Japan

A recipe for goya chanpuru (Okinawan bitter melon stir-fry) is presented alongside the “Cooking with Dog” video, with the author claiming their simplified version — which embraces the goya’s natural bitterness and uses alternative ingredients — is the best they’ve ever made.

A first-person account of eating various whale (kujira) dishes in Japan — including bacon, katsu, karaage, sashimi, and a mixed set platter — with recommended drink pairings, alongside visits to Kumamoto Castle to study turfgrass species and sampling of horse meat (uma) specialties.

A hotel guest discovers a puzzling plastic bag among their travel mementos, humorously speculating about its purpose — suffocation, fending off wildlife, or fire escape — before concluding it’s likely an emergency smoke hood, despite barely being able to decipher the instructions.

A turfgrass professional reflects on a series of international trips enabled by air travel, recounting experiences ranging from ski runs in snow country after flying from tropical Bangkok, to family visits at Niagara Falls, to discovering exceptional octopus salad at a seaside village near Seoul.

A golfer recounts two rounds of golf in Japan during November, including birdies at the Pete Dye-designed Kannami Springs course near Mt. Fuji and at Sobu CC, interspersed with evening celebrations featuring highballs, Awamori, and multilingual puns.

A botanist describes coastal grass-hunting walks on Ishigaki, Okinawa, and Taketomi Islands, documenting four grass species found in varying habitats along Nagura Bay, illustrated by a narrated field video.

Spending a working sabbatical in Japan’s Yaeyama Islands, the author has been making significant progress on writing and research projects, while also squeezing in some hands-on marine biology study before the intense tropical sun drove them to work in the shade of a palm tree.

A traveler shares their “vicinal diet” philosophy of eating local foods in their native places, describing recent culinary experiences across Thailand, Vietnam, and India — from Lobster Hot Plate potato chips and Bangkok street food to phở in Hanoi and aloo paratha in New Delhi.

A lighthearted account of navigating the ANA Lounge at Narita International Airport’s Terminal 1, weighing the competing temptations of the full-service noodle bar, the self-service sake bar, and the shortbread on offer in between.

A turfgrass scientist recounts his undefeated September golf matches in Shizuoka and Hokkaido, including a celebratory birdie dance, before describing a challenging round at Takanodai CC—host of the upcoming Japan Open—where narrow fairways, firm greens, and 150mm rough produced a win, a draw, and one embarrassing near-birdie dance for what turned out to be a double bogey.