Straddling the skyline in Shibu Toge Pass

Ever since I moved to Gunma, I've wanted to visit the caldera of Mt. Kusatsu-Shirane. Unfortunately, I'm doomed to disappointment as the volcanic activity levels have been too high to safely allow visitors for the past 3 years. Despite this, it's still well worth the effort to make the drive up the mountain. The twisty-turny...

Shibukawa – The Belly Button of Japan (日本のへそ)

Most cities have some sort of nickname or slogan. Not many claim to be the "belly button" of a country. The closest big(ish) city to my tiny town is about 30 min down the mountains, Shibukawa. Shibukawa is known for a lot of things - some famous onsen, a really weird spaceship bath, Initial D,...

One Man and a History of Jingles

This article was published in the April 2020 issue of AJET's CONNECT magazine. You can read it, and many other issues, at CONNECT Issuu Mukaiya Minoru is a name you’ve probably never heard, but you’ve absolutely listened to his works. Multiple times. Possibly even every day. Maybe you even know some of his tunes so well,...

My Life in an “Epidemic”

So, I'm sure some of you may have heard, but there's a little thing called coronavirus making it's way around Japan right now. *cough cough* maybe because the Diamond Princess quarantine was horribly bungled *cough* Anyway, I say "epidemic" with a health dose of sarcasm, because the situation is not really as bad as everyone...

Come on now, that’s clearly green!

So I was driving with my fiancé the other day and imparted this fun fact upon him: Japanese traffic lights are not green. They're blue. Of course this was said literally as we were driving under a traffic light, so he looked up and pointed out that it was pretty obviously green light. Nah man....

The Extremely Strange Tale of Dembei the (probably) Very Confused Fisherman

In 2018, the Japan Foundation conducted their "Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad" and found 633 Japanese language teachers and 11,764 language learners Japanese in Russia(1). But unlike in the United States, where studying Japanese became popular due to interest in business trading or pop culture, Japanese education has been going on in Russia for...

Hanako – The Oldest Damn Fish that Ever Was

When you think of Japan, nishikigoi or colored carp, are probably one of the first things you think of. What you might not think of, is one of these koi being older than the United States of America. But Hanako was a very special fish. Dr. Komei Koshihara inherited a fish that had been passed...