The October 21 announcement from JR East-Hachinohe City-Northern Iwate Transportation is the 3rd Super Suica local transit card and follows earlier Super Suica local transit card announcements for Utsunomiya Light […]
Culture Wars - Japanese Buddhism
Kuyo: the importance of remembering and forgetting
The Japanese Kanji and meaning for Kuyo (供養), apparently has no real direct equivalent in Chinese; I occasionally run across online questions from mainland Chinese exchange students in Japan asking […]
Cool Japan - Culture Wars
In case you wondered why parasols for men are a thing this summer…
Parasols are a standard Japanese summer item for women but I was scratching my head when I saw men using them this summer. Was it the heat? Was it something […]
Culture Wars - Japanese Buddhism
Climbing Shichimensan 2020
My nephew passed away in January at the age of 36 from a diabetic coma. Ten years ago he came to Japan with his dad (my older brother), on a […]
Culture Wars - Japan Now
Tokyo commuting in tough times
Many Japanese companies have implemented telework or flex time during the COVID-19 crisis so that employees can avoid Tokyo rush hour. My office has shorter hours so I take a […]
Apple - Apple Pay + Wallet - Apple Pay Suica - Apple Pay Transit - CASHLESS - Culture Wars - Mobile Payments - NFC - NFC-Felica - PASMO - Suica - Transit
The Mobile PASMO Super Suica Challenge (Obsolete)
The recently announced Mobile PASMO has some serious limitations lucidly explained in FeliCa Dude’s ‘Mobile PASMO – something we shouldn’t need‘ reddit post. It shines a light on the unfortunate […]