BrentInJapan Podcast 0002 Japanese Nature, Food, and Spirituality with Jagna

BrentInJapan Podcast 0002 Japanese Nature, Food, and Spirituality with Jagna

🌸About the podcast:
I’ve been living in Japan a long time. I have a lot of interesting friends who live in Japan or have visited often so I thought we’d get together, turn on a camera and have fun talking about our experiences and perspectives on Japan – among other things. Enjoy!

🌸Today’s guest:
I met Jagna in an Irish pub in Osaka called The Blarney Stone where my band was playing. She didn’t live in Japan so I offered to show her around some places. We became fast friends and we’ve enjoyed disagreeing (but mostly agreeing) with each other ever since!

🌸Topics covered:
0:00 Introduction and what Jagna wants to explore more in Japan
2:35 The nature and spirituality of Japan
3:37 The attraction of Japanese suburbs and countryside
4:29 Akiya (empty houses)
5:32 Shintoism in modern Japan
7:59 How easy touring Japan is now compared to before
11:14 MATCHA ICE CREAM!!
13:21 How my taste buds changed after living in Japan
14:01 Umami, the natural flavor of Japanese food
15:43 Eating vegetarian (or vegan) in Japan
17:53 My overnight stay experience at a monestary in Koyasan
20:29 Jagna’s favorite places and times to visit
25:27 Climbing Mt. Fuji including some great tips
30:55 Favorite Japanese foods
34:36 Japanese language
35:32 Challenges in Japan (VERY interesting perspective!)
41:46 Traveling as a woman in Japan
47:53 Following rules in Japan
50:30 Changing manners in Japan (for the worse)
53:45 Challenges understanding Japanese thinking and communication style
1:01:32 Benefits of honest communication
1:08:00 Japanese behaviors
1:13:02 Are there universal human characteristics?
1:17:41 Final thoughts

🌸Links mentioned in the video:
🌲Unbeaten Japan Tours
https://unbeatenjapan.com
They operate tours into the deep countryside of the Kansai area of Japan and provide opportunities for international visitors to experience localities up close (and fully clothed, so please ignore my joke) by arranging a variety of options from which to choose.

🏠Akiya (empty houses), this is the first link that came up when I searched: https://resources.realestate.co.jp/buy/akiya-banks-in-japan-links-to-vacant-house-databases-by-prefecture/

🌸Caveat:
We are aware of the HUGE generalizations we are making, thank you. We are just two people talking about our personal opinions and experiences. Feel free to comment though to open a dialogue!