Staycation at the Muji Hotel in Ginza

Confession: I’m not paid by any sponsors. I’m too small. That said, there are certain brands that I enjoy and have found to be rather delightful here in Japan. One such is Mujirushi Ryohin, or Muji, as it is more popularly known. It sells all manner of goods: clothing, food, furniture, housewares, scented oils, and […]

Barcelona Cathedral

When people think of Barcelona, they usually think of Gaudi and his unfinished masterwork, La Sagrada Familia. While it is incredibly stunning and 100% worth visiting, there’s also Barcelona Cathedral, the little cathedral that could. It holds a lot of historical importance to the city and has its own unique quirks that help it stand […]

The Aqueducts of Segovia

Did you know that Segovia has some of the most complete and well-preserved Roman aqueducts in all of Europe? These amazing water delivery systems pierce through the heart of the city and make for some of the most amazing views you can get of the fallen empire.

The Columns of The Temple of Augustus in Barcelona

You can wander around most large cities and find all sorts of interesting hole-in-the-wall style locations: Bars, shops, eateries, museums, and so forth. In Europe, given its rich and tumultuous history, you can find all manner of intrigue in larger cities. When in Barcelona, we happened to accidentally stumble onto the ruins of The Temple […]

Temple of Debod in Madrid

There’s a complicated history with the pillaging and plundering of different areas of the world by the major colonial powers. You hear these stories with some regularity across various media, but what about the times when these artifacts are not stolen, but rather, gifted? As a sign of gratitude for the nation’s assistance in cultural […]

Coming to Coffee

I fancied myself on the side of tea for a very long time. I found it to be bearable, even in its most repulsive or difficult of forms, whereas coffee was always a struggle to keep down. But something has changed in this past year. I’ve found myself slowly warming up to bean juice and […]

Harassment in Japan

Japan loves to play with language, and it also enjoys categorizing different things. Harassment seems to be an unhappy merging of the two, combining two words (one of which being harassment) to create a portmanteau to describe the bad behavior of those around us. Let’s take a peek at this world of harassment in Japan.

Railway Day (Tetsudou no Hi – 鉄道の日)

October 14th is a very special day in Japan for railway aficionados (or, less glamorously known, densha (train) otaku (nerds)). This is when, in 1911, the first stretch of railway connecting Yokohama to Tokyo officially opened. I figured this was a good opportunity to talk about all things trains and let everyone out there know […]

Life in Japan With Covid-19: Government-issued Masks (Abe no Mask)

The day has finally arrived! After first hearing about this in Spring, it only took until June for my wife and I to receive our masks from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe! Well, not from him directly, but from a government initiative to provide each household in Japan with two reusable masks to assist with keeping […]

Rojone: Drunk Sleeping

Ah, yes. The fabled Rojone, or Drunk Sleeping. The phenomenon of people drinking so much that they pick wherever it is they are, lay down, and begin their nightly slumber. So prevalent in Japan that it has its own word (路上寝: Ro (路 – road), Jo (上 – on), Ne (寝 – sleep). What is […]