Start your English teaching job off on the right foot by packing the best pair of indoor shoes. Every person and work assignment might be a bit different, but here are some safe bets for shoes to buy and bring to Japan. Top Japan English Teaching Shoes Comparison Allbirds Tree Loungers A Feel-Good Shoe $100 Lightweight Sustainable Neutral, Modern Look No Breaking-in Period Shop Allbirds Online Store Personal Favorite Crocs  On The Clock Clog An Easy, Reliable Choice ~$40 Slip-Resistant Arch Support Washable ..read more

Cozy Quest: 8 Best Kotatsu Tables for 2024 Start the year out cozy! I think it’s a pretty good new year’s resolution to not be cold and miserable. What do you think? That means it’s Kotatsu time!!! Why Do You Need a Kotatsu? It’s not just because kotatsus make you warm. It’s because a kotatsu is a significant energy savings compared to using the aircon, space heaters or kerosene stoves to heat a space. Heat the person, not the room. Japanese houses are drafty and poorly insulated, making it even more of a waste to try and keep a room warm. By sitting with your body under a kotatsu, the heat ..read more

My supervisor opened the door to my first-ever apartment in Japan and immediately apologized. The dated faux wood paneling was dinged, scratched, and littered with tape residue. The apartment had probably been closed without air circulation for several humid weeks, creating a thick atmosphere that smelled like mold and cat urine. Within minutes, he had found a can of insect spray and was on his knees in the kitchen, addressing a swarming line of ants. Is it even possible to make a place like this comfortable? I have to admit that at the beginning, I wasn’t confident. The fluorescent lights, in ..read more

Japanese winters aren’t that cold compared to where I’m from. What makes them difficult is the lack of insulation. Oof. You don’t want to run up a giant electricity bill by keeping the aircon on all the time. I learned from my neighbors that a kerosene stove heater is essential for the coldest winter days, especially in old Japanese houses. What is the Aladdin Kerosene Stove? Kerosene stoves have a few valuable benefits while living in Japan. The convection heat from a kerosene stove is strong, fast-acting and comfortable They are off-the-grid; great in case of natural disasters You can simul ..read more

Japanese winters aren’t that cold compared to where I’m from. What makes them difficult is the lack of insulation. Oof. You don’t want to run up a giant electricity bill by keeping the aircon on all the time. I learned from my neighbors that a kerosene stove heater is essential for winter, especially in old Japanese houses. What is the Aladdin Kerosene Stove? First of all, let’s look at kerosene stoves. Kerosene stoves have a few valuable benefits while living in Japan. The convection heat from a kerosene stove is strong, fast-acting and comfortable Well-managed kerosene heat costs less than ..read more

Vegetable, Produce and Grocery Delivery Boxes Across Japan CSA boxes (when available) are a God-send for inaka newbies for a few reasons: 日本全国の野菜・青果・食料品宅配ボックス CSAボックスは（入手可能な場合）、いくつかの理由から、田舎の初心者にとって天の恵みである： Access to organic produce can be limited in the countryside, as there are literally requirements to use chemicals by big-biz farm distributors. The variety at your small local store might be pretty limited. I have only seen kale for sale one time at the Sunday market in Kochi, but I know they grow it in Fukuoka. I digress… The freshness of produce at teeny-tiny neighborhood stores can b ..read more

The Japanese City-Pop Record I’m Sending to My Step-Dad for Christmas… Drum-Roll, Please! Marty: don’t peak. You aren’t allowed to read this article. So my step-dad has an epic vinyl collection but it is completely void of any classic vintage Japanese city-pop. What a shame! Retro Japanese music is so good! We need to resolve this. Runner-Up City-Pop Album Recommendations #5 Miki Matsubara: Who Are You?, 1980 The song, Jazzy Night, is delightfully nostalgic with the perfect amount of melodramatic in Japanese city-pop style. The songs are reminiscent of the Carpenters or Abba, so I think it w ..read more

iTalki for Japanese Review Having recently introduced iTalki briefly as a sponsor on my YouTube channel, I wanted to provide a bit more insight into their service offerings. iTalki is a useful service for pairing foreign language learners with online teachers and tutors. But it also might be suited more to some learners than others, so I wanted to share my experiences and thoughts. So here is an iTalki for Japanese review! Quick Ratings of iTalki Effectiveness Interface Teacher Quality Price ? This really varies depending on the effort and preparation that you invest ..read more

Japanese family leaves Tokyo for the inaka, only to be met by social disaster. #移住失敗 (#ImmigrationFailure) Kyoryokutai (Japan’s Chiiki Okoshi Kyoryokutai or JOCV) is a professional role that aims to revitalize the Japanese Countryside. Participants are given a salary from the Japanese government for up to three years (japanforward.com has a nice overview of the program in English). They are given resources to join start a new business while also taking time to volunteer in their new communities. In this video, a family recounts their participation in the program, only to be met by disaster. O ..read more

A Cheap Houses Japan Newsletter Review (From Someone Actually Living in a Cheap House in Japan) The most convenient way to start understanding the residential real estate market in Japan. It’s legit, it’s well curated, it’s operated by a real human, and comes with a few extra bells and whistles like the interactive map of back-listings and interesting articles. Based on the number of hours put into curating 20 noteworthy properties every week, it is absolutely worth it. And to make it even more affordable, you can click through this discount link to get another 20% off. Will it actually help y ..read more