After living in Asia for nearly three years, I had gotten used to the fact that I would never fit in. No matter how I dressed or how many cute accessories I piled onto my cellphone, I would always be a gaijin (外人), a gweilo (鬼佬), a foreigner. Even as my travels moved me westward, I still couldn’t pass […]
Sake (酒; pronounced “sah-keh” not “sock-ee”) is a drink that has been made in Japan for thousands of years. It is relatively unknown in the US, although a few varieties are starting to pop up in some restaurants and groceries stories. All across Japan there are sake breweries, dozens of different brands, and sake festivals. And […]
A few months ago I talked about omiyage in Japan. A lot of people seemed intrigued about this aspect of Japanese culture so I thought I’d talk more about famous omiyage throughout the different regions of the country. If you don’t remember what an omiyage is, it’s like obligatory Japanese souvenirs that you bring back to give […]
Rushing through the streets of the Kabukicho, I kept glancing at the time on my phone. I had a bad feeling that we were going to be late. Blindly winding through the small alleyways, I had begun to regret my decision of not writing down directions. At this point, we could only hope that we […]
One of my favorite things about living in Chicago is that come summertime, it becomes festival heaven. On any given week there are at least three festivals going on somewhere around the city, but none can compare to the Taste of Chicago. Being from Chicago, this is one event I always make sure to attend […]