Kokoro Media - JP

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日本
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Kokoro Media - JP

With deep ties to Japan, we are passionate about exposing the heart of what makes this country so fascinating.

At Kokoro Media (formerly Tadaima Japan), we are an editorial team made up of long-term foreign residents in Japan and Japanese nationals. We aim to show the world the different facets of the kokoro concept that we have captured from people, objects, and other aspects of Japan.

02/09/2024

"If you’re coming to Japan from a more socially open country, it can be easy to overlook the need to read the air when exploring the world around you."

How (and how not) to learn Japanese through small talk in Tokyo

09/08/2024

The Tamako Cycling Road takes you to a place that will make the winding, narrow streets of west Tokyo a distant memory: https://medium.com/kokoro-media/escaping-to-the-edge-of-tokyo-on-the-tamako-cycling-road-408b49b1b883

The Tamako Cycling Road takes you to a place that will make the winding, narrow streets of west Tokyo a distant memory

26/07/2024

"I remember always riding my mountain bike to unknown places. I actually enjoyed getting lost."

Read our latest article, linked below, to learn more about cycling and entrepreneurship in Japan from the owners of Matthew Cycle, a Tokyo-based bike store.

A passion for pedaling placed Mashu and Yuki Kimbara on a path to entrepreneurship in Tokyo

03/07/2024

"Even in the best of times, finding an apartment can be one of the most challenging aspects of living in Japan."

Even in the best of times, finding an apartment can be one of the most challenging aspects of living in Japan

23/06/2024

"Ryuji Nakayama is a man on a mission. After toiling away for 21 years as one of Japan’s salarymen, Nakayama-san found himself captivated by the alluring countryside lifestyle of Kamiyama, a rural village in Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku."

In many ways, my trip to Kamiyama was an echo of my first trip to Japan

10/07/2023

As tempting as it may be to hinge most of your Japanese studies on indirect learning tools, such as textbooks, you can supercharge your progress by directly engaging in a specific aspect of the language as soon as possible, be it daily conversation, reading native content, or public speaking.

Here is how to apply the principle of directness to your language learning.

On an unforgettable April day back in 2008, I found myself sitting across a desk from a travel agent in Nishi-Shinjuku, clutching a pair of freshly minted Narita Express train tickets in my hands. Awash with mixed feelings of accomplishment and disbelief, I had just managed

04/07/2023

🗣️"One of the more practical reasons for retiring [in Japan] is the healthcare system. I’ve experienced the American system, and I don’t have many good things to say about it. I was paying $1,000 a month for really bad healthcare. Although America is home to some of the best doctors in the world, how many people can afford those doctors? (...)

Overall, Japan is simply a pleasant and convenient place to live. For me, it’s cheap to live here. It’s much more affordable if you live outside of Tokyo or other major urban areas. I live in Atami. It’s a compact town, so I don’t need a car. That’s one fewer bill to pay."

Tim Sullivan, Japan-based cross-cultural educator, storyteller, and prominent expat voice on LinkedIn, has never been shy about openly sharing the joys of (semi-)retirement.

Read on for a candid conversation on the following topics:
✔Tips for maintaining authenticity while respecting cultural norms
✔The challenges and joys of being an ambassador for your culture
✔The pros and cons of retiring in Japan
✔Advice and key points to consider for anyone thinking about retiring in Japan
✔and more!

Tim Sullivan, Japan-based cross-cultural educator, storyteller, and prominent expat voice on LinkedIn, has never been shy about openly sharing the joys of (semi-)retirement. Tim's life is framed by Japan, from his formative youth to his golden years, enriched by cross-cultural business consulting ex...

27/06/2023

🗾 Because of its geographical location, Japan is famous for being prone to natural threats such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and the occasional volcanic eruptions.

🌋Earthquakes or floods might prevent you from going outside after a disaster or accessing the usual resources, such as electricity, tap water, and nearby shops. You may also have to leave the comfort of your home to take refuge in an evacuation shelter.

🎒That is when you will need an emergency backpack to take with you if you have to leave your home and go to a shelter or another safe place. It includes a collection of items to help you survive for a few days.

