Blogs edited and submitted by Chiho Kamioka

Ikebana Japanese flower arrangement Ikebana is a Japanese form of flower arranging that was started in the 15th Century by a monk named Senkei Ikenobo. It is a highly stylized form of art and can take years to master. It is one of the most celebrated art forms in Japan. It can express the changes of seasons and also the changes that can be seen as flowers age. In this blog for Japanese learners...

Stay at home exercises During this pandemic, with all the stay at home realities of the time, there has been an increase in home exercise methods for people of all ages. How to keep fit or stay in shape with all these changes to our usual routines have been a subject of constant discussion. And here in this blog for Japanese learners, Japanese teacher Midori Miyake chooses one of these home exer...

Japanese food for all occasions Japanese people like to celebrate different occasions with special food. Washoku is a cuisine that often combines decorative elements of the ingredients to celebrate a specific meaning or event. There are unique dishes to celebrate the New Year, Girl's Day and a host of other holidays or special days in the calendar. In this blog for Japanese language learners, J...

Working from home around the world As working from home has increased and online communication has become a norm, one issue that is recently receiving media attention is the health effects of sitting too long. There are a few countries that have data on this and Japan is one of them. In this blog by a Japanese teacher for learners of the language, Yukiko Takane has found some data on this proble...

Summer in Japan The Japanese summer is a hot and humid affair. Temperatures in the southern areas and mainland of the nation have regularly climbed to almost 40℃ in recent years with records being rewritten every year in various localities. In this blog for Japanese learners, Igarashi sensei, a Japanese language teacher at JOI, introduces some useful Japanese summer vocabulary. Please read the ...