After visiting the 9th annual Japan Day @ Central Park in NYC this past May, I was excited when someone handed me a flyer for Japan Day Chicago at my local Japanese grocery store. Finally, Chicago was following suit. Sadly, from the time I was a teenager until now, it seems more and more Japanese stores and businesses have […]
I’m always both intrigued and skeptical of taking tours in the U.S. that deal with Asian culture. On one hand, I’m always curious what they’re going to teach and cover. But on the other, I find that sometimes the information they give is horribly inaccurate or that once they’ve found out I lived there, I […]
Truth be told, Chicago actually has its fair share of Asian culture spattered throughout the city. I mean, it’s no New York or San Francisco, but places do exist if you seek them out. I honestly haven’t done many #FindingAsia posts here yet– mainly because the sites are all a bit spread out and easier […]
Japan Day @ Central Park is New York City’s largest one-day celebration of all things Japanese. Having started in 2006, the festival only continues to grow even larger with thousands attending each year. So continuing my trend of hitting up as many Japanese festivals as possible around the US, I packed my bags and flew to […]
Iwas pretty excited when two giant brown boxes showed up at my door labeled Shikibox. Shiki (四季) means the “four seasons” in Japanese and that’s what I was promised to get– the best seasonal snacks Japan has to offer. Shikibox offers four different boxes: Minibox at $14.90 per month Shikibox at $19.90 per month Megabox at $29.90 per […]
The great thing about Chicago summers is that they’re filled with all sorts of festivals. I guess since we really only get a few weeks of great weather here, we have to make up for it by packing it all in come summertime. On any given week you can find at least four festivals going on. My favorite […]
Some people go to therapy, others prefer going to cuddle cats. Thanks to small apartment sizes, many of which aren’t even allowed to have animals, and the exorbitant price of pets, cat cafes (or animal cafes in general) have been a popular phenomena for the last couple of decades in Asia. I was no stranger […]
One of the places I was most looking forward to visiting in New York City was the Japan Society. Holding over 100 different events each year, the Japan Society is one of the leading U.S. organizations fostering a mutual understanding and appreciation between Japan and the United States. Founded in May of 1907 by a […]
Anime Central (or ACen as local con-goers call it) is the Midwest’s largest anime and manga convention. Taking place one weekend a year in Chicago, typically in May, its 30,000+ attendees puts it in the top three anime conventions in North America. Sure, I haven’t watched an anime series in almost three years and I can’t even […]
Nestled amongst the 1,017 acres of Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden is truly a gem in San Francisco (alongside their Japantown). It is the oldest Japanese garden in the United States, and one of the most authentic. It’s lush greenery is primarily made up of plants native to Japan and China and it utilizes many classical elements […]