After five wonderful years spent living in Japan, I’ve now returned to the UK to live. To a certain extent this won’t affect the contents of Big On Japan: I’ll still be posting the same mix of articles I wrote whilst living in Japan, along with photos I took there. I’ll also continue posting the best Japan-related photos and videos I find on the net too.

But additionally, there’ll be more articles examining similarities and differences between British and Japanese cultures, especially those focusing on life in England from someone who’s gotten used to living in Japan. (more…)

Click on photos to see enlarged versions. Captions are below.

<<01>> If sakura (cherry blossoms) herald full-on orgiastic appreciation of seasonal change, ume (plum blossoms) are the foreplay that gently warms the Japanese up. Blossoming a few weeks earlier than sakura, ume mark a slight increase in temperature and seasonal excitement, in anticipation of the main event. Here is one of Kyoto’s most famous plum blossom viewing spots, the ume garden at Kitano Tenman-gū shrine. (more…)

This student is reluctant to leave the classroom after the lesson has finished, and is about as difficult to get rid of as a fart in a spacesuit. Taking it upon themselves to attempt to engage you in conversation about dull topics that could have been discussed during the lesson, their efforts to prolong their weekly dose of social contact are particularly frustrating when you have another lesson immediately after theirs, or when theirs is the last lesson of the night and you’re eager to get home.

Regular viewers of Japanese TV will be familiar with the uaido shō (wide shows=variety shows) that dominate TV schedules in Japan. These consist of tarento (TV personalities) and comedians getting together to particapate in group activities, most commonly those staples of Japanese life, eating, drinking, shopping and travelling.

There’s only one thing that the people on these shows like doing more, and that’s (more…)

Japanese society is renowned for people’s concern for the wellbeing of the group as a whole. However, this means nothing to The Health Risk: they insist on coming to class for their weekly dose of social contact, even though they have a virus or infectious disease. (more…)

The last two Top TV Commercials have focused on products unique to Japan that have been advertised in a memorable way. This time round, I’m going to look at memorable Japanese advertising for a product that isn’t unique to Japan, but is familiar to people all over the world.

The Product: Fanta. Everyone knows the brand name, but as well as the usual orenji (orange) flavour Fanta, this series of ads also introduces the less familiar flavours of gurēpufurūtsu (grapefruit), howaito piichi (white peach), sumomo (plum), toropikaru furūtsu (tropical fruit), suiitii (sweety), gurēpu (grape) and sappari piichi (refreshing peach). For a full list of Fanta flavours sold in Japan, see Wikipedia.

The Ads: This series of 7 ads features a different teacher in the first six. The final one has all the teachers together with the school principle.

The teachers are: Mr Leather, an English (more…)