All guides

Every guide on Engawa, grouped by topic. Each one lists its sources at the end.

Japanese home cooking

Dashi, rice, miso, soy sauce and pickles: the ingredients and techniques behind everyday Japanese meals.

  1. Dashi, the stock behind Japanese cookingKombu, katsuobushi, shiitake and niboshi: how each dashi is made, and why umami was discovered in a pot of it.
  2. Japanese pickles: tsukemonoSalt, rice bran, vinegar, miso and soy sauce: the main families of Japanese pickles and a quick pickle to start with.
  3. Making miso soup and choosing misoRice, barley or soybean koji; white, red or mixed: how to choose a miso, and the one rule for miso soup.
  4. Natto, Japan's fermented soybeansSticky, pungent and eaten over rice at breakfast: how natto is made, how to stir it, and who should be careful with it.
  5. Okinawan home cooking and goya chanpuruBitter melon, island tofu, pork and wheat gluten: how Okinawa's stir-fries work, with a goya chanpuru method.
  6. Rice in Japan, and how to cook itShort-grain rice, washed and soaked, cooked by absorption and rested: the method, the ratios and the onigiri that follow.
  7. The five types of Japanese soy sauceWhy 'light' soy sauce is saltier, which one goes with sashimi, and how to read a Japanese soy sauce label.

Everyday culture

Chopsticks, baths, gifts, rubbish sorting and other daily customs, explained without the clichés.

  1. Chopsticks and table mannersItadakimasu, lifting your bowl, slurping noodles and the two chopstick gestures linked to funerals.
  2. Garbage sorting in JapanBurnable, recyclable, oversized: collection days, the 8 a.m. rule, PET bottles and appliances, using Shinjuku as an example.
  3. Gift-giving in Japan: omiyage and moreWhy travellers bring boxes of sweets back for colleagues, what to take when visiting a home, and the numbers to avoid.
  4. Train and public mannersLining up at the marked spot, silent mode, priority seats, backpacks in front, and why some cities now ask you to stand still on escalators.

Seasons and festivals

Cherry blossoms, New Year, Obon, shrines and temples, and the islands far from Tokyo.

  1. An Okinawan New YearHow New Year in Okinawa differs from the mainland, from pork soup instead of ozōni to the lunar New Year of the fishing port of Itoman.
  2. Coralway and the Kengo Tarumi prizeAn in-flight magazine about Okinawa's islands, a Naha photographer known for his portraits, and how to photograph the outer islands.
  3. Hanami and the cherry blossom seasonHow the Japan Meteorological Agency declares the blossoms open, why it starts in Okinawa, and picnic etiquette under the trees.
  4. Japanese New Year: shōgatsuYear-end cleaning, temple bells, osechi boxes, the first shrine visit and money for children: the year's biggest holiday, day by day.
  5. Kumejima and Okinawa's outer islandsSandbars, silk, typhoons and early cherry blossoms: life and travel on a small island west of Okinawa's main island.
  6. Mochi through the yearPounded sticky rice for the New Year altar, the soup bowl and the sweet shop, and how to eat it safely.
  7. Obon, the summer festival of the ancestorsWhy Tokyo holds Obon in July and most of Japan in August, and what happens over the three or four days.
  8. Sensō-ji, Tokyo's oldest templeFrom the Kannon in a fishing net to the Hōzuki Market: how to visit Asakusa's great temple, and when.
  9. Visiting shrines and templesTorii or temple gate, two claps or none: purification, prayer, omikuji and charms, with Tokyo's Sensō-ji as an example.

Homes and small spaces

Tatami, genkan, baths and the Japanese art of living well in very little space.

  1. Japanese houses, old and newFrom the engawa and tokonoma to the unit bath and LDK: a room-by-room guide to the Japanese home.
  2. Living small the Japanese wayRooms that change use, storage in the walls, sliding doors and a real entrance: lessons from Japanese homes for any small flat.
  3. Tatami mats and room sizesKyoma, Edoma and danchi-ma: why a six-mat room isn't one size, and how to care for a tatami floor.
  4. The Japanese bath, from ofuro to onsenWash first, then soak: how the home bath works, what a neighbourhood sento costs, and onsen etiquette including tattoos.
  5. The genkan and shoes-off homesWhy shoes stop at the step, which slippers go where, and how to visit a Japanese home without a misstep.

Other notes

  1. Is there a border between Moldova and Romania?A short factual note on the border, its length and its crossings.