A bit of an unusual update today. You have heard that the residence management system in Japan will be undergoing some rather big changes from July 2012. The current alien registration system will be abolished, and foreign nationals will be given a new ‘residence card’. They will also for the first time be able to [...]
Here’s a little timetable I picked up last summer. While reading one sounds like quite a simple task, in the heat of the moment when rushing to catch a ferry, it can sometimes catch you off guard.
Do you know the correct etiquette for bathing Japanese style? During a trip to Naoshima last summer, I picked up this pretty little pamphlet that describes the process.
Printing New Year’s cards to send out to friends and family is a custom given much importance in Japan. Huge quantities of postcards are send out all over the country just to ‘check in’ with people, even if it is just once a year.
As a recent flu victim myself, it seems a little ironic that I had already planned to write this post before becoming ill. It’s as much a cultural lesson as it is vocabulary.
Mario is celebrating his 25th anniversary this year and Nintendo are commemorating the event with a special edition boxset of the original Mario games.
Ever heard of the ‘ore ore’ scams encountered in Japan? Ore ore (俺俺) means ‘It’s me, it’s me!’ and is used to represent this social problem because the unpleasant encounter quite often begins with those very words. Today we examine a safety notice advising residents on how to avoid being deceived.
