My family and I went out to Cosmos Hanami at Shikata, Hyogo. It was just a week event that happens once a year in October. Cosmos in shades of pink, fuschia and white are in full bloom when we went there. Picking flowers is also free however you need to merge it in water immediately. (more…)

My good friend Mike, who’s lived on Okinawa for decades, has a theory! It goes that whenever the Okinawan’s plan a party, the weather will hold off for as long as the event is scheduled for. Now by party, I mean festivals. Okinawa could easily be described as the island of festivals cause no matter when, every weekend when you look in the paper you’re bound to find some kind of celebration going on somewhere. (more…)

If you live in Japan or planning to visit, make sure you occasionally look down otherwise you might miss something beautiful. Japan is big on art and you can find several paintings and sculptures in every city. There is one form of art that a lot of people miss, gaijin and Japanese alike.

I’ve lived in japan for almost 5 years and visited about 10 times in the last 13 years and until recently I always missed it. I’ve talked to several Japanese who’ve also never noticed. So what is this form of art that many people miss? (more…)

In our last meeting we learned to always say “I’m fantastically wonderful” when someone ask you, “ how are you” and we had an opportunity to make an assessment of ourselves. We also heard Chuck’s story. Although Chuck is no longer with us he is still contributing to our development. I hope you are following his advice. Today we want to look at another aspect of human behavior that, while difficult, is the key to success – leadership. (more…)

Free Choice has obtained a copy of an ‘internal’ Immigration Bureau document that seems to clarify the issue of foreigners’ enrollment in Japan’s social health care system as a prerequisite for visa renewal.  A DPJ Lower House lawmaker, after questioning Justice Minister Chiba about Guideline Number 8, was sent the document via fax from Immigration and then forwarded it to a Free Choice supporter.

“Accordingly, if a health insurance ID card is not presented (to an immigration officer), that alone cannot be sufficient reason for rejection or denial of a (visa) application,” according to the document.

This passage makes it very clear that not being enrolled in one of Japan’s public health insurance plans cannot of itself be sufficient cause for declining a foreigner’s application for visa renewal or change of status. Please read the entire Immigration document to fully understand the policy.

For more on legal issues, health and visas in Japan, check GaijinPot In Japan pages.  This story is a follow on to a previous post on visa’s in Japan mentioned here.

An apartment block in Tokyo, Japan. Photo taken by Kristian Stevens

Houses and apartments resemble each other to an extent in industrialized nations. With that said, houses and apartments vary from country to country and even from city to city in some places. When I first came to Japan I didn’t really know what to expect. Obviously, I knew the houses and apartments would be different; especially since America and Japan are on the opposite ends of the earth. There are numerous differences and books have been written about them. Let me just touch on a few. (more…)

YouTube has become a great way for people to learn about life in Japan. There are channels dedicated to every aspect of Japan, from train-spotting to beer reviews. Vlogs have become a popular forum for people living here to talk about their experiences. Vloggers have created a great community with any information you ever wanted to know about life, jobs, and travel in Japan.

ElevenColors is a Japan vlogger who has both an English and Japanese channel. He makes a variety of videos including footage of his band’s performances and stories about his experiences in Japan. He was kind enough to participate in a quick interview on what brought him to Japan and YouTube. (more…)

Today, I’d like to illustrate how the course goes and show you some of the stuff that we use in International MBA programs of Globis University. I believe this stuff will give you a clear picture of student life at Globis.

Before I start, let me introduce a little bit about myself. I am a Japanese female, one of the first students of the IMBA program. I started as a Pre-IMBA student and it has been almost a year. I have taken 6 fundamental courses and 3 applied courses so far. (more…)

Games To Dust

A Weekly Look Into Video Game Culture From A Casual Point Of View

By: Bren Inou (more…)