I’m usually more of a sweet snacks person, generally opting for chocolate over crisps, but when it comes to nuts I just can’t resist. I love peanuts, cashews, and anything with a Japanese flavour such as wasabi, miso or soy sauce. Kinomi – a range of whole nuts dry roasted with Japanese seasonings – is … Continue reading »
I try not to bore you too much with the day-to-day goings on of my life because I’m sure no one out there really wants to read about all that stuff. I haven’t gone on too much about the stresses of moving, the hassle of unpacking, and the endless flat-pack-furniture building. This is, after all, a … Continue reading »
It’s one of the best times of year in Japan at the moment: Golden Week. Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク) is a collection of holidays that happen to fall very close together, causing one of the three main holiday periods in Japan (the other two being Obon (お盆) in August and Oshogatsu (お正月), which is New Year). … Continue reading »
I recently got hold of a Yutaka Sushi Kit, and thought I’d have a go at making sushi by myself. I tried making sushi once before with friends, and I wasn’t very good at it, but this time was much more successful. Yutaka also sell lots of other Japanese food and ingredients, and I decided … Continue reading »
At the beginning of April I was lying in bed one night browsing Facebook, when I spotted an announcement from Chiki Tea asking for tea tasters. Moments later I had managed to sign myself up to taste some funmatsucha (粉末茶). Not to be confused with matcha (抹茶), funmatsucha is actually micro-ground sencha (煎茶) (that’s ‘ordinary’ green … Continue reading »
Something you may not know about me is that I am a bit of a David Bowie fan. I’ve loved him since I was a kid, have all of his studio albums, and have seen him play live a couple of times. It’s been a while since I’ve really given much attention to Bowie, but … Continue reading »
When I lived in Japan I became aware of the Tokaido (東海道), an ancient road which once connected Tokyo (then Edo) to Kyoto. The Tokaido was the most important of the Edo Five Routes (Gokaidō / 五街道), five routes set up by the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康) (1543 – 1616) to connect Edo to other parts of Japan during the … Continue reading »
My knowledge of current Japanese pop music is not all it could be, but I became quite excited when I first heard RAYCHELL’s new album, which will be released on 24th April. RAYCHELL’s debut album, L>R, is a delightful mix of rock, pop and dance, with a couple of sway-inducing ballads thrown in for good … Continue reading »
I went to the theatre last night and now I’m going to try to review what I saw, but I’m still a little lost for words to be honest. I hoped that after a day Siro-A’s performance at the Leicester Square Theatre would have sunk in and I would have found a way to describe … Continue reading »
I’ve been a fan of Dan Kitchener’s street art for a while now, after having seen a couple of pieces around the Brick Lane area in London. This one caught my eye last year: The woman looked Japanese, and I wondered if she was supposed to be some kind of punk geisha. I saw another … Continue reading »
