BURA TORA

Onsen Time / Announcements

October 11, 2019, Posted by : James

It's starting to cool down a bit in Tokyo, and when the beads of sweat normally dripping down our faces from the Tokyo summer humidity start to wane, we're surprisingly drawn back to the mountain hot springs, to sweat out the stress in the onsen waters.

For those who don't know, an onsen is a natural hot spring with mineral-rich water that Japanese have been using as baths for ...

Spreading Japanese Love

October 03, 2019, Posted by : James

I just spent a week in Michigan attending a friend's wedding. I had a good time until an unfortunate fight at the end of the night, but the unnecessarily expensive, symbolic, legally binding contract of marriage remains one of the only reasons I will buy a ticket back to the States for anything other than Christmas.

I brought my niece a pretty nice yukata and enjoyed being able ...

The Japanese Garden in Michigan

September 24, 2019, Posted by : James

I made a pilgrimage back to my home state to participate in a friend's wedding the other day. After the festivities ended and I made my way back to Grand Rapids, I headed to the Frederik Meijer Gardens to finally check out the "Japanese garden" designed by some Japanese guy - I know he's Japanese because his picture was on a haughty ...

Why is Japan obsessed with food

August 15, 2019, Posted by : James

There are very few foreigners who cross the pond and manage to spend several years in the land of the rising sun without falling head over heels for the food. On occasion i'll hear of a traveler that doesn't like Japanese food, but it's pretty hard not to like it after a couple years.

If somebody asked me to describe what makes a dish Japanese food in a technical way, I ...