As we approach the fourth year of this *!&$# pandemic, it’s a good time to start asking how we are going to get out of it. The vaccines and medicines, while a step in the right direction, haven’t cured us yet...
The modern Japanese language includes more and more words imported from English and other language families. And now you have a chance to nominate one of them as the official English word for Japan for 2022. The contest...
Life in a first-world country is often filled with consumption and other trappings of materialism. It is especially difficult to get away from it in the Tokyo-metro area, what with all major train stations built around...
Earlier this week, North Korea launched a series of ballistic missiles, including one that sailed high over Aomori Prefecture, at the north end of Japan’s main island of Honshu. I visited Aomori just last week. It’s a...
The first time I flew into Japan, my initial thought as I looked out the jumbo jet window was, “Wow, the roofs are all so blue.” This was back in 1991, and the flight path to Narita passed over homes that were topped...
I lived for a time in Seattle, where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a software company or coffee shop. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time typing on my laptop with Frappuccino blenders echoing in my ears. Here...
For foreign students of the Japanese language, there is no better way to feel miserable about your progress than by taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT, 日本語能力試験). Offered twice per year by the Japan...
A few nights ago, my wife suddenly grabbed her stomach in pain. “Ouch,” she said. It was a very loud and long-lasting “ouch,” and as this had happened earlier in the week as well, we thought it best to have a doctor...
A core requirement of many grown-up activities in Japan is having a savings account. But there are some adults—law-abiding, financially stable Japanophiles—who not only don’t have a Japanese bank account, they are...
When I first arrived in Japan, getting a driver’s license was a piece of cake. I moved from a place that had a full reciprocal agreement with Japan concerning such licenses. Once I provided the basics like my name and...
Tim Patrick
