These are our favorite educational/satirical videos about Japanese culture. Although they are all in Japanese, the humor transcends language (and luckily, some have subtitles). Let us know what your favorites are!

Tags: Japan

Since it was such a nice day, we were hoping to be able to see Mt. Fuji from Yokohama's Marine Tower, the tallest lighthouse in the world. The mountain eluded us once again, but the view was still spectacular. We even saw a couple get married on a nearby rooftop! Below us, Yamashita Park seemed so inviting we decided to take a stroll through it. As is often the case when in Japan, thousands of other people had the same idea. It was a treat to see families picnicking, boys playing baseball, couples tossing frisbees, and kids chasing their dads. Not surprisingly, Japanese people have perfected the art of building and using parks.

Tags: Japan

One of the greatest things about coming to Japan with Tawny has been discovering all the things she loves about this country. She always tells me that Japan is a complicated mixture of old and new. On the one hand, their culture hangs on tooth and nail to its traditions and customs, which go back thousands of years. On the other hand, their culture pushes the modern envelope on almost every level. As I look around I see this in many places. Nowhere is the “Japanese Paradox” more evident than in public restrooms. In most of them, you will usually see at least three stalls.

In one, you might come across a “squatter.” I have yet to experience using one of these, but Tawny keeps telling me it is a must . . . at least once. I look at the squatter as a last resort to be used only in a time of dire emergency. If I am being honest, I am not even sure I know how they are supposed to be used. These have been around for a long time and represent Japan’s past. While I imagine most people would rather use something else, they are still installed in almost every public bathroom.








Another style you are likely to see is a “Western” toilet. To me, these are a symbol of Japan welcoming the West and embracing its culture. Even though Japan is still holding on to its past, it is happy to accommodate its visitors from the other parts of the world.











The third, which is found in newer buildings, is the “washlet.” This is the culmination of many brilliant Japanese minds at work. The seats and bidets are both heated. Many are equipped with air fresheners and background noise makers to cover up any embarrassing smells and sounds. Some even lift and lower the toilet seat automatically when you enter and exit. The list of features goes on and on. They are really expensive, costing anywhere from $200 to $500 or more. The controls on these can be daunting and complicated. They aren’t usually in English, so it can be dangerous pushing random buttons. You risk getting sprayed from the front or the back. In a word, these toilets are amazing.

Tags: Japan

The hardest thing about living here is deciding which of the 15 nearby museums we should visit next. To kick off our exhibit tour, we went to the Silk Museum. There, we learned how silk is produced, how it is used to make cloth, and how significant it is to many cultures. One of the highlights (in a weird, creepy way) was seeing the worms form their cocoons, which in turn were unwound for the silk thread. We elected to watch the only English video they had available: a documentary on Bashofu, a traditional Okinawan fabric made from banana trees. It is a painstaking, arduous, time-consuming, and fascinating process. Depicted in our picture album are looms, silk kimono, other crafts you can make with silk cocoons, and a representation of how many cocoons are needed to make certain articles of clothing. (Click on the photo to the left to see them all.)

Tags: Japan

Since we are away from home and our current housing doesn’t allow us to prepare any meals fancier than cup-o-ramen soup or instant oatmeal, we end up eating out fairly often. For the most part, we try to limit this to once a day, which usually ends up being dinner. We aren’t big shoppers, but we do like to eat. Fortunately for us, the Japanese in their infinite wisdom have combined the luxuries of window shopping with food. In front of most restaurants is a display of nearly every dish offered, entirely fabricated of plastic. You might think this is kind of silly, but as it turns out, it’s incredibly helpful. Imagine walking into a restaurant and opening the menu, only to find it doesn’t make any sense. While I have Tawny to help me crack the code, you would be left without a clue. And if you loved what you happened to get, how would you ever order it again? In Japan this is not a problem. If you do not understand the menu, you can simply have the waitress accompany you to the display and point at what you want. (No joke; we’ve done this before.) At first the rubber food looks, well, pretty fake. But give it some time and you, too, will start to salivate when you see the plastic delicacies. And in case you’re wondering where all of this artificial food comes from, there is a district in Tokyo called Kappabashi that specializes in plastic cuisine. Each model is hand-crafted by Japanese masters to exactly replicate a restaurants’ dishes. As with everything Japanese, they take great pride in the realism of their phony food, which makes window-shopping for dinner so enjoyable.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a plastic model must be worth about a million.

Tags: Japan, Food

Just a short distance from our hotel stands Yokohama’s Red Brick Warehouse (Akarenga Sōko). Built in 1913, these beautiful warehouses were originally used as customs buildings. They survived the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 and were commandeered by American occupation troops between 1945 and 1956. Today, they are full of boutique-style shops and restaurants. Although it was our first time there, we were struck by a feeling of nostalgia. We enjoyed some Japanese curry donuts, purchased some souvenirs, admired the craftsmanship of the buildings, and loved every minute of it! Click on the photo below to see more of this historic area.

We’re back in Japan! We got off to a shaky start at the airport, having to wait 3.5 hours on the airplane while mechanics fixed a computer problem. Just when it seemed like the flight would be canceled, we pulled away from the terminal. We’re grateful the problem was solved and that we arrived in one piece. Now that we’re settled, we thought we’d give you the grand tour of our temporary lodging in Yokohama.

See more pictures we’ve taken of the hotel here.