Every day, stuff you'd never see anywhere else.
Every March 3rd, families with daughters display a set of Girls’ Day dolls that represent the Imperial court at its Heian Era finest… …but these days, you don’t have to … Continue Reading Girls’ Day dolls with a side of quirky
…learn to charge your devices • …eat instant ramen • …get addicted to those coin-gobbling, impossible-to-win claw machines • …learn to drive a train • …drink tea • …start your … Continue Reading In Japan, You’re Never Too Young To…
Links to the March-April 2022 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in March and April… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading Hike through bowers of flowers, Tevye-san, and a recipe even kale-haters will love
Links to the January-February 2022 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in January & February… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading Pre-battered suitcases, fabulous Japanese quilts & plum blossoms in the snow
Japan has just announced that the borders will be opened to some new classes of foreigners as of March 1, 2022: vaccinated* business travelers and students who have already been … Continue Reading Who can come to Japan now and what you have to do to get in
Links to the November-December 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in November & December… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading Japanese holiday cookies, a tunnel of golden gingko trees & so many foxes
Links to the September-October 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in September & October… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading Sake tasting how-to, the angry cat ghost parade & a voyage to Sado Island
This year, pandemic-emergency bar, restaurant and movie theater lock-downs and working from home all came together to create the ideal conditions for an excellent crop of new Mundane Halloween costumes! … Continue Reading Japan’s funniest Mundane Halloween costumes 2021!
Links to the July-August 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in July & August… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading How to read a haiku, goldfish galore & a garden of thatch-roofed farmhouses
Links to the May-June 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in May & June… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading Japanese wedding weirdness, how to live forever, and killer ginger-soy steak sauce
Links to the March-April 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in March & April… Click on photo or link to … Continue Reading Treasure rice, cherry blossoms at a northern castle, and Japanese ceremonies we didn’t know we needed
Links to the FEBRUARY 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in February… Click on photo or link to read • … Continue Reading 40,000 dolls dressed in Imperial court robes, Japanese chicken soup, & strange barbers of the pleasure quarter
Remember when I ordered all those fab Lego village kits? Well, the Buildiverse folks sent me one that I missed (or I would have already bought it instantly): this light-up … Continue Reading What do you need for cherry blossom season? Your own light-up Lego cherry tree!
Links to the JANUARY 2021 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. Still catching up here, how about you? Here are the features that Japanagram subscribers enjoyed in January… • … Continue Reading The grand pooh-bah of Japanese flea markets, glowing icicles & Japan’s obsession with pets
Just in time for Setsubun—the Japanese holiday on which demons are exorcized with dry beans and smelly sardines—the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium built this hilarious (and twisted!) ehōmaki sushi roll hideout … Continue Reading Live eel sushi rolls
Links to the DECEMBER 2020 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. I hope that the new year is bringing you all kinds of good changes and extra heapings of … Continue Reading The Japanese art of gift giving, millions of twinkling fairy lights, and hilarious Xmas weirdness
Every year in the city of Kitakyushu, Coming-of-Age Day is celebrated in over-the top style by 20-year-olds kitted out in outlandish versions of Japanese formalwear. The second Monday in January … Continue Reading Speed Tribes come of age, Yanki style
Even in Japan this year, a lot of temples and shrines are closed because of the current COVID spike, and trains didn’t run all night on New Year’s Eve, so … Continue Reading How to have a lucky (remote!) Japanese New Year
Don’t laugh! The humble haramaki is making a comeback, because nothing—and I mean nothing—keeps you warmer while sitting at your desk fielding endless zoom calls than this legwarmer for your … Continue Reading The best winter gift of 2020? A Japanese stomach warmer!
Tokyo’s best-dressed nude statue changes into the jolly old elf for the month of December, but sometimes his costumers get a bit…creative. When they started in the year 2000, the … Continue Reading Tokyo’s best-dressed nude statue: It’s that Santa time of year
If you don’t have someone on your list who would kill for one of these, you need new friends. These Lego kits for building your very own Japanese town populated … Continue Reading Japanese Lego Town Kits
Thanks for being by my side as The Last Tea Bowl Thief went out into the wide world to seek its fortune. Your friendship and support mean more to me than you … Continue Reading A killer Japanese garden lit up at night, delicious chicken & ginger yakitori meatballs, and how to get lucky, J-style
I’ve been a fan of the divine Tia Oguri since long before she began designing kimono with traditional African fabrics, because her kimono styling has always been out-of-this-world fresh and … Continue Reading Uber Dandy Kimono: Wildly modern, breathtakingly bold, insanely stunning
Back in July, the Japanese government had a great idea: replace those banned virus-ridden foreign tourists with nice Japanese ones. Japan was feeling pretty smug at the time—compared to other … Continue Reading Japan demonstrates what happens when you go home for the holidays during a pandemic
The owners of an eatery just outside the Yokosuka Naval Base wanted to be prepared in case the US election changed their Trump Burger* from today’s special to yesterday’s leftovers, … Continue Reading Biden Burger’s secret ingredient eerily predicts election outcome
Hi friend, it’s me again. Last month there was a special edition of Japanagram because I found so many things I wanted to share with you while I was getting … Continue Reading A convent with a secret, sesame-miso hotpot, and why it’s harder to get a Japanese boyfriend than a Japanese girlfriend
