By Vanessa Villalobos
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.
Put the kettle on & enjoy an enlightening chat with the charming Charlie, a tea shop owner in London with real passion for Japanese culture. I got INSPIRED with so many TEA BREWING TIPS from talking with Charlie, and I think you will too!
A milliner by training, Charlie has established the tea shop Tencha with her husband Chris, a jeweller after they fell in love with the taste & aesthetics of all things tea in Japan on their honeymoon.
The couple study Urasenke Chado (tea ceremony) here in London and they love the link that tea has with all facets of Japanese culture, including seasonality, history, clothing, ceramics and art. Charlie want to celebrate tea & all the hard-working Japanese tea farmers!
In this episode we talk about:
Thank you so much for listening! To read the podcast transcript, click here.
Get to know Charlie & her tea better:
I'm SO chuffed to finally catch up with my talented friend, Yuki Gomi, a professional chef, teacher and cookery writer. I can still remember the taste of the delicious aubergine dish we made when I attended one of her wonderful Yuki's Kitchen cooking classes in her home near my old haunt, Crystal Palace, about 10 years ago!
Since then, Yuki has gone from strength to strength, with her first book 'Sushi at Home' published in 2013 by Penguin, and her Japanese cooking expertise has reached many thousands of people. Yuki has been featured in the Guardian, Monocle Weekly, Vogue magazine, and has been on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, to name just a few!
Alongside regular classes at her home in South London, Yuki offers courses and private lessons at special events around the world and colleges such as the prestigious Leiths School of Food & Wine.
In this episode, we chat about:
Thank you so much for listening! To read the podcast transcript, click here.
Get to know Yuki's work better::
If the Way to Japan mission to explore the art of Japan-inspired living to be found in the UK resonates with you, click here to subscribe to the newsletter. You'll be notified of the latest podcast episodes & blogs, as well as receiving our encouraging edit of juicy, Japan-inspired recommendations.
Let's connect on Instagram! @thewaytojapan
Korekara yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡ Vanessa
It was SUCH a joy to speak with my writing mentor & bestselling author, Beth Kempton, who is an award-winning entrepreneur and producer of online courses, a Reiki Master, a yoga teacher, a mama of two young girls, and a self-help author whose books have been translated into more than 25 languages.
Even if you don't have a copy of her book 'Wabi Sabi', you would likely recognise it from it's gorgeous pale green cover... I see it in practically every book shop, gift shop & boutique!
I loved speaking with Beth about what the pandemic revealed about the true nature of things, her fifth book 'The Way of the Fearless Writer', as well as this small but significant details of what tea & toast she likes best when she gets up to write at 5am!
In this episode we chat about:
Thank you so much for listening! To read the podcast transcript, click here.
Get to know Beth's work better:
If the Way to Japan mission to explore the art of Japan-inspired living to be found in the UK resonates with you, click here to subscribe to the newsletter. You'll be notified of the latest podcast episodes & blogs, as well as receiving our encouraging edit of juicy, Japan-inspired recommendations.
Let's connect on Instagram! @thewaytojapan
Korekara yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡ Vanessa
WELCOME back to the Way to Japan Autumn 2022 interview series!
I hugely enjoyed talking to my inspirational friend Anna, who is a Devon-based nutritionist and a mum in a busy Japanese British family day-to-day. I met Anna through an online course have since been relishing her Japan-inspired approach to food over on Instagram.
Anna has gained much first-hand insight into the Japanese ways of approaching food through her varied experiences of living in Japan, first teaching in rural Akita, then returning with her Japanese husband and children to live and work managing a guesthouse in rural Kyoto. When she returned to the UK, she used her unique perspective to set up a social enterprise, Nourishing Families, which supports parents, children and young people to build a lifelong positive relationship with food to nurture wellbeing.
Anna is the Nutrition for Wellbeing Lead at the National Center for Integrated Medicine. She was shortlisted for a Wellbeing Award in the Complementary Therapy Awards 2022.
