Uchikura & Co Blog
2026-07-17
You’ve Heard of a Free Drink with Your Meal… How About a Free Breakfast with Your Coffee?If you've traveled in Japan, you've probably noticed that many restaurants offer a free drink when you order a...
2026-07-17
Did You Know? The Rotating Table in Chinese Restaurants Was Invented in Japan Most people assume the large rotating table in the center of a Chinese restaurant is a Chinese invention. Surprisingly,...
2026-07-17
You Always Have a Teacher One of my favorite Japanese sayings is 「人の振り見て我が振り直せ」, which literally means, "Watch how others behave, then correct your own behavior." For CEOs and business leaders, t...
2026-07-17
Ichigo Ichie (一期一会) — One Lifetime, One Meeting Ichigo Ichie (一期一会) is one of Japan's most treasured expressions. It is often translated as "One Lifetime, One Meeting," reminding us that every enco...
2026-07-16
About the Black Belt 黒帯 In traditional Japanese martial arts such as judo and karate, there are essentially two main belt categories: white and black. You are either mudansha (無段者)—someone who ha...
2026-07-16
What Is Iki? A Japanese Way of Living There is no perfect English translation for the Japanese word iki (粋). It is often translated as stylish, chic, or sophisticated, but iki is much more than f...
2026-07-16
Edo Style Was Found in Shades of Brown The Japanese language has an unusually large number of words for different shades of brown. Examples include tobi-iro (kite brown), kitsune-iro (fox brown),...
2026-07-16
What Happens When You Overlay Tokyo's Modern Rail Map on an Edo-Era Map?I recently had an interesting idea. What would Tokyo look like if you placed today's JR and Tokyo Metro rail network on top o...
2026-07-16
What Does “Mie wo Haru” Mean?There is a Japanese expression: 見栄を張るMie wo haru It means trying to make yourself look more successful, wealthy, important, or capable than you really are. The word...
2026-07-15
One of the Harshest Things You Can Say in Japan In Japanese, there is a powerful expression: 「恥を知れ」— Haji o shire. It can be translated as “You should be ashamed of yourself,” “Have you no sham...