Daily Life– category –

You walk into a restroom at a Japanese airport, train station, hotel, or department store, sit down, and glance to your right. Instead of a simple flush handle, you're looking at a control panel with a dozen or so buttons: Stop, Rear, Fr...

Picture a Western visitor stepping into a Japanese bathroom for the first time. There's a bathtub, sure — but the shower is mounted on the wall beside it, not necessarily inside it. There's no shower curtain in sight. On the floor sits a...

The lunch bell rings at a Japanese elementary school, but instead of heading to a cafeteria, most students stay right where they are. A handful of classmates return wearing white coats, caps, and masks. Desks are rearranged. Large contai...

Imagine stepping through the front door of your home after a long, exhausting day. If you live in North America or Europe, you might walk straight into the living room, perhaps kicking off your shoes near the sofa, or you might even walk...

If you are a traveler from North America, Europe, or almost anywhere else in the western hemisphere, your first attempt at finding a specific location in Japan will likely be a deeply confusing experience. You might step out of a train s...