About

This site is written in Japan. That is the whole reason it exists.

Most English-language guides to Japanese products are written by people who have not lived here. They tend to describe things as beautiful or traditional without saying what the thing is for, which is how a magewappa bento box gets recommended to somebody who will put it in a dishwasher and ruin it in a week.

I live in Japan and write about the things that are in ordinary use here — kitchen tools, stationery, everyday household items. Not souvenirs. If something only exists in shops near tourist areas, it does not go on this site.

How things get chosen

The filter is simple: is this in normal use in Japanese homes? A santoku knife is. A single-bevel yanagiba is not — that is a professional tool that appears in videos. Ippitsusen note paper is in every stationery drawer here and almost unknown abroad, so it belongs on the site even though nobody is searching for it by name.

Where I have used something myself, I say what it is like to use, including what goes wrong. Where I have not used a specific product, I describe what the category is for and what to check before buying, and I do not claim results I have not seen. If a recommendation comes with a real drawback — donabe pots crack if you mishandle them, magewappa cannot go in a dishwasher — the drawback is in the article, not left out to keep it tidy.

How this site makes money

Through affiliate links to Amazon. If you buy something after following a link here, I may receive a small commission, and the price you pay is exactly the same. That is disclosed at the top of every article that contains links, and there is a fuller explanation on the disclosure page.

Nothing on this site is a paid placement. No brand has paid to appear here or been given approval over what is written. If that ever changes, it will be labelled clearly on the page where it happens.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, I would rather know. Prices, availability and product lines all change, and Japanese products sold abroad are often imported by third parties whose stock comes and goes. Articles are updated when that happens, and the update date is at the top of each one.