Posts in "Living in Japan Guide"

At last - an easy method to tether any iPhone or Android without jailbreaking or rooting. Saw the news on Mac Rumors this morning and thought I'd give it a whirl. The method I'm going to cover is for the iPhone and Mac but you can also do it for an A...

Nora neko [野良猫[のらねこ]] or "stray cats" can be found here there and everywhere. They tend to leave presents for their counterpart humans in the form of poo which come in a variety of shapes/sizes and smells. While folks who have a delicacy for o...

Soon after relocating to Japan, you'll want to get some essentials like a dakimakura to keep you company, and maybe some wrist support so that you dont break your arm when working hard at your new job. After that you'll probably want some furniture a...

Did you know there are 2 situations where you can get free drinks from a vending machine in Japan? One situation is where you have to first buy a drink from a vending machine that has what they call a "roulette" feature. The banner on the top of thi...

There are many resume templates that you can download from the Internets but I thought I'd share a tried and tested resume format that got me jobs at companies like Amazon and Microsoft and interview/job offers from Google and Apple - which I turned...

Pretty much knew it was going to snow due to the very cold weather we've been having in Tokyo. Last year we had to wait until mid February to get settling snow but this year our serving came early and it was really bucketing it down last night. Photo...

Had been using our Buffalo wireless router for a while now. Since then a load of new wireless standards came out which provide higher networking speeds. As the wireless speed of the old router was slow, I kept most of our macs in the house wired via...

Tis the Winter season in Japan right now. While the temperature is distinctly Winter, the surroundings look very Autumn. These photos taken the other day at my local park called Rinshi no Mori [林試の森] which is one of the larger parks in Tokyo. He...

Just got back to Tokyo. Had not been felling too well since I arrived in Singapore but couldn't afford to get sick so I held it off until I got back to Japan - then came down with a fever as soon as I got back ^^; Still recovering but should be fully...

Japan is not only the land of the Rising Sun, its also the land of electronics which is integrated into the daily lives of citizens in Japan. When we bought our house, it came with stuff like an interphone with monitor, heated toilet seats with a wat...

Had the honor of speaking recently at the largest university in Japan - Nihon University. And you could squeeze them like this while making a "puni puni" sound.

AKB48 had been encouraging folks to vote for who they wanted to be the next governor of Tokyo. There were a load of ads on the trains and on TV too - CM below.

Tis currently the Hanami [花見] season where folks come out onto the streets and flock around areas where they can enjoy the company of cherry blossoms which are currently in full bloom around Tokyo. This year however is different as folks are in "Ji...

A word of advice - even though your drivers license doesn't need renewing for another few years, mark your calendar as you may forget like I did. Wanted to take the car out one day and realized that it was invalid! "Bollocks" as they say back in ol B...

The myth is that the cost of living in Japan is ridiculously high and that apples cost the equivalent of 50 USD each. If you did fancy buying a 50 USD apple then there are places which do indeed sell em at that price. But the fact is that most media...

Every Winter I always end up saying "I wish it was Spring or Autumn." But one of the great things about Japan is its 4 distinct seasons which gives so much variety to life. T'was snowing a few times but today was the first time that snow actually set...

Been getting into this cycling thing quite a bit of late and been discovering a Tokyo that I would not normally discover thanks to the mobility of the two wheeler.

Thought I'd share some information about facilities for the disabled / handicapped in Japan after a friend visited Tokyo in her wheelchair. I also get questions from readers asking about the facilities too. The commonly used words for a disabled per...

Out n about in one of the major electronic stores Bic Camera. Walking through the TV section and noticed how cheap TV's have become. Back in the good old days when we were a wee bit more wealthy, we picked up a 37 inch plasma display for about 420,00...

Nothing better than something sweet to keep us going through the long hours filming where we regularly have to skip lunch and dinner >< When I first came to Japan, I noticed that co-workers would regularly buy snacks for each other. The Japanese sna...

Tis that time of year when the creepy crawlies or cutie crawlies (depending on your preference) come out not only to play but to also bite and suck on your juicy bouncy...legs. I say "cutie crawlie" because many folks over here love insects and keepi...

A bunch of saucy magazines that one can usually pick up from any convenient store. Which would you choose to go with the milk? When I was a wee lad back in the UK, I had to go to either 1 of 2 Japanese book shops in London to pick up Japanese magazi...

I got bored of our license plate so decided to change it. But if you prefer Japanese license plates then you can use this Japanese Number Plate Generator to make one for yourself. And if you are moving to Japan and are from the UK, read the Japan Dri...

For those of you who are considering living in Tokyo or want to see more of daily life, this new series is for you. From now on I'll be taking you to have a gander around different areas around Tokyo located around various train stations. Located aro...