Eating & Drinking
Whether you see some mysteriously giant sample food in the windows of restaurants while walking through Tokyo, or see a talent on TV eat five days’ worth of food in less than an hour, there’s no doubt that food challenges are a hugely popular thing in Japan. When so many people are concerned about eating…
Living
If you have ever arrived in Japan at Narita Airport, you may have been lucky enough to have walked out of Arrivals and immediately had a microphone shoved in your face. “Why did you come to Japan?” This is a Japanese TV show in which foreign visitors are asked their motives for voyaging to the…
Eating & Drinking
I consider myself a foodie. Not just a foodie, but a food-obsessed individual who’s constantly seeking the most exciting and satisfying tastes. I only have two rules when it comes to food: It can’t be alive (that just seems mean… and dangerous) It can’t be illegal (no one should be eating an endangered animal in…
Experience
What do you think of when you hear the words virtual reality? Does it conjure up images of a futuristic world full of robots and flying cars, or do you just picture a 40-year-old dude with too much spare time and not enough mountain dew? Whatever you associate VR with, it’s almost undeniable that it…
Shopping
Japan has a bit of a reputation for being the home of all things weird and wacky. You know that. Your mum knows that. The reptilian aliens secretly controlling all of our governments know that. It’s a thing none of us question. Japan: good food, sick nature, a bit odd.
Traveling
Wait. There are two teamLab digital art museums? Can I do both teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets on the same day? What else did I not know about Odaiba? How much can I accomplish in a single day of sightseeing without collapsing from exhaustion? The challenge had already started, even before I started following the…
Eating & Drinking
“You were an accident, albeit a happy one,” said my mother in a statement that has somewhat set the tone of my life so far. I am accident-prone. An accident waiting to happen. And, frequently, I am accidentally inappropriate. Which is why I thought the entirely inappropriate behaviour of crashing end of year parties sounded…
Eating & Drinking
It’s Christmas! You know what that means yeah? Greasy dirty deep-fried chicken for all. Well, if you’re in Japan at least. See, Japan has this weird Christmas tradition of eating KFC for Christmas dinner. That’s sick, but why? It all began in 1974. Christmas isn’t a national holiday in Japan, and although these days the…
Living
“Time to start! You will drum for 40 minutes non-stop.” I was shivering in an abandoned elementary school that had been converted into the base for one of Japan’s most renowned taiko drumming group – Ondekoza, literally “Demon Drum Group”. On 4 hours of sleep and with a hacking cough, I wondered mildly if I…
Experience
I might have been late to meeting my newly rented friend as a test of true friendship. Or I was just late. I’m never admitting which one is true! But there I was, almost breathless and 20 minutes late to our lunch appointment. How did I get here? I thought to myself. I DO have…
Experience
Shinjuku is home to one of the world’s busiest stations with over 3.5 million people passing through every day. With 200 exits from the station and countless winding streets through this dense commercial district, it is as much a place to lose someone as it is to meet someone. The entire area exudes potential for…
Living
The Challenge! The words ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘Zero Waste’ have been popping up a lot in the media recently. Between the worldwide climate protests, the climate summit, and the brave young activists who are speaking out, the discussion about how the choices we’re all making affect our future has been getting louder and louder. I have…
Experience
According to many a spiritual guru nowadays, enlightenment can be reached in many ways—cleansing the mind and body of distractions and toxins… going all the way to coffee enemas. Who’d a thunk? Could this be the fast track to spiritual bliss? If that’s the case, ‘bottoms’ up! Everlasting inner peace, here I come! At least…