Imagine walking into a 24/7 shop filled with beautifully packaged meals and tasty snacks that reflect Japanese culinary culture – that is the experience at Japanese convenience stores, or konbini. Konbini is not like the generic convenience stores in your home country. Rather, it is a world filled with food and unique snacks and provisions … Read more
Have You Ever Tasted Spring in a Bite? Kit Kat as a how could a mere snack become a reflection of a season? Welcome to the world of Japan’s micro-seasonal Kit Kats. In this blog post, we will first unpack how this strange phenomenon came to be, followed by a discussion of its impact on … Read more
Understanding the Japanese Vending Machine Phenomenon Walk down almost any busy street in a big Japanese city, or a peaceful side street in a smaller one, and there won’t be far to go before you encounter a vending machine dispensing everything from peanuts to noodles, from beer to magazines – even bloody meat for your … Read more
In the frenetic metropolitan heart of Japan, where time seems to be as valued as space, a quiet paradigm shift is underway. Relegated to rural areas for so long, urban farming is becoming the outside factor that could transform city streets and skylines in ways few commentators have dared to imagine so far. But what … Read more