in April, all at once. For one year before graduation, many companies throw recruiting sessions, and final-year university students spend most of their time in those sessions, instead of attending classes.

If you can only eat just one food, which would it be, ramen (noodle) or curry? I'm sure we all the Japanese people have asked and answered this stupid question at least once in our life. For your information, I'll take curry, definitely! Anyway, the point is ramen and curry are the top two popular foods in Japan. As I looked up the number of restaurants, ramen is about 24000; curry about 4700, respectively.

【Hokkaido is No.1 in salmon roe】 The Japanese people like to eat fish eggs. The roe of salmon and cod (pollack, to be more precise) is the top two. Salmon roe is one of special marine products of Hokkaido. It comes into season in the a...