Japanese empathy towards boredom snacking — I was recently asked by a reader, “I once read this Japanese word, “Kuchisabishii” — would you mind sharing the meaning of it?” Ah, yes. Kuchisabishii. I’ve been hearing it a lot more these days in Japan, sometimes over Zoom calls and sometimes thrown around the house. When I catch…

Visit a McDonald’s in Japan and you’ll understand why — Whenever I talk to someone who has visited Japan, an ex-pat who has lived there or a tourist just passing by, they will more often than not mention something about the fast-food chains there. “If they tried to pull the same stunt in the United States, there would literally be…

For people stressed or intimidated by fitness culture — In the United States, I’m often bombarded with images and ads of fitness culture. Athleisure is the craze, and it seems that the majority of people are members of gyms like Anytime Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, or LA Fitness. Any decent hotel or typical college campus…

What to do when you’re always longing for the past — What time of the year is the hardest? If you asked this question in Japan, many people will respond May– in fact, it’s so prevalent that there is a informal sickness called gogatsu byou (五月病) or “Maytime Sickness”. Why May? This is because in Japan, around early springtime students often…

3 ways to naturally make healthy eating easier — Eating in moderation is that very simple advice that we know we need to do for our health (kind of like eating plenty of vegetables) but for many people it feels very…boring. And not boring like how you might think brushing your teeth is boring, but in the sense that…

How to meet your health goals without the stress — I’ve made many small life changes to better my health, all of which build up to a big effect on my wellbeing. But I feel as though none of these small life changes would’ve been sustainable without the mindset I carry today, which is to prioritize not worrying about my…

When you want to eat well, but you also want to go to brunch/dinner/a party/etc. — We go out to eat to meet friends, celebrate birthdays, or sometimes takeout on the couch with our partner is our idea of a fun and relaxing Sunday night. While these moments are important for our social or mental health, if we are looking to improve our physical health, sometimes…

Making healthy meals when you don’t have time, energy, and you just want to eat already — I don’t know where you are in this world at the moment, but dang– where I live, all of the sudden, it just got HOT. And not to mention my spring allergies are acting up 🤧 So imagine you’re me, it’s 6pm and you just had a full day of…

Why do we feel guilty for perfectly reasonable acts? — Sometimes I overeat, and it’ll leave me feeling, well, not too great about myself. Maybe I was feeling particularly stressed out, and wanted to comfort myself. Maybe I was just bored, and out of habit I just started snacking on something. As an imperfect person (as I assume all people…