Here is a look at a typical kit 👇

Because of its geographical location, Japan is famous for being prone to natural threats such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and the occasional volcanic eruptions. As a foreigner from a country where none of those phenomena exist, moving to Japan meant I needed a minimum amount

22/06/2023

💡There were 45 Japanese companies on the Forbes Fortune 500 list as of 2022, and many of them–and their suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders–need bilingual employees.

If you’re learning Japanese, maybe you have considered working in translation. But what is it like working at a Japanese company as a translator?🤔

👇In this article, Kelsey Lechner shares her experience and also how it compared to the translation work she did as a CIR on JET.

If you’re learning Japanese, odds are you have considered working in translation. After all, there were 45 Japanese companies on the Forbes Fortune 500 list as of 2022, and many of them–and their suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders–need bilingual employees! So what’s it like working a...

20/06/2023

🗣️"Japanese should be a rewarding language to study, but unfortunately, the way it is typically taught is boring, difficult, overwhelming, and intimidating. Even the JLPT [Japanese Language Proficiency Test] is a mess. There are important things at the higher levels that should be introduced earlier and vice versa. I was always wondering why learning Japanese couldn’t be fun.

When I finally got a PlayStation 4 and started playing Final Fantasy VII Remake, I couldn’t help but think, “This would be so fun to learn Japanese with!” Then, not even halfway through the game, I just got overwhelmed with the idea and decided that I was going to teach Japanese with video games in a fun way. "

🎮 Matt is the creator of the Game Gengo YouTube channel, where he teaches Japanese via video games.

Read on to learn:
👾The trials and tribulations of creating YouTube content and what it takes to succeed
👾How and when to start learning Japanese through video games
👾The quest to discover, explain, and capture every element of the Japanese language

What is the best way to learn Japanese? “Focus on what works best for you,” says Matt, creator of the Game Gengo YouTube channel. And when Matt says this, he means it. In the spring of 2020, armed with the fervent belief that language learning

13/06/2023

🗣️"What keeps me going back to the underground scene in Japan is its diverse offering in genres: death metal, grindcore, and doom being currently the most popular. I am also drawn to the audience. Just compare the audience at an extreme metal show and the corporate board at any big Japanese company [laughs]. At underground venues, you will find people of all nationalities, all shapes, and all sizes. It’s really diverse and shows another side of Japan that is rarely, if ever, on display."

Matthew Ketchum is the founder of Kaala Music, a service designed to help bands who would like to tour Japan and fans who would like to dip their toes in that rich music ecosystem.

Read on to learn:

🎸What makes the Japanese underground scene difficult to access for first-timers
🎸The difficulties foreign bands may encounter while touring Japan
🎸The solutions Kaala Music offers to provide enjoyable music trips for bands and audiences alike.

In February 2022, I had the pleasure to interview Matt Ketchum from Akiya & Inaka, and he shared his expertise on vacant houses in Japan. During the course of that conversation, he mentioned his passion and involvement with the Japanese underground music scene, and drew

08/06/2023

🚴Cycling in is not only a enjoyable to way to discover new sights in Japan.
It can also bring you closer to the people, and bring a sense of belonging.

Read Anthony's thoughts on the topic in this new article.

I’ve been cycling for as long as I can remember—ever since I earned my first scabs and scars as a young daredevil during the 1980s. The past 14.5 years in Japan have been no exception (minus most of the daredevil behavior). During my early years in

06/06/2023

💡The more languages you learn, the easier it is to learn the next one. Kokoro Media writer Kelsey Lechner knows six languages and is working on a seventh.

Read on to learn how studying Japanese as a first language can help to learn languages as diverse as:
- Bengali
- Mandarin Chinese
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Korean

Many people are surprised when I tell them that I know six languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Bengali, and Swahili. (I’m also working on my seventh, Korean.) This is especially so since none of my languages are in the same language family (like Spanish,

29/05/2023

🗣️ “Compared to Tokyo, where we used to have our office, the rent is a lot cheaper, so we feel less financial pressure, which allows us to really concentrate on making products. Consequently, our productivity and our product quality has increased. We can create a lot of new things. We’ve also had a lot of wonderful encounters and met many new like-minded friends and business partners. A lot of people are supporting us—the 360 people who participated in our crowdfunding too—and it reminds us of why we are here.“

🥜Happy Nuts Day turned an abandoned school in Chiba Prefecture into a sustainable peanut butter factory. Read on to discover the positive impact of having one’s own factory, how it led to the birth of new products, and how living in a more sustainable environment impacts both business and private life.

