When I tell Western friends I'm off to karaoke for the night, I very often get a strange reaction. Usually it's because they imagine me singing up front of a large crowd of strangers. No way! I'm talking karaoke boxes, the kind you typically find all across Asia and are easy to find in most …
Japanophile
The Japanese love of cute (and my Snoopy bank card)
Doing some tidying over the long weekend I found a box full of memories from Japan. It appeared to be a box I posted home to Perth at the end of my stay, then didn't really unpack because I didn't get back to Perth for three more years. It was a real trip down memory lane, with numerous cards and …
Culture shock in Japan: My pre-Japan nightmares!
It's all too easy for me, when I hear people talking about their fears and concerns about travelling to foreign countries, to dismiss their worries and just tell them to go out and do it. I've experienced lots of different cultures and foods and languages and customs and I have learnt that there is …