Rice in Japan Rice is the staple food in Japan. It is eaten daily by people – often for all three meals in a day. But there are some reports that as Japan modernized and society underwent changes, other food started to be consumed as an alternative more and more. And this included bread and noodles. In this blog for Japanese learners, Japanese teacher Yukiko Takane explains the connection that ...

Top tourist sites in Japan Miyajima island in Hiroshima is one of the top five places for tourists to visit in Japan. Another top site is the Atomic Bomb museum in Hiroshima. This means that Hiroshima has a couple of world renowned places that are a must-see for sightseeing trips to Japan. The other places that are on the list are the city of Kyoto which used to be the imperial capital of Japan ...

High school sports in Japan In Japanese high schools and junior high schools, there are a wealth of sporting activities and after-school clubs. These include baseball, basketball, volleyball, softball and soccer. And you can also find clubs for traditional sports such as sumo (traditional wrestling), judo (martial arts), and kendo (traditional swordsmanship) as well. Baseball, soccer, and rugby...

Using computers in Japan When you come to Japan and start to live in the country, or when you start to learn Japanese, one of the first hurdles you face is using the computer in Japanese. This has now become quite easy and only requires setting the IME into the Japanese language. There are many online guides to teach how to write and how to use the keyboard too. But in this blog by a Japanese l...

Trends in Japan Japan is a famously faddish nation. There are trends that pop up, only to disappear soon after they become popular. And there are fashion and pop culture fads that become global phenomena in their own right. There are also many Japanese language trends that can be limited to certain age groups or even gender. In this blog for Japanese learners, Ms. Akari Ueno, a Japanese teacher...