There is an American video creator I follow, who is also an English teacher in Japan. I love his content for his foreigner-living-in-Japan stories, as I find his humor and insights relatable.

If you surf through his posts on Instagram, you will quickly find that there is an ongoing joke within his classroom, which he refers to as “caramel latte”. The children go absolutely bonkers when it comes up, and apparently it has been a source of chaos in the morning multiple times.

Why this man quit being emperor to be a cabbage farmer

“If you could see at Salonae the cabbages raised by our hands, you surely would never be tempted by the prospect of power ever again.” — Diocletian

It was this response that the former Roman emperor Diocletian gave, when he was encouraged by his former comrades to reclaim the throne and rule Rome once again.

He was a man who was arguably the most powerful figure on the planet, and then traded that lifestyle to become a cabbage farmer. A rather strange declaration I thought, until I found that everyone is actually the same.

The incredible health benefits of time in nature

It’s not just a trait of…

It’s springtime in Japan, which means it’s time for me to talk about cherry blossoms, or sakura.

It’s funny, because for any Japanese person working within the realm of food, entertainment, or leisure, it almost feels like a requirement to acknowledge and honor the tradition of sakura in the spring.

Shops begin to decorate their windows with sakura ornaments, and even convenience stores like 7–11 begin to adorn their shop windows with ads and images of sakura. …

A light and healthy sauce to use in all my dishes, without sacrificing flavor

Modern Japanese food is no stranger to thick, creamy sauces, but traditional Japanese cuisine actually relied heavily on a sauce that had no sugar, fats, or oil. This might sound like a health nut’s hack, but you’ve probably heard of it and used it before: soy sauce.

Standard soy sauce is made from soybeans, roasted wheat, culinary koji mold, and salt water. That’s it! This might seem like a bland combination, but what makes soy sauce so rich in flavor is the fermentation process which often spans several months, which helps it develop a deep umami flavor. …

A cup of green tea to go with your lunch, miss?

When you go to a restaurant and are asked to choose a drink to go with your lunch, there is a drink option that is consistently offered in Japan that is rarely found in the United States: green tea.

It’s not just restaurants, but you can order straight Japanese green tea at your movie theater, your McDonald’s, your local street vendor, at school, Disneyland, and almost every vending machine in the country. Oftentimes you’ll even be given several options for tea — green tea or black tea? Roasted or a blend with oolong? Tea is as varied and ubiquitous as…

I used to think resilience was a tool I just didn’t have. I can be an easy crier. How can one cry frequently and also be resilient? When we think of resilience, we imagine stoic faces, superhero power poses, and triumphant fists in the air. If we do a Google image search for “resilience,” a person shedding tears certainly does not come up.

I don’t think that anymore. It’s a realization that has come from time and age more than any single aha moment, but I know now that — much like how courage is not the absence of fear…

When we think about establishing boundaries, we often think of it as something curt, maybe a bit rude, but that we should be unapologetic about it anyways. Yet while I often agree with this sentiment, there is something about the pleasant art of saying no in Japanese.

The major difference between Japanese and American customer service

The sentiment of “the customer is always right” and “everything is negotiable” is prevalent throughout American consumer culture — in food, in lodging, in transportation, and in retail, most Americans approach customer service with the expectation that some negotiating and flexibility in rules can be applied.

But unlike American customer service, Japanese customer…

My mom had texted me, “Do you want me to pick up anything at the supermarket?”

We had no more bread at home, and I was thinking about going out and buying it myself. But if my mom picked it up for me, I wouldn’t have to leave the house today. It would be convenient.

I replied, “Thanks for checking in, but I don’t need anything!”

You see, my thumb had hovered over the ‘Send’ button for a brief moment — it would be so much easier if she had just picked something up at the grocery instead. I could…