Mar 15, 2026
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?
0 Answers
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?
1 hour ago
1 Answer
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?
9 hours ago
15 Answers
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"!?
on Feb 20
4 Answers
It is "Hometown Day" in Fukui Prefecture today. Whether you have been there or not, what do you most associate with Fukui Prefecture?
on Feb 7
8 Answers
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!
on Jan 17
4 Answers
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.
on Dec 29
6 Answers
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.
on Aug 3
7 Answers
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?
on Feb 17
13 Answers
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.
on Jun 15
9 Answers
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.
on May 5
8 Answers
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.
on Dec 30
2 Answers
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.
on Dec 8
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0 Answers