Here’s what you can accomplish for children if there are very few firearms — It is possible to own rifles and shotguns in Japan, but it’s extremely hard to buy them due to the strict regulations. And most Japanese people appreciate the low gun violence rate. I’m not going to brag about anything in Japan because I love the U.S. I worked for an…

Welcome to my profile 2022 (regularly updated) — About Me✨ I’m an ex-supply chain manager, bilingual writer, translator, English tutor, and editor-in-chief of Japonica. I also write for The Japan Times as a contributing writer. Currently, I’m a top writer in travel and music on Medium, and I write on a wide range of topics such as Japanese culture, business…

Describing what you see makes everyday life more mindful — It has been 330 years since Matsuo Bashō established the style of short-form poetry called haiku. He was the most renowned haiku poet in the 17th century in Japan. Today, almost every Japanese student learns his masterworks at school. Over the past decade, a quiet haiku boom has been running…

How to unlock the power of fandom on Twitter — Call me lucky; I topped the trending chart on Medium last month. As a non-native English speaker, it was a truly amazing experience. And you may want to know the details if you’re tired of typical “how I went viral” articles. I analyzed the factors and found some intriguing facts…

Looking for funny souvenirs in Japan? Here’s what you want — Capsule toy stores are increasing in Japan. According to available data, the market size has been stable at around $187 million to $246 million (250億円 to 330億円) over the past two decades. Recently, however, it has grown to $336 million (450億円). I wasn’t aware of their popularity—especially among adults—until recently…

I lost my job because of dysfunctional “hokatsu” — The birthrate in Japan has been falling dramatically in recent years causing the population of the country to decline. In 2020, the fertility rate (the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime) in Tokyo was only 1.13, well below the replacement level of 2.07 needed to…

Learn Japanese rhyming. You’ll appreciate skillful rappers and Nikkei headlines. — When you think of hip-hop, what comes to mind? Window-shaking subwoofers bumping down the block at midnight? Here in Japan, hip-hop doesn’t rely on bass to create a seismic beat—well, but I thought it was just loud music before discovering artists on the Japanese scene. If you’re a Japanese learner…

Everything about crazy rich Twitterland — Japanese people LOVE Twitter. We’re the second-largest cluster with 58.95 million accounts, which is next to America’s 76.9 million. The reason for our dedication to this social media is often discussed—of course, on Twitter—and it comes from the following reasons. Five Reasons Why Japan Loves Twitter The Japanese language is high-context, and 140 characters can tell…

Everything you need to know before stepping into the land of sake, sake, nasake. — First and foremost, I’m writing this because Niigata is where my soul belongs. When I was little, I skied in Yuzawa and watched the spectacle of fireworks from my grandma’s riverside home in Nagaoka. My father took me everywhere if I asked, and we went fishing together in the Uono…