Naked Festival
Well, almost. And it's all men :-p Crowds of men wearing nothing but loincloths joined a nighttime festival in western Japan, vying to catch wooden sticks said to bring good luck.…
The archive
Tanuki's articles — page 5
Browse tanuki's articles in the Akihabara archive.
Renting a Car in Japan
It's been getting easier for foreign travelers to rent a car in Japan. Some places even have car navigation systems that support English. This post explains in detail how you can rent a car whil…
It might get even easier to apply for permanent residence
Six years ago, Japanese PR was more difficult to apply for than Japanese citizenship. Since then, it has been getting easier. Now there is a point scheme that is easy to interpret, and applications …
Center Shiken: what is it, and why are people crazy about it?
Questions about Japan answered directly from Akihabara, Tokyo!
How was your experience of the recent snowstorm?
Since I live in the Pacific Ocean side of East Japan which was only affected mildly, we got only 20 minutes of snow. But then, the water taps outside are still frozen. All flower pots looked like the…
Why is Japanese government so stubborn on keeping military bases in Okinawa?
Okinawa Prefecture is scrambling to plot its next move in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling siding with the central government's effort to relocate the operations of a U.S. military base…
Why do Japan's expressways have long congestion lines every long weekend?
Questions about Japan answered directly from Akihabara, Tokyo!
Year End Vacation
Japanese companies have a year end vacation from around December 29th to around January 5th. The exact dates vary according to the positioning of weekends etc. There are fewer trains durin…
Is Japan finally moving away from nuclear energy?
The Abe administration has been repeatedly stressing that Japan cannot fulfill energy requirements without using nuclear energy. They have been at loggerheads with prefectural governments on restarti…
Any Scams to Avoid While Traveling in Japan?
Questions about Japan answered directly from Akihabara, Tokyo!