As my Swiss passport was due to expire in a few months' time, I thought it best to get a new one ahead of time. Always be prepared, is one of my mantras. These days the process of renewing a passport is very straightforward: I just had to fill in an online form and submit to the Passport Office in Switzerland, and within less than 24 hours I got confirmation that they had the necessary confidence that I am indeed who I said I was (which is always a relief!), and they asked me

Monday saw a blizzard in Tokyo, which dumped 8 cm of snow in the capital. Although 'dumped' doesn't quite seem to hit the right note, as it would seem to be more adequate in connection with at least half a metre of snow... 8 cm doesn't sound like much, and it isn't - at least not to someone from an Alpine nation used to snow (heck, I even did my driving test on snow-covered roads). Yet, whenever there is more than a centimetre of snow on the ground in Tokyo (and this was the

Growing up in Switzerland in the 70s, our house had two bathrooms, a bigger one with a bathtub, mainly reserved for our parents, and a slightly smaller one with a shower, predominantly used by my brother and me. I actually don't think that the shower was being used much in those days, at least as far as I remember, and certainly not by us kids. We would just wash our faces upon getting up in the morning, and then once a week (always Saturdays) it was bathing day, when our par

As I enter my 28th year in Japan (and my former life on 'planet Switzerland' is drifting more and more into the obscure past), I have been reflecting on the fact that some of the questions I face when meeting new people in Japan have never changed over the years. Japanese people generally show great interest in other countries and cultures, and especially so, it seems, in Switzerland. Switzerland enjoys kind of a special status in the world for a number of reasons: It's a ric

Today is one of those days when, walking around town, I'm truly reminded that I live in Japan, as the sight that presents itself wherever one goes cannot be observed anywhere else in the world. The reason? It's 'Coming of Age Day' (' Seijin no Hi') , a public holiday and the most important day in the calendar for all those who have turned 20 and therefore the age of maturity, and it is held in order to congratulate and encourage them, and to 'help them realise that they have

Growing up in an alpine nation, where winter sports traditionally play a big role, New Year's Day was inevitably accompanied by the New Year's Ski Jumping competition, which takes place every year in the German ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and is broadcast live on German, Swiss and Austrian TV stations. There were always two fixtures in our TV schedule on this day: The live coverage of the New Year's Concert from Vienna, the first part usually while my parents were bu

New Year ( 'shōgatsu'  ) is undoubtedly the most important holiday in Japan. And as with many other things in this country, expect it to be different! In contrast to Western cultures, the New Year's Holidays are generally not a time for parties and fireworks (the latter being reserved for summer festivals), but a time for reflection and to be spent with family - actually not unlike what Christmas is to many in the Western world. Not knowing that when I arrived here back in 19

Christmas in Japan is - like many things in this country - different! On the surface, nothing seems to set it apart from Western countries: Stores deck the halls with boughs of holly, baubles and all of that, and carols float out over the speakers wherever you go. There are beautifully illuminated Christmas trees, and you can find roasted chestnuts, mulled wine and all of the other ingredients for a winter wonderland, at least in the capital (and if you know where to look). B

In my previous post I recounted my experience with a 'part-time one-way street' and the traffic offence I inadvertently committed, as I hadn't even been aware of the sign indicating that I was driving down a street with certain restrictions. But truth be told: Even if I had actually noticed the sign, chances are that I would probably still not have understood it anyway... The thing is that Japanese authorities are masters in putting up traffic signs that are very complicated

First of all, here is a bit of trivia: There are 64 countries in the world where cars drive on the left - including Japan. What the countries basically have in common is that they all have a colonial past with the British Empire. So when was Japan colonised by the Brits, you ask? Well, it wasn't! So how come then that people in Japan drive on the left? There are two common theories: The first goes that at the time of the samurai, city streets and footpaths were quite narrow (

6th December will be Saint Nicholas Day. In Switzerland, on and around this day you will spot two distinctly different figures walking up and down the streets and visiting houses, one with a bushy white beard and usually clad in a Bishop's robe with a mitre and staff (though sometimes dressed in a red-hooded frock with a tippet), the other rather sinister-looking, in a black robe, with a dark beard and a face covered in coal dust. Often they are accompanied by a donkey. Santa

It's Thanksgiving today in the United States. And Labour Thanksgiving Day in Japan. Which marks a not so common occasion where the two countries share a national holiday on the same day - at least this year. Because while the American Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, in Japan the holiday is tagged to a certain date (23 November) instead. This year the two coincide, hence the joint holiday. In essence, although they may not always be celebr

When you spend your childhood in any given country, you inevitably grow up with what I would call the 'taste of your childhood': Certain foods that are typical for that particular place, which will always remind you of the time when you were growing up, and which are not quite the same anywhere else, or may not be available at all. So if you choose to make another country your permanent home, almost inevitably you will, at one point or another, crave that 'taste of your child

With Halloween firmly over and Christmas season officially upon us, my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to search for some concerts for December. Halloween decorations have given way to a grand Christmas tree at the Futako-Tamagawa Rise Shopping Mall. And with the pandemic (more or less) confined to the history books, foreign artists - who, along with pretty much everyone else, were banned from entering the country for the best part of two years - have started to co

Japan can be an absolute minefield when it comes navigating social code, and that is most evident when it comes to formal occasions such as weddings and funerals. Take weddings, for example. In Japan, it is customary for wedding attendees to give congratulatory money to the bride and groom. This money is called ' goshugi' . Now, that sounds simple enough, right? You decide on an appropriate amount, pop it in a nice-looking envelope, and voilà! But not so fast! There are numer

It's the Halloween season, and the ghouls, ghosts and zombies are out in force, also in Japan. Japan, though, has a rather interesting (one could even say 'spooky') relationship with festivals or traditions originating in the West. Take Christmas, for instance: Japan being a Buddhist country, it cannot really relate to the birth of Christ, which, of course, is the original reason we celebrate Christmas - although that may often go forgotten amidst all the commercialism surrou

When you live on the other side of the world and far away from your nearest and dearest (and by 'near' I don't mean in the geographical sense, obviously), you want to make your trips back to your home country count and therefore plan them meticulously, in order to make sure they go smoothly and you can enjoy them as fully as possible. So when a few months back my other half hinted that she hadn't been abroad in almost five years (whilst I had been able to sneak in a couple of

One week from today, the clocks in Europe will be set back by one hour, marking the end of summertime (or daylight saving time, as it is known in some parts of the world). Meanwhile clocks in Japan will not change, and most Japanese will probably not even notice that the time difference to Western Europe is reverting back to 8 hours, from the 7 hours during summer. Except for the UK, where it's 9 hours instead of 8. For those doing business with Europe, it does have an impact

In a previous post, I established how mountains feature heavily in the landscape of both countries, with the tiny difference that the Swiss tend to put up a flag at the top of their peaks, while the Japanese don't. That brings me to the next topic: What shows the identity of a nation more than anything else? Its national flag, of course. Another common theme between Switzerland and Japan. Their shapes may be different, but the colour scheme is obviously very similar: Switzerl

Today marks 27 years to the day since I boarded a plane in Europe on my way to start a new life in Japan. There used to be a time when air travel could be described with one word: Excitement. Especially when it involved a 12-hour flight to a far-flung destination on the other side of the planet. But in the last two decades, air travel has become much more complicated, and the words that are more likely associated with it these days are stress, anxiety and exhaustion... I gues