Osaka Video Game Bars: American vs Japanese

Barcades have been popping up a lot in the last few years in America. They are essentially bars with arcade cabinets at the ready for patrons to play while they drink. A video game bar, to contrast, sets up more consoles–classic and modern– for patrons to have a go at while they drink. While visiting […]

Museum of Yebisu Beer: History and Beer

While visiting Ebisu a week ago, my wife decided that we would go to the Yebisu Beer Museum, just a short walk from Ebisu Station. I’m not a big fan of Japanese macro beers, but I figured it would be a nice experience. Little did I know, it would turn out to be much, much […]

Tokyo Christmas Market

I had asked the student what they were up to during the weekend and she replied that she was going to a German Christmas market deep in the heart of Tokyo. Intrigued, I asked her about the details and she showed me the website, replete with images of quaint cottages, cooked sausages, and a variety […]

Kawagoe Coffee Festival 2017

I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I am a sucker for festivals. As soon as I saw the hand-drawn posters for the Kawagoe Coffee Festival, I knew I would want to check it out, even though I’m not much of a coffee fan. I do enjoy the smell of roasting coffee, so with […]

Amazon Bar

Popup shops and restaurants are a pretty big business here in Japan, particularly in Tokyo. I’ve seen news of them from time to time, but one in particular caught my attention: Amazon. They created their own bar in the G735 Gallery in the fancy Ginza district of Tokyo. It’s only there from October 20th through […]

Cafe de One Piece

Living in Japan, I figured I’d see all sorts of cool and unique themed restaurants and cafes, especially those themed around popular anime and manga. Imagine my surprise when, in Korea, I stumbled upon a massive replica of the Thousand Sunny, the pirate ship of the Straw Hat Pirates in the popular Shounen Jump series […]

Seoul Craft Beers

While in Seoul, I had a small chance to partake in some local beers, brewed there right in the heart of the metropolis. I was not able to visit an extensive number of breweries or pubs due to time and money constraints, but the ones I was fortunate enough to visit offered a diverse offering […]

Enoshima Island

Just off of the coast of Kamakura, south of Tokyo, lays Enoshima Island, a small island that hosts many interesting man-made and natural beauties. One rainy weekend during summer, I was able to make a stop on the island for my wife’s birthday and get a little taste of what the island has to offer.

Akanasu Cat Pub

Picture a modest-sized bar where you order small finger foods and drinks. That’s known as an izakaya in Japan. Now picture a place where you play with cats as you drink tea. That’s known as a cat cafe. What happens when you merge the two? You get a cat izakaya (bar/pub), which is where my […]

An Introduction to Japanese Sake

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a closed event for sake tasting geared towards a more international crowd. The event had a lot of great information and free sake for the tasting. I’m not a big sake drinker, and didn’t know too much about the drink outside of popular culture, but […]