This Japanese Life.

The Japanese have taken to representing the “Year of the Dragon” (2012 in the Chinese Zodiac) as the “Year of the Seahorse.” Apparently the seahorse is occasionally called a “Baby Dragon,” so the early days of the dragon year are basically seahorses.

So, before a baby dragon swallows our year of the rabbit whole, here’s a “year in review” of the most popular posts from this site in the last year. In other words, here’s some filler until I get back from Hong Kong.

Continue reading →

I’m spending Christmas in “Ho-Ho-Hong Kong” and “Merry Macau,” where I will try to find used Cantonese funk records and possibly eat a pigeon. So there’s no blog post this week and, most likely, the next.

All the more reason to follow the site on Facebook, find me on Twitter or grab the RSS feed so you’ll know when I am back in action in 2012.

In the meantime, you can satiate your Japanese Holiday Curiosity with last year’s Christmas in Japan post, which covers the most burning cultural question in East Asia: Why do the Japanese eat Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas? 

Further Reading:
I would be remiss not to direct your attention to the food blog co-run by Rora-chan of  KawaiiILoveYou, the pudcasts, so named by co-blogger Rachel whom, being a Londoner, calls all desserts “puddings,” a habit I will inevitably pick up by the end of my time in Japan.

The blog has practically nothing to do with Japan aside from both of its authors living here, but it does offer recipes for amazing food (which I have eaten) and occasionally involves advice for making a cake out of a rice cooker. These are useful skills.

Go make some Christmas puddings, y’all. See you in the year of the Dragon.