Sushi, the quintessential Japanese cuisine Sushi is the quintessential Japanese cuisine and is ubiquitous in Japanese supermarkets, convenience stores, and in restaurants around the country. There are many kinds of Sushi, but the typical dish referred to as 'Sushi' is in fact just one type, called Nigirizushi, which literally means hand-pressed Sushi. In this Japonin(JOI) teachers' blog, Sakude...

Blood types in East Asia Japan, Taiwan and South Korea seem to have an obsession with Blood types as a way to gauge personalities. In women's magazines, they are frequently quoted as a way to gauge whether a person is compatible. On morning TV shows, they are often Blood Type daily fortunes rather in the same way that we find Zodiac signs in Western media. The science behind the phenomenon is di...

Getting lost in Japan Getting lost in Japan is actually very easy to do. If you are in Tokyo, the subway system is a complicated maze that requires some level of experience to master. The road networks in cities often feature one way streets which make navigating your route a tricky endeavour. But luckily, there are numerous detailed maps, GPS systems and map applications for cars and smartphone...

Japanese schools The Japanese education system has a compulsory elementary and junior high school. There are numerous mandatory academic subjects similar to most school systems around the world, which include mathematics, social studies, and science as well as the Japanese language. There are also non-academic classes, like art, P.E and music classes as well as traditional Japanese teaching whic...

Japanese Historical dramas On Japanese TV there has been an ongoing popularity of historical dramas. The biggest producer of these historical dramas is the national public broadcasting organization or NHK. NHK has been producing an annual, year-long historical drama called the Taiga Drama. Each year they choose a figure from Japanese history and weave fiction with real historical events to create...