The title of Mari Fujimoto’s book, ikigai & and other Japanese words to live by (Modern Books), includes an interesting addition to the English language. Ikigai simply means “purpose in life”. Yet, once imported into English it become quasi-mystical: “a way of finding profound meaning in one’s life or work” – a less alienated, more […]
Our guide to Japanese ↔ English translation can now be downloaded from the Export to Japan website. One recent study of English language proficiency among nations ranked Japan at number 26, between India and Italy, and behind countries such as South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. While it is true that many Japanese people can understand […]
Would you expect a French fan of British sports cars to love Cath Kidson bags? Or how about a Chinese Scotch aficionado? Would they be into Britpop? Probably not. So here’s a question: why do ” Cool Japan” events and campaigns lump together everything from sushi to bonsai secateurs, and Crayon Shinchan to kendo? Promoters […]
Japanese business cards are an absolute essential for anyone doing business in Japan – as basic as a business suit in most situations. You will be naked without one. Here are 10 quick do’s and don’ts for translating your business cards into Japanese and using them. DO have a business card translated into Japanese. It […]
A quick bit of exciting news to start off 2015. WeDoJapan is now an official business partner of Export to Japan, a not-for-profit project helping UK companies do business in Japan. Through the website, we are offering discounts to UK exporters for our translation, transcreation and other services. Here’s some more information from the site: […]
The Japanese attention to detail and quality is famous. A huge variety of interesting and beautifully made goods are sold in Japan, and are often unavailable anywhere else. That got me to thinking: is anyone was actually trying to import these goods into the UK where I live? There are a few big shops in […]
Writing this article back in 2003 was my first chance to interview Alex Kerr, author of two fantastic books on Japan: Lost Japan and Dogs and Demons. It would have been the second time I visited Shikoku too. (The first was to walk the 88 temple pilgrimage). I think I had to take the Shinkansen […]
The Somanomaoi festival in Minamisoma, Fukushima was one of the last stories I covered before we moved back to the UK last summer. It’s an incredible event, not least because of what the town of Minamisoma has been through since March 2011. It was the mayor of Minamisoma, Sakurai Katsunobu, who uploaded a video in […]
How do you explain the taste of sake to someone who has never drunk it? It’s a pressing question for anyone working to popularize sake in the UK. Tengusake.com, an online sake shop based in the UK, uses a colourful and ingenious system of pictograms to help customers choose sake and match it with food. […]
This is an article from 2003 about the work of Japanese-boat builder Douglas Brooks. Brooks was helping to preserve Japanese boat-building skills, which were rapidly disappearing. ‘All those guys are over seventy, five of them have now died. There were only two apprentices . . . three now including me. It looks like its going […]
