For those of you who are business professionals, use English for work, and/or work in an international environment, using this peculiar time could be an opportunity to enhance your business skills and take them to the next level! Taking an online international MBA course accessible from the comfort of your home, adjusted to your schedule…

“The whole countryside was full of snakes sunning themselves along the roads and swimming in the ditches and newly flooded rice-fields… Out in Sesshu’s old garden behind the temple, the pond was starred with tiny twinkling water-lilies.”     Japanese Scrapbook, Glenn Shaw As notorious for their eulogies of places as they are for dampening the…

In addition to Japan being well known for its culinary delights, the country also enjoys a rich tradition of storytelling and folklore. Beautifully bringing the two together in a marriage of sensory bliss is Nazuki in the Tsukiji district of Tokyo. Entering the restaurant, guests descend an escalator swathed in a sublime blue light to…

Life in a greenhouse offers an ecological escape from the city. Driving east along the highway, the concrete landscape and high-rise buildings of Tokyo gradually give way to green fields and trees. About two hours outside of the city center, a highway exit leads us into the Japanese countryside, full of bamboo forests, rice paddies…

Sword and Screen: having survived a life-threatening illness, twenty-five years worth of period dramas and his first Academy Award nomination, Ken Watanabe is taking samurai values to Hollywood, and foreign directors are deeply interested. Dressed in jeans and a baseball cap, Ken Watanabe looks nothing like the seasoned samurai he usually portrays on the big…

The farmer who has dropped by the local soba store, a rickety old building that also doubles as a general store and post office, is an expansive character, speaking fondly and at Homeric length about the area in which he lives.  “In our town we have three treasures,” he says, taking a late morning sip…

While we often hear wages are the largest expense for a firm, what we don’t hear enough about is how investing in employee success can save money. In our increasingly globalized world it can be difficult to effect the kind of change you want to see in your organization. Moreover, with the increasingly multicultural teams…

In an ecological bid to counter the effects of the concrete jungle, city green space takes to the rooftops. Tokyoites are likely sweating the summer months to come for good reason. The number of hours that the city broils above the 30-degree Celcius mark has more than doubled in recent years. Temperatures will hang —…

RIKKA just opened on the 8th of March 2021 near Roppongi Hills. Enjoy the finest Japanese beef singled out over half a century, coveted by chefs of the Grand Maison and long-established meat wholesalers, fired in a stone oven and crafted by the most skilled professionals using first class ingredient. Upon entering the restaurant, the…

Life in Japan can be a whirlwind adventure some days, with others a headache. It’s not simply not knowing the rules, norms and right words to say in any given situation, sometimes it can be much bigger issues that stress us out. If for example you’ve ever been to an immigration office in Japan, then…