Let's Enjoy Japan!

25) Full. Of. Cats.

Wed, 30 May 2018 00:01:16 +0100

Here we are once again at the end of the Merry Month of May! On time! Here! Hurrah! Allow Keito to take you round to the local Japanese tavern / inn, the Izakaya, where you can eat and drink to your heart's content! Then follow Yubi to Tashirojima, an island run by the best animal of all... cats! We also provide you with either your best party trick or a linguistic nightmare in our word of the day, and we serve some feel-good Japanese reality TV with our osusume!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

24) The Free, The Strong, And The Cute

Tue, 15 May 2018 23:58:31 +0100

We're back! We're here! We're... so sorry. We're now planning to release episodes every fortnight - so next one will be May 29th. Life came up at us fast, but we're back with a brand new episode! This week join Yubi on a cracking tour of broken - then mended - crockery as we explore the philosophical kintsugi, and then follow Keito around the 40,000,000 members of smash-hit idol-palooza AKB48! We also serve up a beautiful word of a day, and an ever-changing "osusume" recommendation.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

23) Whip Your Tea Back and Forth

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 22:09:19 +0100

Better late than never, right? ... Right? We're here with another great episode after a tantalizing wait! First join Keito for a delicious cup of matcha and learn how to tell what makes good matcha from bad. Then join Yubi for a whistle-stop tour around the legendary Akihabara in Tokyo, a must-see destination! We also present a word of the day perfect for any time of the day, and an osusume sure to tickle your funny bones.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

22) Smack-Fan For The Naughty Man

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:25:28 +0100

This episode comes to you late because despite having it Totally Ready To Go... Yubi forgot to upload it! Doh! This week follow Yubi as we walk alongside one of animation's greats, Hayao Miyazaki. Then allow Keito to tickle your chucklebones with the history of Manzai, Japan's comedy double-acts! We provide a soul-searching recommendation, but our word of the day will leave you feeling lively and spry.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

21) No One Screams in Okonomimura

Wed, 07 Mar 2018 02:36:11 +0100

Welcome, welcome! We're here with another fantastic episode for you. Spring is near, the snow has mostly melted, and we now feel brave enough to turn the heating off sometimes. This week join Keito around the however-you-like-it soul food of Osaka, okonomiyaki, and then allow Yubi to walk you around who, what, when, why, and where you can store all your kami for all your new-shrine-founding needs. We also present a scrumptious word of the day and a semi-local osusume of a wonderful place you can get all your Japanese item needs!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

20) Dysfunctional Yoghurt

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 01:05:03 +0100

Between weddings and bad weather, this episode comes to you a little late and with a loving apology from Yubi. Oopsies. This week allow Yubi to give you a tour around the Meiji Co., Ltd and some of their wonderful and weird products. Then follow Keito to Hakone, a mystical place of lacquer and marquetry. With a really great word of the day and a very theatrical osusume you'll have plenty to keep you entertained!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

19) He Got Up Again Like Chumbawumba

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:10:13 +0100

Once more we open the door to all things Japan! This week join Keito and Yubi at the opposite ends of Japanese history-makers. First allow Keito to sweep you round the icy rink of doom as we discuss Yuzuru Hanyu and his outstanding performances at this year's Winter Olympics. Then follow Yubi back in time to the ancient rap-battles of the Nara period and the incredible poetry anthology created over 1000 years ago. Our word of the day will make sure you go without the things you don't like, and our recommendation is sure to get you poppin' and hoppin' to some very good music.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

18) Little Garbage Dudes

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 16:49:11 +0100

We burst into your podcast player a day late clutching a coffee and looking mildly panicked. Sorry. Allow us to make it up to you with this chock-a-block episode of fun! First Yubi introduces us to a legend of Japanese cinema, the beautiful and talented Toshiro Mifune who inspired archetypes, generations, and Clint Eastwood. Then allow Keito to show you the wonderful world of Tanuki, as requested by listener Millie-mai! Thank you so much! Fair warning though, we laugh about balls. We also recommend a manga/anime that gets Yubi hyped / distraught to the nth degree, and our word of the day is short, sweet, and very helpful.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