In this episode, we chat about:
Thank you so much for listening! To read the podcast transcript, click here.
Get to know Anna's work better:
If the Way to Japan mission to explore the art of Japan-inspired living to be found in the Uk resonates with you, click here to subscribe to the newsletter. You'll be notified of the latest podcast episodes & blogs, as well as receiving our encouraging edit of juicy, Japan-inspired recommendations.
Let's connect on Instagram! @thewaytojapan
Korekara yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡ Vanessa
WELCOME to the Way to Japan Autumn 2022 interview series!
I'm delighted to kick off with my wonderful friend Masa, a London-based 'Zen POP' singer/songwriter & artist from Yokohama, Japan. I first met Masa about 12 years ago, and shortly after that, O-ARC played their ambient 'Zen Pop' at the JapaneseLondon.com launch party!
Some of O-ARC's other highlights have been playing at Tate Gallery, Whitechapel Art Gallery, ICA, Le Pop in Paris and Myosaiji Temple in Tokyo. 4 songs from EN album were used for Channel 4’s Hollyoaks! Masa's art has been exhibited at Cass Art Hampstead, London, Chrom Art Gallery, London, Toukou Gallery in Tokyo, and is now at gallery L'embrasser in Paris.
The Paris exhibition at gallery L'embrasser runs from Thursday 25th August - Wednesday 7th September 2022.
In this episode, we chat about:
Thank you so much for listening! To read the podcast transcript, click here.
Masa's Social:
Instagram @masaiidaart
Facebook /masaiidaart
Twitter /masaiidaart
Linked In /in/masa-iida-1b748423/
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/o-arc
2022 Paris exhibition at the gallery L'embrasser
彩心 IROHA (couleur, coeur, & esprit) exhibition
L'embrasser, 24 rue Saint-Louis en I'Île ,75004, Paris
Thursday 25th August - Wednesday 7th September.
Special opening : Saturday 3rd September from 6pm (Masa will be present).
https://www.facebook.com/lembrasser
https://www.instagram.com/lembrasser_paris
If the Way to Japan mission to explore the art of Japan-inspired living to be found in the Uk resonates with you, click here to subscribe to the newsletter. You'll be notified of the latest podcast episodes & blogs, as well as receiving our encouraging edit of juicy, Japan-inspired recommendations.
Let's connect on Instagram! @thewaytojapan
Korekara yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡ Vanessa
My 7-year-old's middle name is Zen.
No, really, it is.
We gave him the name hoping naively that it might, I don't know... infuse qualities of calm into his nature?
He is, ermm, not calm. He is like a tightly coiled spring, ready to bounce off unpredictably in any direction. His spirit animal is, I think, Tigger.
2020’s adventure in ‘home schooling’ rapidly led to clenched fists, hyperventilating, hiding under the desk, shouting ‘NO!’. And that was just me!
All the lessons in the meaning of Zen are for mummy.
Something I had to quickly understand is to follow the path of least resistance. Make it easy. Make it fun. Make it interesting. This inspired me to think more deeply about learning Japanese, and how it can be Omoshiroi.
Really, this applies to all learning, doesn't it? EVERYTHING we do in life. It's just got to be compelling and enjoyable, or else we resist doing it.
In episode 6, I will talk about The Real Reason You May Fail to Learn Japanese, including 3 steps to take to smash it to smithereens:
Step 1: How to Break Your Learning Up into Small Chunks
Step 2: How to Get the Habit of Learning Japanese
Step 3: How to Create Your Japanese Language Community
Thank you so much for listening! I have been so touched and overwhelmed by your kind support. It makes it all worthwhile.
I’ll be back in January 2021 with my next Japanese London Living series of podcasts. So you can be first to know about, please do sign up to my newsletter.
I have defined 6 simple steps to OMOSHIROI learning, which I can’t wait to share with you in this series of podcasts!
Start uncovering your UNIQUE visions, goals and tactics to learn the Japanese that YOU WANT!
