The city of Yokohama boasts the second biggest population in Japan, but looking out the Shinkansen window, I never saw Tokyo end or Yokohama begin. The buildings lost their height and their charm, transforming more into suburbia with every stop. Meanwhile, uniformed men checked our tickets and uniformed women pushed carts down the aisle, whispering [...]

There’s something to be said for having everything in its right place. Organisation with regard to food is usually done in two places: in the cupboard and in the refrigerator. Boxes are used in both, but more so for dry foods like cereal or mac and cheese. If the user of the fridge in question [...]

Lunch in Anglo-Saxon offices is usually quick. Scores of articles in lifestyle magazines have been written for busy working men and women on how to make their lunch a bit more exciting than the sandwich bought from around the corner. Nevertheless, when readers are just too busy to prepare food at home, a sandwich hastily [...]

The nice thing about food places on the second floor is that they tend to feel like someone’s living room or attic: automatically homey, no matter what craziness is going on in the streets below. While walking through the unending streams of people in the Shinjuku Sanchome area of Tokyo, an orange sign caught my [...]

A diamond is, on its face, just a rock. Of course, it is a very hard rock, but it’s essentially a solid mass of carbon (also the main ingredient of graphite, the mineral used to make pencil tips). After the rock is cut, it becomes another story completely. The gem is judged by the four [...]

I have a severe weakness for Japanese curry. It’s the psychological equivalent of meatloaf for me. My mom used to make the gravy-like concoction from Vermont Curry mix, whose box boasts that there are hints of apples and honey in its honey-brown oily blocks of packed curry powder. My mom would dissolve the blocks, add [...]

Japan is renowned for its healthy people. Its national diet of fish, rice and vegetables, coupled with healthy doses of green tea, is lauded for being packed with antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and other things that sound vaguely good for you. It shows in terms of longevity and vitality, as old Japanese folk remain active [...]