17) Human Meat's Back On The Menu

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:07:05 +0100

January is over, February is here, and we've got another fun tour around Japan in store! Join Keito as we explore Japan's evocative ballads through the medium of Enka's revolutionary roots. Then join Yuubi in a nice, warm Cat Café with snuggly friends you'll pay to be ignored by! We also offer a many-named osusume recommendation, and a grave warning about the dangerous of garlic and muscles in word of the day... An added bonus: our mic stand repeatedly falling over and making strange noises! Sorry!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

16) Bean Jelly Sugar Water

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 03:41:16 +0100

We're back! We're alive! We survived the flu and the common cold! This week Keito and Yuubi wheezingly guide you around two more fun new topics. First allow Yuubi to take you back in time to meet a reverse-legendary Empress of Japan who ruled from the tender age of 14 and is mysteriously missing from certain important books. Then allow Keito to delight your senses with sensational youkan, Japan's answer to the eternal question of "why the heck does anyone eat this?" We also serve up a delish-y fishy osusume recommendation and a word of the day perfect for expressing your disgust for certain things.

So sit back, relax... and let's enjoy Japan!

15) The Enigmatic Cloud Horn

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 05:11:47 +0100

Another week, another guided tour around two super fun new topics! First join Yuubi as we step back over 100 years to the humble beginnings of game giant Nintendo, and then allow Keito to whisk you away on the 13 strings of a koto - of which some parts of the instrument have very very very good names. We also present a bitter-sweet and touching osusume, and we're so pleased to teach you a brand new word of the day.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

14) Personal Face Trough

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 01:38:40 +0100

Hello and welcome to another episode of Let's Enjoy Japan! This week allow Keito to take you to greater heights as we discuss the highs and lows of escalators in Japan! Then join Yuubi on a wild ride out of the land of night with 1,500 warriors of Yomi hot on your heels and only a few magic items to save the day! We've also got a forbidden word of the day, and our osusume recommendation is sure to either send you back a decade into the past or open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking about justice.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

13) The One With the Cursed Audio

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 01:10:31 +0100

Well, here we are in 2018! This week Keito and Yuubi have a very special episode for you all, our first ever one! Yes, that's right, the secret pilot we never released because honestly? Cursed audio. We did a bad job with the audio quality. We also didn't have music, our layout was whack, and our tag-line limp. Hooray!

But we believe in humble beginnings and reflecting on what we achieved, and this episode is a glorious look into our first, nervous exploration of what has become of this podcast.

So, allow Yuubi to guide you round takoyaki, undoubtably the most delicious food Japan has to offer, and let Keito show you the wonders of the weird and random department store Donkihote! We also have a word of the day designed to fill you with confidence, and an osusume that'll have you singing all through the year.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

(And bad audio. Sorry.)

12) Grumpy, Hairy, and Unbelievably Chill

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 01:07:07 +0100

Happy Holidays! We hope you're all having a fantastic time, and we hope you'll be able to cram our bite-sized episode into your schedules. This week allow Keito and Yuubi to take you on an exciting tour around... dolls? First allow Yuubi to lead you around the wonderful - yet slightly dark - history of the kokeshi doll. Then follow Keito back in time to the beginning of the daruma doll, and meet our new idol for 2018. We can only hope to achieve such greatness! We also have a very cool word of the day, and our musical osusume is sure to tickle your ivories!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

11) Dogs Are Good

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 02:43:06 +0100

It's the run-up to the holidays! Are you ready? We're not! Forget your jolly-holiday woes and join Keito and Yuubi on another wild ride through all things Japanese. Well, two things Japanese. First allow Keito to take us back a scant few years to the 1930s, where we meet a very, very, very good boy. We love him, you'll love him, and Yuubi makes a lot of weird pained noises throughout the story. Then allow Yuubi to take you back in time to finally cover a topic they've been threatening to cover since the beginning - some very old books. Some very old, exciting books. We also feature a timeless osusume recommendation of a fantastic film, and a word of the day to help you join your sentences together correctly.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