To grab a copy of the playbook that accompanies this series, click here:
The OMOSHIROI Method Fill-in-the-Blanks Playbook
Visit JapaneseLondon.com to get more info about learning Japanese, and enjoying a Japan-full life in London.
Vanessa connects learners with 1-1 native speaking Japanese tutors for private lessons and runs the Japanese London Conversation Club.
She also blogs about Japanese living in London, and can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡
Have you ever been to a kaiten-zushi restaurant? I love the weirdly futuristic simplicity of the conveyor belt concept. Tantalising morsels of white, red and orange fish, laid like glistening gems on their thrones of rice glide regally past.
We grab what delights us most, and devour it. Actually, the kaiten zushi experience is such an apt metaphor for Japanese study – in fact, for life in general.
The choice can seem overwhelming, and we aren’t sure what to pick. Sometimes we get put off by accidentally picking something that’s not to our taste. Raw squid? Salmon Roe? Octopus balls? We get it wrong sometimes. Other times a new flavour surprises us and we acquire a taste for it.
We don’t need to gobble up everything that passes us. We need to become more familiar, more discerning. In fact, the likelihood of getting exactly what we want increases every time we try again – we might even summon the courage to ask the sushi chef with the big sharp knives for directly for what we want. Ask, and it is given.
If you’ve been following my series about the ‘OMOSHIROI’ method, you’ll know that I believe learning Japanese should be just to your taste – that is, both fun and interesting TO YOU. And the way to make things fun and interesting is YOUR WAY - to really consider what it is you enjoy, and grab it / do it / read it / learn it / watch it / listen to it / eat it! More! Little and often.
In this episode, I will talk about my top picks for ‘How to Teach Yourself Japanese’, including:
Hope you find this episode helpful!
I have defined 6 simple steps to OMOSHIROI learning, which I can’t wait to share with you in this series of podcasts!
Start uncovering your UNIQUE visions, goals and tactics to learn the Japanese that YOU WANT!
To grab a copy of the playbook that accompanies this series, click here:
The OMOSHIROI Method Fill-in-the-Blanks Playbook
Visit JapaneseLondon.com to get more info about learning Japanese, and enjoying a Japan-full life in London.
Vanessa connects learners with 1-1 native speaking Japanese tutors for private lessons and runs the Japanese London Conversation Club.
She also blogs about Japanese living in London, and can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡
When I lived in Japan, it was before the smart phone-era.
I had a large map of Tochigi city and the whole surrounding area pinned to the wall in my apartment, and I studied the routes to the many elementary and middle schools I needed to visit. Some of them were quite far away by bicycle.
I’d be on my way to school in the morning, zig-zagging gingerly along narrow paths between the rice fields, perched on my mama-chari bicycle, and clutching in my fist a small, damp note for security. On the note had been written neatly, in Japanese (not by me!): ‘Excuse me, I’ve lost my way, where is Chizuka Shogako?’.
If my spoken Japanese was not immediately successful, which was often the case, I could show the innocent victim the note. I’d be pointed in the right direction and off I'd trundle again. I would breathe a deep sigh of relief when the school I’d been sent to as a visiting English teacher finally materialised, hazily, in the shadow of the mountains.
If I’d had a smartphone back then, it would have been SO MUCH easier. I wouldn’t have had to attempt to memorise my route from a map. I wouldn’t have even needed to ask directions. Or, if I did, I could have had the phone speak the words, instead of me, slowly dying inside of acute embarrassment.
That would have been AMAZING! So, no, I’m not really serious about deleting our incredibly handy Japanese learning and translating apps. We do have the technology, and we should make good use of it.
BUT, what I am concerned about is the PASSIVITY that the comfort of APPS can create.
In this episode I will talk about:
Hope you find this episode helpful!
I have defined 6 simple steps to OMOSHIROI learning, which I can’t wait to share with you in this series of podcasts!
Start uncovering your UNIQUE visions, goals and tactics to learn the Japanese that YOU WANT!
To grab a copy of the playbook that accompanies this series, click here:
The OMOSHIROI Method Fill-in-the-Blanks Playbook
Visit JapaneseLondon.com to get more info about learning Japanese, and enjoying a Japan-full life in London.
