While some Japanese vending machines are under fire for offering sexy good times » 5/24/12 5:00am 5/24/12 5:00am, the vast, vast majority of vending machines offer only beverages.

If you live in Japan (or, well, Asia), you have a rice cooker. If you don't own one, get thee to a store and buy one. But, if you want something non-tech and have access to lots of firewood, there's a work around.

Last week, I went way into the mountains with some friends and made lunch. This is how we cooked rice:… » 5/11/12 6:15am 5/11/12 6:15am

This week is Golden Week in Japan—a series of holidays. Because it's Golden Week, Japanese game news has pretty much come to a halt. The entire country is on vacation.

Earlier this week, I had a day off. And I spent the morning digging up bamboo shoots, or as they're called in Japanese, takenoko. » 5/03/12 7:30am 5/03/12 7:30am

May 5 is Children's Day. Since my wife and I have, well, children, we get out a set of miniature "yoroi" (armor) so that our sons grow up healthy and strong.

I've posted about this before, so forgive me if you read that previous post! But, I absolutely love getting out this miniature set of samurai armor every year… » 4/27/12 7:40am 4/27/12 7:40am

A perfect pour in Japan has just the amount of right amount of head. This beer tap (beer fountain?) tilts the glass, just so. At after the beer is poured, foam jets out, and a creamy head is poured.

I'm not sure if this exists outside of Japan. Perhaps it does. » 4/17/12 7:40am 4/17/12 7:40am

Growing up in Texas, I always looked forward to fall. September was back-to-school time. New pencils. New notebooks. New backpacks. But in Japan, back-to-school time isn't fall. It's spring.

With the cherry blossoms and flowers in bloom, there's rich association with new beginnings and the start of spring. » 4/12/12 7:15am 4/12/12 7:15am

In Japan, you are either an udon person or a soba person. You cannot be both! This is serious Beatles-Stones kinda stuff.

Well, not that serious. And people do like both, but most of my friends and family seem to prefer one to the other. » 4/09/12 7:00am 4/09/12 7:00am

One of the most popular things to do on vacation in Japan is head to an onsen or "hot springs". They're dotted all over the country, and people—both young and old—enjoy visiting onsen towns, where they eat delicious food and bathe.

When taking a bath in Japan, you wash first and then enter the water to help keep it… » 4/02/12 6:30am 4/02/12 6:30am

Soon where I live in Osaka, Japan will be bathed in cherry blossoms. The plum blossoms are blooming, but the cherry blossoms haven't quite started yet.

The cherry blossoms bloom at differnet times in different parts of the country. I was talking to a fellow ex-pat the other day who said this is his favorite time of… » 3/30/12 7:00am 3/30/12 7:00am

It is for little kids. Above is a lunch my eldest son ate late last year. And it was pretty cute!

My eldest son is eight, and his lunches usually are not this cute. This was made cute out of nostalgia, really. My wife and her sister wanted to make a cute lunch for him. » 3/20/12 7:50am 3/20/12 7:50am

So my eldest son, who is 8, loves reading biographies. But most of the biographies he checks out from the library are in manga form. He's read about John F. Kennedy, Babe Ruth, and Honda founder Soichiro Honda » 3/16/12 7:55am 3/16/12 7:55am—all in manga form.

One of the best things about Japan is the service. The service is generally great. One of the things that makes it so great? Call buttons.

Instead of sitting in a restaurant waiting around for a waiter or waitress to make his or her way towards your table, you can press the call button, and your server will come… » 3/14/12 7:15am 3/14/12 7:15am

Tomorrow is White Day in Japan. I'm supposed to give sweets to women who gave me chocolate on Valentine's Day.

Feeling proactive, I made cookies this weekend for my wife, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law—only to discover that my sister-in-law had made cookies for me and my family! » 3/13/12 7:50am 3/13/12 7:50am

It really feels like spring here in Osaka—finally! Flowers starting to bud, bees buzzing, and birds chirping. But that also means, no more winter food.

Many dishes in Japan are seasonal. I grew up in Texas, and yes, we ate seasonal food (I think). Japanese food is even more seasonal than what I had as a kid. For… » 3/08/12 7:30am 3/08/12 7:30am

Holy crap, I love plastic models. I'm not very good at them, but ever since I was a kid, I adored building them. My favorites growing up were airplanes (I blame Top Gun » 3/06/12 7:40am 3/06/12 7:40am) and World War II tanks (I blame cool tanks).

Panasonic makes a 103-inch TV » 3/05/12 7:50am 3/05/12 7:50am—it's apparently the biggest plasma in the world. It's on display at electronics shops throughout Japan. Seeing one isn't a big deal. Playing Kinect on it just might be.

Tomorrow is the Hinamatsuri, or Japanese Doll Festival. During the festival, dolls are displayed on stands against gold leaf backgrounds.

This evening while I was working (and making things for you to read), Mrs. Bashcraft and my two kids went to a friends to celebrate it. » 3/02/12 7:45am 3/02/12 7:45am

No, you are not reading Hideo Kojima's Twitter (though, I think it's silly that guy gets heat for posting pics of his food—he should be able to post whatever he wants!)

Today I had lunch at my desk. The morning was spent doing an interview for a very cool story I'll be running tomorrow. » 3/01/12 6:30am 3/01/12 6:30am

I've actually never thought that I needed an instrument to clean my tongue. I thought regular tooth brushing (and occasional tongue brushing) would handle that. I guess I was wrong.

This morning, I spotted this as the store. The fact that there was a tongue cleaner—well, a whole rack of them—was not interesting per… » 2/28/12 7:45am 2/28/12 7:45am

In Japan, "omimai" (お見舞い) is when you visit folks in the hospital. My mother-in-law broke her back, so we've been several times. But it's not only family members—like elsewhere, friends and extended family visit, too.

My brother-in-law's company sent a huge dekopon fruit basket, as well as cookies and cakes. My… » 2/27/12 7:45am 2/27/12 7:45am