10) Wrong Shoe Writing Systems

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 02:43:48 +0100

Hello and welcome to the super special 10th episode of Let's Enjoy Japan! This week Keito and Yubi strike an alliance and collaborate to tell you the tale of the Japanese writing system. Allow Yubi to sweep you back to before when Japan was literate, guiding you through the arrival of Chinese characters (or kanji), and the Japanese system of using them: man'yougana. Which was... iiiiiinnnnterrressstttiiiing. Then allow Keito to offer you the history Japan's solution to a wild, lawless, adopted writing system - hiragana and katakana. With a thematically appropriate osusume of Tofugu's articles on learning hiragana and katakana and a weird and niche word of the day exploring the difference between a deity of "The Word" and just a regular deity, this episode is sure to tickle your linguistic and historical fancies. And either encourage you to start leaning Japanese written language, or maybe put you off completely. We hope it's the former!

So until next week, let's enjoy Japan!

9) A Friend for Rice

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 16:31:28 +0100

This week Keito and Yuubi would like to invite you for another wonderful tour of all things Japanese, hand in hand with two fun topics that once again sort of link to each other. How do we keep doing that? Allow Yuubi to take you on a savory tour of furikake, the suspended and poured rice seasoning that's been all the rage for almost a hundred years! Yuubi's special secret recipe for perhaps the saddest sandwich is revealed and laughed at. It's fine. I'm fine. Then allow Keito to lead you up the many, many steps of the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, complete with all sorts of fun facts about foxes. Food is once again discussed, as well as a mutual dislike of climbing so many stairs and mountains. We also serve up a thought-provoking osusume recommendation with a book review, and we explore the world of Japanese punctuation in our word of the day.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

8) Brave Good Youths

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 13:49:53 +0100

This fine wintery week allow your dear hosts Keito and Yuubi to once more guide you across Japan via two fun, very different topics. First join Keito in a cosy Cosplay Café of your choosing. How about a maid café? What about a butler café? One where the servers are women dressed as samurai? What about one where your cake is served by none other than Final Fantasy's Sephiroth? There are so many to choose from! Then allow Yuubi to wind back the clock all the way to the very creation of Japan itself. Not earthquakes and tectonic plates, of course, but two gods, Izanagi and Izanami, with a big spear standing on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. Obviously. We also shed light on a confusing false-friend word of the day and recommend an anime where the rink is cold and unforgiving, but our hearts are warm and full of love.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

Let's Enjoy... Winners!

Wed, 22 Nov 2017 17:36:53 +0100

The die is cast! The numbers crunched! Here are our two wonderful winners for the Ichiban and Niban giveaways - the first of many more to come. Congratulations, and thank you all for entering.

So until next time, let's enjoy winners!

7) He Who Can't be Moved

Wed, 22 Nov 2017 14:02:41 +0100

Once more into the fray, once more, dear friends! This week Keito and Yuubi sweep you round two more fantastic and different topics. Join Yuubi's guide to the healthcare system in Japan where the government and physicians battle every month over the price of medicine, but watch out for those sneaky closed-at-the-weekend hospitals! Then follow Keito into the big, juicy topic of Sumo wrestling and the clash of men who spend more time trying to frighten their opponent than wrestle. We've also got a sizzling osusume of a game that's maybe not for the faint of heart - or under 16s - and our word of the day will teach you the perfect bookends to every Japanese meal.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

6) Putting the Fun in Kofun

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 13:21:02 +0100

Join Keito and Yuubi on another astounding set of ten minute(ish) tours around two more very different and yet alliterative topics! Allow Keito to unravel the mysteries held within your blood and reveal the answers that can be found in your blood type, but beware... neither of us know our blood types, and Yuubi ended up picking the 'not so very good' one. Oops. Then allow Yuubi to take you far, far back in time to when Japan was newly emerging from the hills and mounds and slopes and hills and--... hey, are some of these hills made by people? What's inside? It's... graves! We've also got an incredibly useful website osusume recommendation, and our word of the day is guaranteed to get you through any tough situation!
Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes to enter our Ichiban giveaway, and check out our Twitter for our second Niban giveaway!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan.