Vanessa connects learners with 1-1 native speaking Japanese tutors for private lessons and runs the Japanese London Conversation Club.
She also blogs about Japanese living in London, and can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡
When I was 15 years old, my father went on a business trip to Japan.
My father was a Yorkshireman, and not at all given to gushing enthusiasm, except perhaps for a chip butty. Given his usual world-weary demeanour and workaholic tendencies, I was gobsmacked when he came back from his Japan trip all lit up like Akihabara electronic district on a Saturday night.
He had cool Japanese souvenirs too: some weird ‘coffee’ gum, a hand-carved wooden Hokkaido bear, and a lovely crane-printed summer yutaka (cotton gown) for me. It was very exciting.
He said: “Vanessa, if you ever get the chance to go to Japan – GO!”
I was like ‘yeah, ok dad…’ *rolls eyes*
Like many people who fall for Japan’s charms, my dad couldn’t even put his finger on what it was exactly that he loved about the place.
He liked the way the staff in McDonalds bowed when handing over his cheeseburger. He loved the gardens at Kyoto’s temples. He appreciated the craftsmanship of the Hokkaido bear. He wasn’t crazy about the food (not a seafood fan).
So I didn’t understand quite what it was that he found so wonderful about the place, and neither did he.
But I never forgot that spark that Japan had somehow managed to kindle in my cynical father.
In this episode I explore:
Hope you find this episode helpful!
I have defined 6 simple steps to OMOSHIROI learning, which I can’t wait to share with you in this series of podcasts!
Start uncovering your UNIQUE visions, goals and tactics to learn the Japanese that YOU WANT!
To grab a copy of the playbook that accompanies this series, click here:
The OMOSHIROI Method Fill-in-the-Blanks Playbook
Visit JapaneseLondon.com to get more info about learning Japanese, and enjoying a Japan-full life in London.
Vanessa connects learners with 1-1 native speaking Japanese tutors for private lessons and runs the Japanese London Conversation Club.
She also blogs about Japanese living in London, and can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡
You might not be offended by the F WORD, but I am.
In the last month, I’ve had two consultation calls with Japanese learners where they just kept dropping the F BOMB – without even thinking about it.
Fluency.
The learners, both complete beginners, wanted to get fluent in Japanese. Quick! Now! Yesterday if possible! One had a time scale of 6 months, and the other a year. Now, I’m not one to rain on anyone’s parade, but I needed to break to the sad news that going from zero to Japanese hero in such a short time would be… well, unlikely.
One of them took it well. The other was insulted. But why do you think I can’t become fluent in a year if I study every day? she said. I explained that it very much depended on what fluency really means to her. Also, she would need to be highly motivated to reach that level so quickly, and devote almost all of her time to this goal to make it happen.
On the other hand, I just spoke to a guy who has been studying Japanese for a long time, but who is now feeling particularly unmotivated, given the global pandemic situation in 2020. Millions of trips to Japan have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. He said: why bother now when I don’t even know when I’ll be able to go to Japan?
I know that there have been lots of headlines about people learning languages during lockdown.
So, I’d like to focus on 3 really important questions to ask yourself when it comes to making a decision on whether learning Japanese is right for you, right now. And, importantly, what Japanese to learn.
Hope you find this episode helpful!
I have defined 6 simple steps to OMOSHIROI learning, which I can’t wait to share with you in this series of podcasts!
Start uncovering your UNIQUE visions, goals and tactics to learn the Japanese that YOU WANT!
To grab a copy of the playbook that accompanies this series, click here:
The OMOSHIROI Method Fill-in-the-Blanks Playbook
Visit JapaneseLondon.com to get more info about learning Japanese, and enjoying a Japan-full life in London.
Vanessa connects learners with 1-1 native speaking Japanese tutors for private lessons and runs the Japanese London Conversation Club.
She also blogs about Japanese living in London, and can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. ♡
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.