Posted by harvey in Art, Culture, Tokyo, Travel on 05. Oct, 2012 @ 10:03 pm | 1 Comment
One of the stops on my trip to Tokyo with @GuideYu a few months ago was to a Tenugui shop in Harajuku called Kamawanu. Tenugui are a traditional Japanese multipurpose cloth. To name just a few of the many uses for tenugui, back in the Edo period people would use tenugui as small towels, or [...]
Summertime in Japan means festivals and fireworks displays! I’m staying in Osaka now so I was able to check out Yodogawa Fireworks festival. There are also fireworks during Tenjin Festival, which I also went to, but locals all agree that Yodogawa Fireworks display is more spectacular on the fireworks front. At Japanese fireworks events, usually [...]
I had the opportunity to roam around Tokyo with Yuko (@guideyu and @guideyu_) from Guide-Yu.jp! Even though I lived in the Yokohama/Tokyo area for more than a few years, I learned a lot during our day-long tour and saw a lot of neat areas of Tokyo that I had maybe passed through but never really [...]
I went to Tenjin Matsuri (天神祭) in Osaka again this year! This year the festival was on July 24th and 25h. Every year the festival is held around Tenmabashi station area and events are centered around the river and Tenmangu Shrine. I have been to Tenjin Matsuri in the past, multiple times in fact, but [...]
Gion Matsuri is here again! I have been a few times before, in 2004 and in 2005 it seems from my old blog entries… quite some time ago… Gion Matsuri is a multi-day event. This time I went for Yoiyama. During Yoiyama the floats are all lit up and line the streets of Kyoto. The [...]
This is another guest post from my friend, Yuko (@guideyu and @guideyu_) from Guide-Yu, the super personalized Japan tour guide! Yuko is awesome. She’s Japanese – but she also is an avid Kabuki fan, makes Japanese sweets in her spare time, and even dances traditional Japanese buyou! A true fan of Japanese culture. Today she [...]
This is a guest post from my personal friend, Yuko (@guideyu and @guideyu_) from Guide-Yu, the super personalized Japan tour guide! Yuko is awesome. She’s Japanese – but she also is an avid Kabuki fan, makes Japanese sweets in her spare time, and even dances traditional Japanese buyou! A true fan of Japanese culture. Today [...]
Expat Bubble FAIL How to Increase your Chances of Getting Stuck in an Expat Bubble. Living in a foreign country and tired of constantly being bombarded by foreign sounds, smells, and events? Don’t you just wish you could curl up inside an expat bubble and never come out? Well you’re in luck. This article is [...]
I took a vacation to Hawaii and was surprised at all the Japanese people, language, and culture thriving on the island! Many signs are bilingual English-Japanese, and there are even shops that accept Japanese yen in Waikiki. A few nights ago we went to a karaoke shop that had more Japanese songs than English on [...]
I went to the Osaka Motor Show! (I was in Japan last week, back in Shanghai already though.) This was my first motor show, but it was basically what I expected. A geeks paradise. Cars, girls, lots of guys with cameras, and an excuse to point your camera at anything and take 100,000 photos in [...]
Well, another Japan blogger has beat me to self-publishing! (I really need to get on that.) Baye from Loco in Yokohama has finished his book! His blog is extremely popular so I’m sure his book will be enjoyed by many. His book is called “Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist” and [...]
Welcome to JapanNewbie.com! My goal is to get you excited about Japan and the Japanese language.
Posted by harvey in Osaka, Travel on 12. Aug, 2012 @ 2:25 pm | 1 Comment
Ever wanted to take a 20-minute cruise down Doutonbori river in Osaka? I lived in Osaka for about 4 years and didn’t… but I tried it yesterday! My parents are in town visiting so I was desperate to find easy touristy things for them to do. My mom would be happy just walking around a [...]
Posted by harvey in Culture, History, Music on 07. Aug, 2012 @ 9:31 am | 1 Comment
Some of my friends gave us a gift to congratulate us on our new baby! It plays music! Watch the video below to hear the song. It actually plays much longer but I just gave it a little tug to make the video. This is a traditional Japanese song for 6th grade elementary school kids [...]
Posted by harvey in Food, Osaka on 24. Jul, 2012 @ 4:57 pm | 2 Comments
I have a sudden interest in Japanese craft beers. I’m no expert, but I like beer. Japan has already made an international name for itself with Japanese whiskey, and now it seems that Japanese beer is also getting some attention. One of my friends in Shanghai mentioned that Japanese craft beer is pretty amazing, and [...]
Posted by harvey in Culture, Language on 21. Jul, 2012 @ 2:48 pm | Comments Off
New words! More culture! I recently learned the word “kasagumo.” I think I first heard it when I was visiting a Japanese art museum with a friend (@guideyu) and she was surprised I didn’t know the term. It bothers me when Japanese phrases come up in everyday conversation that I don’t recognize… so I looked [...]
Posted by harvey in Travel on 02. Apr, 2012 @ 6:45 pm | Comments Off
I visited Pearl Harbor during my trip to Hawaii in March. Some photos are below. You can all Google “Pearl Harbor” and read up on the events that took place just as well as anyone, so I’ll spare you the basic history lesson. The Pearl Harbor site is a well run tourist destination and is [...]
Posted by harvey in Language, Travel on 28. Mar, 2012 @ 6:04 am | Comments Off
I visited Hawaii for the first time this month and was blown away by the amount of Japanese around. There were signs in Japanese, Japanese food, Japanese tourists, white people hawking goods to Japanese tourists in broken Japanese… the whole nine yards! There are countless Japanese restaurants and even an ultra-famous Japanese Shaved Ice Place [...]
Posted by harvey in Study Abroad, Travel on 16. Mar, 2012 @ 5:05 pm | Comments Off
Hello readers! I’m not a JapanNewbie anymore, as you know… So I rely on my real JapanNewbie friends to provide insight into what life is like when you’re heading towards Japan nowadays. You may remember David from this previous post covering the intensive Japanese program at OSU. Well, David is back, and he is almost [...]
Posted by harvey in Culture, Society on 10. Mar, 2012 @ 1:38 pm | 7 Comments
bubbles Expat bubbles. Or in Japan you might call them gaijin bubbles. What are they? Why are they? Are they all bad? How can you avoid them? Here’s my two cents as someone who has lived in multiple countries, inside and outside of the bubbles. Living in an Expat Bubble You’re living in an “expat [...]
