Jan 18, 2025

City-Cost feature posts you recommend reading

When I click on the Blog link, I see four "Pick Up" articles, one of them mine, that are a little stale... Which posts in the last 3 months or so are insightful, current, interesting, or helpful? What would you like to see in the "Pick Up"?

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TonetoEdo

Living between the Tone and Edo Rivers in Higashi Katsushika area of Chiba Prefecture.

3 Answers

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genkidesu

on Jan 18

I really enjoyed your recent travel blog about Minamiboso, it was a good reminder to me to visit places in the off-season for a different, more relaxed atmosphere. I'm always a sucker for travel-related things so that content appeals to me. BigFamJapan wrote a great piece lately about coming around to the idea of second hand stores here (https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/BigfamJapan/G0gYO-shopping_saitama#body). I have really embraced second hand here, too, because things are overall kept in much better condition than second hand items in my home country. I also loved helloalissa's Amazon vs. small business cost comparison (https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/helloalissa/GbNNB-living_shopping_money). I shop a lot on Amazon for the sake of convenience and the assumption it's good value, when that's not always the case.

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TonetoEdo

on Jan 19

@genkidesu The Minamiboso travelogue part 2 is coming soon! Thanks for reading my blogs. I'm reading your "Things about winter" series. The blog posts remind me to get out of the house to enjoy the winter delights despite the chill. Some posts by @Jtsu and @Ekimsaido are classic blogs that remind me to appreciate life here. I suppose I'm so familiar with my daily life that I take little things for granted. Ekimsaido's Lazy Sunday has a simple and fresh look at life in Japan.

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BigfamJapan

on Feb 10

I noticed last week they updated them. I'm not sure my toffee apple post is my best, but I know those "Japanese festival food" posts are relatively popular. They need some more new "feature posts" though or to push the feature section down because they've been the same ones since August.

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8 Answers

Your donabe reccos, please!

Nuts, I broke my seasoned donabe! It fell off the fridge and snapped in half. I am bereft. If you follow me, you know that I eschew fancy electronic rice cookers and prepare my rice in a donabe. Have you got reccos for a donabe perfect for rice? A go-to for hot pot?

TonetoEdo

on Mar 15

5 Answers

What are our consumer rights in Japan?

Do you know your consumer rights in Japan? And if so, would you be willing to share anything about them? For example, what is the policy on returns? I am very familiar with my consumer rights in my home country, and they are very widely publicized back home, but information doesn't seem to be as transparent or readily available here. Or is that just me?

BigfamJapan

on Mar 15

15 Answers

What do you most associate with Ehime Prefecture?

Today, February 20th, is Ehime Prefecture Day. What do you most associate with Ehime Prefecture, what is the very first thing that comes to mind when I say "Ehime Prefecture"!?

BigfamJapan

on Feb 20

4 Answers

What do you most associate with Fukui Prefecture?

It is "Hometown Day" in Fukui Prefecture today. Whether you have been there or not, what do you most associate with Fukui Prefecture?

BigfamJapan

on Feb 7

8 Answers

Do you have a favorite mascot?

The other day, on "Strawberry Day" I wrote about "Yoshimin", the strawberry mascot of Yoshimi. I thought it might be fun to introduce a few others, so I've just written about "Tokimo" the mascot of Kawagoe. And I plan to introduce a couple of my favorites. It begs the question, do you have a favorite mascot? And how about writing a post on City-cost about your favorite or a local mascot? Pictured "Umerin" who I plan to write about next!

BigfamJapan

on Jan 17

4 Answers

Growing Mushrooms

Here's for a weird hobby. I just saw a video by an American Youtuber that I plan to watch about growing shiitake mushrooms. From what I've seen, it probably needs a bit of space. There was a local market in Fukuoka Prefecture that had a "mushroom room" where they grew and sold mushrooms like maitake and eringi. I also saw a video of a couple in Paris that built a mushroom growing shower room! The local hardware store sells "seeded" logs and shiitake mushroom growing kits. I have seen the logs around people's homes on occasion. It seems like a very odd, but sustainable hobby. Has anyone tried it, or is anyone interested to try this? I wonder how involved or beginner friendly it is.

helloalissa

on Dec 29

6 Answers

Hair Color Treatments for Greying Hair

For those of you who have colored grey hair, I'm curious about the hair color treatments available in most drugstores. They seem simpler to use than box dyes. It's been many years since I've colored my hair. It's a chestnut brown and my grey is more silver. I don't hate it but the grey is dry and making me feel like I look older than I am. I'm especially interested in the natural brands that are non-permanent. For example Rishiri Kombu sounds like a decent option. Looking forward to your recommendations and experience.

helloalissa

on Aug 3

7 Answers

Entrance ceremony clothes

Soon my kid will have his entrance ceremony at school, and I'm looking for those typical Japanese style ceremony clothes for myself. I'm 1.80m, not so skinny woman, which has huge problems to even find normal clothes in Japan. Does anybody have the same problem and might have any advice, where to get those ceremony clothes in a taller size?

BlueButterfly

on Feb 17

13 Answers

What shampoo brand do you recommend for dandruff?

I have been dealing with this dandruff situation for quite a while now and I still can't seem to figure out how to get rid of this problem. I have tried several shampoo brands/products like head and shoulders, ANGFA organic shampoo and the Honey Deep Moist Shampoo. And none of them worked so far. Some say it's because of hot shower. Well I do shower every day, but I don't use hot shower all the time. I rinse my hair thoroughly after applying shampoo and conditioner. I also tried applying shampoo every other day just to make my hair less dry but I still none of those tricks are working. If there is a product that you recommend that suits every man's budget then I would appreciate it so much.

Ekimsaido

on Jun 15

9 Answers

What are the must-sees in your prefecture (beyond the big three)?

Sustainable tourism is a hot topic that some City Cost members have covered in their blogs. For those correspondents outside the Big Three - Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka - what do you recommend visitors must see in your prefecture? My home base is Chiba Prefecture. I highly recommend visitors check out Narita Omotesando to connect with Edo's past and visit Shinshoji to get a sense of the history of Japan. The adjacent city, Sakura, is another I recommend for the National History Museum and Edo to Taisho era streetscapes.

TonetoEdo

on May 5

8 Answers

What's in your toshikoshi soba?

What do you put in your toshikoshi soba? One year I sauteed some chicken and naganegi to start a broth augmented with tsuyu, cooked the soba separately, and served the broth with kamaboko slices.

TonetoEdo

on Dec 30

2 Answers

Transferring Pension

I'm currently sorting through EVERYTHING I bought back from Japan with me, so you'll get all your new blogs soon. I came across some documents that I actually completed when I came back from Japan, which was to do with pensions. This took me a while to figure out because it was complicated. Would you like to know how to transfer your pension to you from Japan? People say you can't. The things is... you can.

smallbigjapan

on Dec 8

City-Cost feature posts you recommend reading

3 Answers

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