Hi everyone, it’s me, Jonelle. Whether you’re venturing out or sticking close to home, I hope this month’s features deliver a little break from whatever’s on your to-do list, or … Continue Reading A secret castle garden, a killer Japanese cocktail recipe, & why the more friends you have, the lonelier you might be
If you’re desperate to get out after months of quarantining and can’t resist that invite to a good old-fashioned Halloween party, the ace variety store Don Kihote suggests some costumes … Continue Reading Perfect 2020 Halloween costumes from Japan
You’ve probably seen these adorable tanuki figures outside of your favorite Japanese bar or restaurant, but did you happen to notice how, er, well endowed they are? Yeah. Can’t unsee. … Continue Reading When Nothing But Unnecessarily Large Tanuki Testicles Will Do
The new book is a two-timeline tale, with one thread taking place in the samurai era, and the other unspooling in modern-day Tokyo, where two women from opposite sides of … Continue Reading The World of The Last Tea Bowl Thief
Subway manners posters have admonished commuters not to whack fellow commuters onto the tracks with their rockabilly hair, avoid grabbing the station employees by their neckties, and stop dying from … Continue Reading Subway manners meet covid—with a side of prejudice—in these new posters
Twitter user Derek Wessman is a genius to have spotted (and appropriately translated) these brilliantly vandalized Japanese missionary signs that change the word “god” into the word “cat” by removing … Continue Reading Entertainingly altered missionary signs elevate cats to their rightful place
As we slide into fall, how are you doing? I hope you’re not in the path of any of the disasters that have been coming at us from all directions. … Continue Reading A town full of tricksters, strange Japanese beauty goals, and humble fall flowers that become spectacular in numbers
The Japanese design firm Triad just released one of the most Japanese products ever: the Hogwarts Castle notepad. Wait, that’s not Japanese! But…it is. Obviously, people who just need to … Continue Reading Amazing scenes emerge as you use this notepad
When your parents agonized over the perfect name for you, I hope they avoided all the usual pitfalls—initials that accidentally spell swear words, traumatizing nicknames, monikers that belong to disgraced … Continue Reading How lucky is YOUR name?
The talented artist known as y_haiku on Twitter and Instagram does it again! Why is it that… Movie hackersalways commit their crimesin dark rooms? • Why is it that… I … Continue Reading Hilarious haiku ask those burning questions about modern life
Are you still hanging in there, as we continue our wild ride through the Wonka tunnel and (hopefully soon!) pop out the other side? In a quest to make it … Continue Reading Surrounded by a waterfall, what to serve for Japanese dessert, and how to get the all-new, not-for-sale Yumi & Kenji short for free
For three hundred years, an elusive masterpiece passes from one fortune-seeker to the next, indelibly altering the lives of all who possess it… I’m so excited that I can finally give you … Continue Reading Potter, Poet, Warrior, Thief
I don’t know about you, but this year has given me a lot more respect for luck than I used to have. In Japan, people are a lot more comfortable … Continue Reading When you wish upon a…monk?
Hello, my friend. It’s me again, Jonelle. I hope it’s cheerier where you are, but it seems like nearly all my favorite things to look forward to during the carefree … Continue Reading Summery miso grilling sauce, a garden grown from 3,000-year-old lotus seeds, and what souvenirs NOT to buy this month
If you’ve been puzzling over why Japan is such a “mask-wearing society,” it’s not because they’re all super-OCD about germs. Here are six excellent Japanese reasons to wear a mask … Continue Reading Six Surprising Reasons Japanese People Wear Masks, Even When There’s No Pandemic
If you’ve ever wished you could shrink yourself and live in one of the amazing model worlds Japan is so famous for…now you can! Small Worlds—a vast, animatronic, model-trains-on-steriods theme … Continue Reading Live Your Best Miniature Life for a Year in Tokyo’s Small Worlds Theme Park
Hello, friend. It’s me, Jonelle. So, I’ve been wondering—are you experiencing micro-nostalgia too? At least once a day I find myself longing for the good old days…you know, like, four … Continue Reading Keeping cool in hilarious Japanese ways, a journey back to a simpler time, and the best soy-lemon salad dressing EVER
We’re coming into high matsuri season, when the local Shinto gods are paraded through the neighborhood to remind them of all the people and businesses they’re supposed to be keeping … Continue Reading An Only-In-Japan Problem If There Ever Was One
You know how they keep adding emoji, but there never seems to be one that matches exactly how you’re feeling? Do you ever find yourself wishing that, for example, there … Continue Reading Japanese Emoticons: So Many Feels Beyond Emoji
Hello, fellow kimono lovers of all shapes, sizes, colors, & geographic persuasions! Kimono princessing is all about mixing East and West, colors and patterns, styles and eras, and it warmly … Continue Reading Modern Kimonos To Die For: These Designers Are Giving An Old Artform New Edge
Hi, friend. It’s me, Jonelle. If you need a little break to recharge your batteries before heading back out into the fray, here are links to the features Japanagram subscribers … Continue Reading Samurai graffiti, mountaintop enlightenment, & the famous Yakitori Chicken Mini-Burger recipe
Tokyo lifted its state of emergency early, after new daily cases dropped into the low double digits for several days running. Despite the fact that there was no lockdown, and … Continue Reading 43 Reasons Japan Beat COVID-19 Without Lockdowns Or Mass Testing
DENIAL ANGER BARGAINING DEPRESSION ACCEPTANCE • How you doing, friend? (I won’t ask about your hair if you don’t ask about mine ><;;) I hope you’re hanging in there, and … Continue Reading Japanese Capsule Toys Explain the Five Stages of Quarantine Hair Grief
• I hope your own quarantining is filled with small joys every day. If you’d like more fun bits & pieces, join me here! Scroll down & subscribeヽ(*＾ω＾*)ﾉ • And … Continue Reading Gachapon animals ask their mirrors the most burning quarantine questions
Jonelle Patrick's Only In Japan