In 2021, I did my first interview with Go Nakano, CEO and founding member of the peanut butter company Happy Nuts Day. He talked about creating products that reflected his values and hoped to encourage the birth of new regional ventures in Japan. In Spring 2022,

23/05/2023

🎞️ "After moving to Japan in 2009, not only was high-definition hardware prohibitively expensive (at least on an English teacher’s salary), but even if I could have afforded a large TV and surround-sound system back then, my thin-walled, shoe box of an apartment was far too small for all that.
Fortunately, the theatergoing experience in Japan exceeded the expectations that I had carried with me from my previous life in the United States."

📽️🍿If you love Hollywood movies, going to the cinema in Japan can be wonderful experience, but it also has its drawbacks. Read on for the pros and cons of being a Hollywood movie lover in Japan!

Although far from being a professional film critic, I’ve enjoyed the cinema experience for as long as I can remember. I appreciate creativity and imagination across all mediums, and film is no exception. When daily life pushes you to your limits, a Hollywood blockbuster is

16/05/2023

✈️ If you are looking to travel in Japan, you have many options for finding the best deals. This of course applies
to flying to Japan from another country and flying between cities in Japan.

Google Flights, Skyscanner, and Kayak are three of the most popular search engines for flights.So which one is best? 🤔

Read on to discover the pros and cons of all three so you can decide for yourself 👇

If you are looking to travel in Japan, you have many options for finding the best deals. This of course applies to flying to Japan from another country and flying between cities in Japan. Google Flights, Skyscanner, and Kayak are three of the most popular

09/05/2023

"Learning Japanese without knowing the culture can make you dangerous. Language is a tool: it can help you connect with people but also offend them. Cultural knowledge will help you avoid the pitfalls and be strategic in your communications.

You need to find your motivation. For me, it was making friends and communicating with them. For you it might be understanding anime. Whatever drives you, go with it."
- Tim Sullivan, cross-cultural educator (retired)

As we learned in the first volume of this article series, there is no single correct path toward Japanese fluency and literacy. Read on for advice on learning Japanese from five Japanese speakers.

As we learned in the first volume of this article series, there is no single correct path toward Japanese fluency and literacy. With so many methods, tools, books, and courses dedicated to learning one of the world’s most popular languages, it was only natural that

22/03/2023

🦉Duolingo is probably one of the most popular language-learning apps out there.

However, some Japanese learners are frustrated with trying to learn on Duolingo, feeling they're not progressing as much as they had thought.🫤

🤔So, is Duolingo helpful for learning Japanese? Well, it’s complicated. Read on for Kelsey Lechner's thoughts as a professional language teacher and an advanced language learner.

Duolingo is probably one of the most popular language-learning apps out there. It’s definitely a wonderful app, and I mostly used it for learning Swahili before I went to work in Tanzania. I had actually never used it much for Japanese before, since initially the course

14/03/2023

🛍️Japan is facing a paradox of commerce. On the one hand, from mochi to manga, there’s more international demand for Japanese products than ever before. On the other hand, many shops and businesses that produce and distribute beloved Japanese goods face an existential threat.

🧱Language barriers, customs bottlenecks, and international marketing challenges are just a few obstacles that local Japanese businesses face to going global.

💡Fortunately, ZenPlus, an e-commerce service introducing Japan’s rural shops and independent retailers to the world, has emerged as a solution!

Japan is facing a paradox of commerce. On the one hand, from mochi to manga, there’s more international demand for Japanese products than ever before. On the other hand, many of the shops and businesses that produce and distribute beloved Japanese goods are facing an

07/03/2023

🗣️ "Natural disasters have a shoganai [it can’t be helped] element to them. They just happen, and no one is to blame. Therefore, they are not controversial—nobody is going to get upset if we remember the victims of natural disasters. However, as mentioned in the film, when it comes to man-made disasters, blame can be appointed. Ultimately, people were responsible for the decisions that led to war and the targeting of civilians. Memorializing war tragedies is more complex because those who are responsible don’t want to talk about it. Ultimately, they’d rather let sleeping dogs lie."

