Go Eat Coco Ichibanya

I've talked about fast food chains in Japan that people should go try. Well, Coco Ichibanya deserves its own spotlight because it's that good! It's considered fast food in Japan even though it tastes like real food (America, you know what I'm talking about) and you sit down to eat it. It's a fast, cheap option for a meal that tastes delicious.

Why You Should Plan Your Japan Trip

There are quite a few articles out there on the internet about being spontaneous and just "going where the wind takes you" kind of attitude with traveling abroad. And while that's a great, exciting idea it may not be the best option for a trip to Japan. If you are not familiar with Japan's holidays whether they are well known or not, it may put a bump in your travels. And what about unexpected happenings? Planning is beneficial, no matter how detailed it is.

Top 5 Favorite Drinks in Japan

Something Japan is well known for are their drinks. Everyone knows about their famous vending machines that you can find on almost every corner.This makes grabbing a drink very quick and simple. Most vending machines will have about the same kind of drinks but you'll find a few that have drinks in them that are not as common. Not only in vending machines, but drinks can be purchased at stores and non-traditional Japanese restaurants. So it's pretty easy to get a drink in Japan, hot or cold, but they also have a great selection of various flavors. I'm always surprised by all the flavors they come up with and what you can find. Today, I'm going to share 5 of my favorite drinks in Japan.

Stories From Japan: Lost Gaijin

I had two public talks a few weeks ago. One talk was about manners in Japan and another was on travel in Japan. Both brought up really interesting questions from the attendees. But one question really stuck out to me. "What do you do when your lost?" Now the logical and predictable thing to do is to ask for help, but most people either don't know Japanese to that extent or have no confidence in their Japanese to ask for help. Instead of answering with these replies I simply said "do the lost gaijin look."

Arcades in Japan

There was a time when arcades were popular in America, but they have slowly died out. To me, arcades were rare to find. Then, I went to Japan and my childhood revived and doubled! Japan has many arcades to be enjoyed by people of all ages. They have some arcades that are small and only house one type of machine/game and then there are huge arcades that go above and beyond. I'm going to talk about all the cool games you'll find in a Japanese arcade.