Video: From Japan With Love (And Dashi)

The Perennial Plate’s Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine did an excellent job with this short film featuring Japan, “From Japan With Love (And Dashi)”. The video, which I first saw on Laughing Squid, highlights the food and sights of Japan. This footage is beautifully spliced together and backed up with cool music, too! But be warned: some of the food preparation footage, as you might suspect, is a little graphic for those who may not want to connect the dots between their food and the animal from which it came so swiftly. With that said, it’s worth the watch, enchanting and currently persuading me to hop on the next flight to Japan.

Read signs in Japan, even if you don’t know Japanese – International travel tip

Afraid to visit Japan because you can’t read the signs? Are you intimidated by all the Kanji? Don’t worry! First, buy a Nintendo DS, and then, buy a Japanese/English dictionary cartridge called: Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten.

No matter how bad your Kanji stroke order is, and no matter how sloppy your handwriting, this dictionary helps you read Kanji in a light and compact way. After you write the character, it will show you the various English translations.

It also breaks down the Kanji into hiragana and katakana for a simple read for those with limited Japanese language training.