About Me — Your Japanese Neighbor, An
Hi hi! I’m An — a mom of two silly boys, living in Nagoya, right in the cozy heart of Japan! 🌸
I’m totally obsessed with beauty products and finding cute Japanese goodies. Oh, and I pack bento boxes for my boys every morning… even though I don’t really like cooking. 😅 Moms do what moms gotta do, right?
So, who am I exactly?
My name is An, and I’ve lived in Nagoya my whole life. Nagoya is Japan’s fourth-largest city — kind of overlooked by tourists, honestly, but I think it’s one of the best places to actually experience everyday Japanese life. It’s not as flashy as Tokyo or as picture-perfect as Kyoto, but it’s warm, friendly, and full of really good food. (Nagoya has its own unique food culture — misokatsu, tebasaki chicken wings, ogura toast — and yes, I will be writing about all of it.)
I’m a mom of two boys — one in junior high and one in elementary school. Life in our house is loud, busy, and full of Ghibli movies, Gachapon collections, and way too many snacks. I love it.
Why did I start this blog?
Honestly? Because I realized that the Japan people see online and the Japan I actually live in every day are two very different things.
You see the beautiful temples, the cherry blossoms, the neon lights of Shinjuku. And those things are real and amazing! But that’s not the Japan I spend most of my time in.
My Japan is: rushing to the supermarket before it closes, finding the perfect 100-yen shop item, figuring out what to put in tomorrow’s bento box, going to the local park on a Sunday morning with a matcha latte in hand.
I started this blog because I wanted to share THAT Japan. The quiet, everyday version. The version your Japanese neighbor would tell you about over the fence — not the version in a travel brochure.
What can you expect here?
A little bit of everything from my actual daily life:
Food & bento. I write a lot about food — because food is such a huge part of Japanese daily life. What’s in my bento boxes, what I found at the supermarket, Japanese snacks and sweets, and the little cooking tricks I use every day (like adding shiro dashi to tamagoyaki — life-changing, trust me).
Japanese words & language. I have a series called “Only in Japan Words” where I break down Japanese slang, internet expressions, and words that have no direct English translation. These are words you’d actually hear in real conversations here — not in any textbook.
Family life. What it’s like raising kids in Japan. School life, weekend trips, the little everyday moments that make life here feel so different — and so good.
Japanese culture, the non-touristy kind. 100-yen shops, convenience stores, local parks, neighborhood supermarkets. The stuff that makes Japan feel like home.
A note about my English
English is not my first language, so I’m still learning and improving every day! I try my best to write naturally and clearly. If you ever spot a mistake or something that sounds a little off, please feel free to let me know — I’d genuinely love the feedback. 😊
Make yourself at home here, and let’s explore Japan together — not the postcard version, but the real one. 🏡🍱✨
