Food · customs · seasons · homes

Everyday Japan, explained with care.

Engawa is an independent guide to the Japan of kitchens, homes and calendars: how dashi and rice are made, why shoes stop at the door, what happens at New Year and Obon, and how Japanese homes make small spaces work. Sourced, practical, and written for curious readers anywhere.

Living small the Japanese wayAll guides
A traditional tatami room with low wooden tables, framed by shoji screens and a window onto a garden

A tatami room in Takayama. Photo: lumoplank, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

  1. 春Spring: cherry blossomsHow the season is declared, and how to enjoy it.
  2. 夏Summer: ObonWelcome fires, family graves and bon odori.
  3. 秋Autumn: new-crop riceWashing, soaking and cooking the harvest.
  4. 冬Winter: New YearOsechi, temple bells and the first shrine visit.
A tatami room with futons laid out beside a low table and chairs, under paper shoji windows
The big guide · Homes and small spaces

Living small the Japanese way: space-saving ideas for a city apartment

Rooms that change use, storage in the walls, sliding doors, low furniture, a real entrance and seasonal rotation: lessons from Japanese homes for any small flat, with a weekend plan.

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台所 · Japanese home cooking

The building blocks of a Japanese meal

Stock, rice, soup, seasoning and pickles: learn these and most everyday dishes follow.

All cooking guides
An early twentieth-century photograph of long strips of kelp drying on a beach in HokkaidoJapanese home cooking

Dashi, the stock behind Japanese cooking

Kombu, katsuobushi, shiitake and niboshi: how each dashi is made, and why umami was discovered in a pot of it.

 Several triangular rice balls wrapped in strips of dark nori on a plateJapanese home cooking

Rice in Japan, and how to cook it

Short-grain rice, washed and soaked, cooked by absorption and rested: the method, the ratios and the onigiri that follow.

 A bowl of miso soup with cubes of tofu and pieces of wakame seaweedJapanese home cooking

Making miso soup and choosing miso

Rice, barley or soybean koji; white, red or mixed: how to choose a miso, and the one rule for miso soup.

住まい · Homes and small spaces

How Japanese homes work

Tatami and jō, the genkan, the bath, and the habits that make small rooms feel calm.

All home guides
A traditional Japanese wooden house with a deep tiled roof and sliding wooden doors, surrounded by trees and flowersHomes and small spaces

Japanese houses, old and new

From the engawa and tokonoma to the unit bath and LDK: a room-by-room guide to the Japanese home.

 A Japanese-style room with a tatami floor, a low table and shoji panels opening onto a gardenHomes and small spaces

Tatami mats and room sizes

Kyoma, Edoma and danchi-ma: why a six-mat room isn't one size, and how to care for a tatami floor.

 The entrance of a Japanese house seen from outside, with a step up from the stone floor to the wooden hallwayHomes and small spaces

The genkan and shoes-off homes

Why shoes stop at the step, which slippers go where, and how to visit a Japanese home without a misstep.

言葉 · Words worth knowing

Six words that open everyday Japan

Each one is explained in depth in our guides. Start with the genkan, the threshold of every home.

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  • Genkan玄関The sunken entrance where shoes come off.
  • Jō畳One tatami mat: the unit rooms are still measured in.
  • Dashi出汁The quick stock behind miso soup and noodles.
  • Umami旨味The savoury taste first identified in kombu dashi in 1908.
  • Omiyageお土産Food souvenirs brought back for colleagues and friends.
  • ItadakimasuいただきますThe words of thanks before every meal.

暮らし · Everyday culture

Customs, without the clichés

What actually matters at the table, when giving a gift, and on collection day.

All culture guides
A pair of chopsticks resting in a small white bowl on a tableEveryday culture

Chopsticks and table manners

Itadakimasu, lifting your bowl, slurping noodles and the two chopstick gestures linked to funerals.

 A square of patterned nineteenth-century Japanese cloth used for wrapping, with a bold designEveryday culture

Gift-giving in Japan: omiyage and more

Why travellers bring boxes of sweets back for colleagues, what to take when visiting a home, and the numbers to avoid.

 A narrow Tokyo alley lined with small bars, signs and paper lanternsEveryday culture

Garbage sorting in Japan

Burnable, recyclable, oversized: collection days, the 8 a.m. rule, PET bottles and appliances, using Shinjuku as an example.

季節 · Seasons and festivals

A year of Japanese customs

Shrines and temples, blossoms and lanterns: the calendar that shapes daily life.

All season guides
Rows of white paper lanterns painted with black characters hanging at Sensō-jiSeasons and festivals

Sensō-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple

From the Kannon in a fishing net to the Hōzuki Market: how to visit Asakusa's great temple, and when.

 An astronaut photograph of Kume Island surrounded by turquoise reefs and a long white sandbar in the dark blue oceanSeasons and festivals

Kumejima and Okinawa's outer islands

Sandbars, silk, typhoons and early cherry blossoms: life and travel on a small island west of Okinawa's main island.

 Branches of a weeping cherry tree covered in pale pink blossomsSeasons and festivals

Hanami and the cherry blossom season

How the Japan Meteorological Agency declares the blossoms open, why it starts in Okinawa, and picnic etiquette under the trees.

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Original guides, real sources

Every guide on Engawa is written from scratch and checked against public sources: Japanese ministries and agencies, local governments, museums, UNESCO and peer-reviewed research, listed at the end of each article. We don't sell anything, carry no affiliate links and publish no paid content.

Customs vary by region, family and generation, and we say so. If you spot an error, the publisher's details are on the legal notice. More about Engawa.