When I lived in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, weekends often began with a slow walk through quiet streets, a coffee in hand, and a sense of curiosity about what the day might bring. This neighborhood in Koto-ku, tucked away in Tokyo’s east side, became my little sanctuary, a place where the past and present seemed to hold hands.

If you’re looking to escape the hordes of tourists in Ginza and you’re looking for a shitamachi experience where old and new Japan sit side-by-side, this is a place you need to explore.

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Back in the 1990s, when I first started studying Japanese, my tools were simple: paper-based study guides, cassette tapes, and stacks of handwritten flashcards. I remember lugging around thick grammar books and scribbling kanji over and over in notebooks, hoping the repetition would make them stick. There was a kind of charm to it: slow, tactile, and deeply personal. But it was also time-consuming, expensive, and sometimes isolating. Fast forward to today, and the landscape of Japanese language learning has completely transformed. There are countless affordable (and even free) resources available online: apps, YouTube channels, podcasts, and yes, even AI tools like ChatGPT.

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When I worked in Shinagawa, a Tokyo suburb, my lunch routine was simple, reliable, and deeply satisfying: a tamago-sando from the konbini. If you’ve never had one, tamago-sando is Japan’s take on the egg salad sandwich—but smoother, creamier, and somehow more comforting than any version I’d had before. The eggs are whipped into a silky blend, often with a touch of Japanese mayo, and tucked between impossibly soft, crustless white bread. It’s humble, but perfect.

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Almost ten years ago, my boyfriend (now husband) invited me to the hills above Kita-Kamakura for what would become one of the most memorable afternoons of my life. The scenery was beautiful, yes, but what truly stayed with me was the way he showed his love: through food.

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When the Japanese summer wraps the country in its humid embrace, there's one dish my husband always makes that feels like a gentle breeze through cicada-filled trees: Hiyashi Chūka. It's colorful, cooling, and comforting, like edible fireworks on Tanabata night.

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Even after studying Japanese at university, I’ve often found myself puzzled by the deeper logic behind verb usage. Why certain forms are used, how nuance is conveyed, and what’s really going on beneath the surface of everyday speech. That’s why I was so excited to try out Maplopo’s new Verb Masterclass program.

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