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Nihon Tips — Life in Japan — Page 5

  • travel/ Apr 16, 2026

    The Side Gate

    A Kyoto native on the parallel city that runs alongside the postcards — the gate, the hour, and the quieter route to the same famous places.

    A stone path receding through a tunnel of vermilion torii gates toward distant light.
  • food/ Apr 14, 2026

    The Optimistic Cherry

    What does sakura actually taste of? Not cherries — it never did. A critic's autopsy of the pink season.

    A pink rice sweet wrapped in a pale pickled cherry leaf, resting on a wooden surface near a window.
  • daily-life/ Apr 11, 2026

    Sixteen Kinds of Rubbish

    A returned bag, sixteen categories, and the local calendar that actually runs your life — Japan's household waste sorting as a working system.

    A clear plastic bag of sorted cans inside a yellow mesh net, set on a kerb beside a concrete wall.
  • culture/ Apr 6, 2026

    Everyone Starts on the Same Day

    Fiscal year, school year, working year — in April the whole country steps over the same threshold at once.

    Two pale cherry blossom petals resting on the dark wool lapel of a folded coat.
  • travel/ Apr 4, 2026

    The Rules of the Bath

    A Kyoto native on onsen etiquette: wash first, the towel that never touches the water, and why being naked stops mattering fast.

    A folded towel on the stone rim of a steaming hot-spring bath beside a dim wooden wall.