You visit a hot-spring town. You take a bath. On the way home, you stop at a souvenir shop. Then…
Food & Everyday Life
Food, shopping, household habits and everyday things people rarely stop to question. From popular dishes to ordinary consumer behavior, this category looks at why familiar things become accepted as normal.
Can Koregusu Make You Fail a Breath Test? — Okinawa Soba and Japan’s Drunk-Driving Rules
You drive to an Okinawa soba restaurant. Someone offers you a sip of beer, but you turn it down. You…
Japanese Family Restaurants: More Self-Service, Higher Prices?
At a Japanese family restaurant, you walk over to the self-service drink station, press the cola button, and get little…
Why Do Japanese School Camps Make Curry? The Story Behind a Classic Camp Meal
Go on a Japanese school camping trip and a strangely familiar scene tends to appear: students split into small groups,…
Can a Bad Restaurant Review Get You in Legal Trouble in Japan? Where Opinion Ends and Defamation Begins
There is a strange tension around online restaurant reviews. Saying, “That was delicious” rarely causes trouble. Say, “That was terrible”,…