Surviving the Rainy Season in Japan: 40 tips

Now that the rainy season has arrived, what perfect timing to discuss how to survive this time of heat, moisture and sweat. And now, 40 ways to survive the rainy season in Japan:

1. Buy an air conditioner. Although, you may find buying a car is a better investment.

2. Try an electric fan (or two, three… or ten). Fans are a great alternative if you wish to avoid using an air conditioner, because of its harmful effects on the environment. *Tip: put a bowl of ice in front of the fan for cooler air.

Japanese words to know when ordering online

It's been almost a month since I last posted, leaving me to wonder why I let all that time get away...

Dinner tonight was curry, as in カレーライス, or "kare raisu (curry rice)." Japanese curry is a somewhat stew-like curry, brown with orange carrot blobs and/or yellow potato blobs and/or beef/chicken/pork chunks, etc. The spiciness ranges from mild to "hot," although hot wouldn't necessarily be as spicy as Thai curry. I find curry to be incredibly addicting, and though I ate it in the States before coming to Japan, my way of cooking it has become much more "Japanese," as I attempt to emulate the various delicious curries found all over the country.

Since today was a dreary, wet, cold March day, I thought curry sounded perfect for dinner. Around 5 p.m. I started the process of chopping onions and sauteing them, whilst I minced garlic and ginger and gathered the rest of my ingredients from around the kitchen. The onions began caramelizing, so I threw in the ginger and garlic, followed with water, stock, a bay leaf and star anise. That all simmered nicely as the flavors amalgamated. About an hour later I put the still-somewhat-frozen chicken in the pot as my husband returned home, soaking wet. Since the chicken was so cold, I turned the stove up and put the lid back on to get everything heated quickly without allowing bacteria or anything to form. Well, as I got caught up in talking with my husband per the usual end-of-the-day conversations, I completely forgot I had left the burner on high, and sat down to read some food blogs while I "waited" for the chicken to "slowly" cook.

ようこそ and welcome

Expat Women Blog Directory

ようこそ！ (yokoso) Welcome! to my version of a Japan survival guide. Rather than a travel guide, this blog is for anyone moving to Japan to live for any length of time, or folks currently residing here.

So, if not for travel, you ask, what is the purpose of this blog? Why this particular blog?

Hundreds of blogs written by foreigners living in Japan already exist. Dozens of people have written books about living in Japan as well. An internet search would give anyone new to Japan plenty of information about living in this great and unique country, also known as nihon in Japanese. Yet, after living here for a year and a half, I realized there were many things about living in Japan that I had not come across in the many books I read, or the various blogs and internet research I had done. It was easy to find how-to's for introductions, bowing etiquette, and table manners. Books and lectures on culture and the latter said items were incessantly reiterated by those attempting to prepare me and hundreds of other new language teachers for the big transition. I even spent nine months learning basic Japanese and given explanations from my Japanese teachers about the Japan facts, such as: Japanese people sleep on futon (different than a futon in the western world) and use ofuro (a bath, deeper and less wide than a typical western bathtub, but the etiquette also differs from how westerners would usually take a bath).

So, I arrived in Japan, feeling quite prepared. I know the basics; I can order food and say thank you and introduce myself; I know how to use the onsen (public bath). The bustling and neon lights of Shinjuku mesmerized me, as every new and different thing I came across in those first few days left me in a state of awe and constant exclamation: "Japan is AMAZING!" Ah, yes, that first meeting with Tokyo could leave anyone in a state of exhilaration.