japanese

So many times do we look at a menu and immediately go for what's safe. Maybe something we've had somewhere else and disregard anything else on the menu. If you're looking for a change, if it's on the menu, try something called oyakudon.

When I was last in Seattle, I saw these creative, interactive candies that resembled a toilet. I had to check these out! In Japan, there are a variety of candies that have an interactive element to them. Some feature nothing but powders and mixes where, when combined with water, makes an edible paste or cream that you can make to look like an ice cream cone, for instance...

When I was visiting Seattle this past weekend, we had it in mind to find a place that serves ramen. I'm not talking about your 10 packs of dehydrated noodles for a dollar-style ramen, but the real stuff the cheap ramen is inspired by. Naturally, this begged our question: "Why doesn't Yakima have a place to get ramen?"

One of my favorite things to eat on a cold winter's day is something called Udon (pronounced OOO-don). If you're a fan of real ramen, you'll love this. It's just like ramen, but the noodles are super-thick.

Let's say you're driving around in unfamiliar territory and you're having trouble managing all of the traffic. Someone is nice enough to let you in their lane, but how do you say thank you? I wave, but I also have tinted windows, so they might not see it. Here's what drivers in Japan do. It's probably something I'll adopt for myself, too.

I love junk food, I love cookies and I love the Japanese culture. It would only make sense that I would love these Oreos from Japan, but how are these different from the ones we have in America? I had to find out for myself.

Many of us grew up on ramen. It's a Japanese noodle soup and it's one of the cheapest items in any grocery store. Because of that, ramen, in America, holds a notion that ramen is cheap food for cheap people. That is not the case. If you've ever been to a restaurant and had real ramen, you'll know what I'm talking about. Someone decided to make ramen from stratch, from the stock to the noodles, and

I've always been facinated with products you can't easily find in the U.S. - especially those that come from Japan. Where as, in America, we'll have Coke, then variants like Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Coke with Lime and so on. In Japan, they will have Kit-Kat, then flavors like sweet potato, wasabi and blueberry cheesecake. Most are very good, but even those odd ones are fun. Not too much surpris

Contact juggling is like what those Fushigi balls are supposed to have you do. Or like The Goblin King does in Labyrinth. It's certainly an art form that takes patience and practice. Then, there's this guy. Akihiri Yanai makes it look like it's no big deal contact juggle. As one of the YouTube comments mentions, "at some points it doesn't even look real."

I saw the original video for a Japanese method of folding shirts. I haven't bothered look the video up in a while. To my surprise, there's an english version of the same way to fold shirts. I need to perfect this.

Forget the Family Feud who wants to be on this game show?

Called Hiza Kakkun which translates to Knee... something - I'm not exactly sure. The point is to walk up behind someone, bend your knees enough to hit the back of their knees forcing them off balance. Yep, it's another crazy Japanese idea that you'll probably see kids do in America in another year or two.