🎥 Adrian Francis is an award-winning filmmaker who wrote and directed Paper City, a documentary movie that chronicles three air-raid survivors as they struggle to preserve a public record of their experiences before they pass away.

🎞️ Read on to learn the unique challenges Adrian faced as a filmmaker in Japan, and his thoughts on why the tragic firebombing of Tokyo has yet to receive the recognition it deserves.

“We who have witnessed the obscenity of war and experienced its horror and terrible consequences have an obligation to rise above our pain and suffering and turn the tragedy of our lives into a triumph.”–Ron Kovic The 1945 firebombing of Tokyo by U.S. warplanes is the

16/02/2023

👨‍👩‍👧 Having lived with three host families before, including one in Japan, Kelsey Lechner has two core questions to consider before deciding to live with a host family:

1: Why Do You Want a Host Family in Japan?
You might want to live with a host family for many reasons. but be careful: your host family also has their reasons for hosting you. They may be compatible with your objectives or not.

2: Can You Adapt to a Japanese Household?
There are many things that will likely be different from your household when you stay in a Japanese household. Nevertheless, there are always differences within individual families.
You might need to adapt to a different physical environment as well. You might live in a traditional Japanese house or a small apartment. You may sleep in a Western-style bed or on a futon on a tatami floor. These all can be positives or negatives.

🔗 Read on to explore these two questions, get essential two tips for having a smooth host family experience in Japan, and some suggestions on where to find hosts!

If you’re going to Japan for study or travel, you may want to consider staying with a Japanese host family. Staying with a host family can be a wonderfully immersive way to learn more about Japanese culture and share your own. However, it might not

15/02/2023

🗣️"Japan is a candidate-short market. Actually, there are good and bad aspects to this. The upside is that we have the highest fees for successful job placements. For example, in the IT industry, a recruiting company can earn a payout equivalent to 40% of the annual salary of a successful hire, and that percentage is getting higher. This figure might be 20% or 25% in other countries.

On the other hand, this means that it’s really tough to find candidates—especially qualified talent that can speak English. Also, compared to other countries, Japanese people don't really use LinkedIn. That adds another layer of difficulty. About 2.3% of the population has a LinkedIn profile, compared to 48% in Singapore, for example."

Tiffany Rhodes is a Japan-based IT recruiter. Read on to learn:
✅ How she launched her recruitment career
✅ Tips for those looking to do the same
✅ The skills and character traits needed for success
✅ The working conditions, benefits, and salary that you can expect as a recruiter in Japan

And more!

With perseverance, determination, and the right credentials, it’s possible to build the career of your dreams in Japan. For Japan’s foreign residents, a career in corporate recruitment is one of the most viable pathways to success. Recruitment isn’t for the faint of heart, but great

11/02/2023

📱 Anki is one of the most popular spaced-repetition flashcard apps out there and is practically made for learning Japanese.

One of its best features about Anki is that you can use “add-ons,” which customize your interface or cards. These can add a whole new dimension to your learning experience! 🤩

Here are the two add-ons you should make sure to install. 👇

We at Kokoro Media have written about Anki quite a bit. It is one of the most popular spaced-repetition flashcard apps out there and practically made for learning Japanese. (Even the name comes from Japanese: 暗記 anki means “memorize”!) Anki is the only flashcard app I

08/02/2023

🗣️"[In California,] if you print the word ‘soju’ on the front label, then sushi restaurants and other izakaya that don’t have a full-blown bar license can still sell your products, and that’s where the confusion sets in.

It’s seeded by the shochu makers that lazily do this, and it’s incredibly short-sighted. When consumers in California pick those bottles up, they see both ‘soju’ and ‘shochu’ on the label. It’s confusing, and a large percentage of Americans think that soju and shochu are one and the same."

Chris Pellegrini is one of the world’s leading authorities on shochu. Read on to learn:

✅What makes shochu different from other alcoholic drinks
✅Why Chris turned his passion for shochu into a career
✅What it takes to become a shochu sommelier
✅ How a liquor control tax loophole encourages the confusion with Korean soju

And more!

Many thanks to Jamie Ryder at Yamato Magazine for this article.

This article is particularly exciting for me because I had the opportunity to chat with one of the world’s leading authorities on shochu, Chris Pellegrini. A Japanese spirit evangelist, Chris is passionate about spreading the gospel of shochu and awamori. He made a convert out of