(Due to the nature of the first topic, we'd just like to warn listeners that this episode talks about racism and eugenics.)

I Hunger for your Pot

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 10:58:44 +0100

This week Keito and Yuubi wish to whisk you away to Japan once more as we distil and reduce down two topics into alliterative but different discussions. Join Yuubi on a guided tour around Nippori, the fantastical fabric market in Tokyo, and allow Keito to cook you up a delicious pot of nabe stew. It's going to make you really hungry, and Yuubi's going to yell about being hungry for nabe for like, the whole second half. We've also got a super interesting word of the day presented by Keito, all about me! Me! Me! and Yuubi's got a recommendation hot off the anime press line.

Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes to enter our Ichiban giveaway, and check out our Twitter for our second Niban giveaway!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

888, The Number of the Beast

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 10:39:01 +0100

Allow Keito and Yuubi to sweep you away to the wonderful land of the rising sun once more as we sink our fangs into two very different ten-minute topics. Feel the sweet, gentle stretch in your muscles as Keito leads you through the soft excercises done in radio calisthenics - complete with a nice bit where Yuubi was going to put in some example music but feared copyright at the last minute - and find yourself in the midst of a tale about Orochi, a demon plaguing the lands of ancient, mythical Japan. You'll also meet Yuubi's greatest nemesis, bad translations of a very old text. We've also served up a piping hot osusume of an amazing book, and our word of the day is perfect for when you're leaving work and definitely not drunk.

Thank you all so much for an amazing month.

So let's sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!

"Paon!" Quoth the Elephant

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 13:06:42 +0100

This week Keito and Yuubi invite you to join them on two more, radically different from each other, ten minute(ish) tours! Discover Meiji-jingu, a hidden spiritual oasis in the heart of buzzing Tokyo with some major history behind it, and delve into the world of sounds, noises, feelings, medical issues, and just about anything that can be described by Japanese onomatopoeia. We also offer a very catchy sing-along osusume, and our word of the day teaches us nothing is impossible! Or at least... don't over exert yourself.

Our prize giveaway is still running, so make sure you leave us a review on iTunes to enter Ichiban, and retweet our pinned tweet to enter Niban!

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan.

Cultured

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 16:29:34 +0100

(We got a few messages saying the sound was quieter in this episode so we've updated it! Thanks for letting us know!)

This week Keito and Yuubi invite you to join them on two more ten minute(ish) tours around... culture! Japanese culture! So much culture! Like ikebana, the cultured art of flower arrangement, and the man who maybe invented culture himself, Katsushika Hokusai. He's cultured, right? We also serve up some piping hot new recommendations, and a simply delicious word of the day. So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan! Also, culture.

Let's Enjoy... Prizes!

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 21:21:43 +0100

Hello and welcome to a special episode of Let's Enjoy Japan! This short episode is all about... prizes! Specifically, prizes we want to give to you, our sweet, dear listeners. So have a listen, enter our giveaways, and soon you'll be enjoying a prize from us to you!

Eggs?

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 20:12:27 +0100

Welcome to the very first episode of Let's Enjoy Japan! Allow us, your hosts Keito and Yuubi, to take you on ten minute(ish) tours around anything and everything Japanese.

This week we delve into the wonder of Japanese vending machines and discuss the appeal of all those cute yuru-kyara mascots. We also serve up a piping hot osusume recommendation, and indulge in a word of the day.

So sit back, relax, and let's enjoy Japan!