I’m an avid observer of people and places. My hobby is also my career–I’m a Ph.D. student specializing in political science, specifically in East Asia. This blog chronicles my adventures in Japan, from teaching English in Niigata-ken on the JET Program to taking language classes at IUC Yokohama and KCJS to my dissertation fieldwork in Tokyo. It will probably deal with all sorts of other random topics along the way. That’s part of the idea–I’m not a one-dimensional person, so why should my blog be?
In Japan, the term モダンガール(modan gaaru) refers to Japanese women who followed Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the 1920s. These “moga” were Japan’s equivalent of America’s flapper; they were depicted as living in the cities, being financially and emotionally independent, choosing their own suitors, and being model consumers. In any case, I’ve always thought that these women were a really interesting group living at a really interesting time in Japan. And I liked the play on words. :)
A note about content: The writing and photography featured on this blog is my original work unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from me is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to A Modern Girl with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
If you wish to use my photos on your own site or get larger versions of them, please contact me. If you receive permission to use my photos, you must credit me when using the photo elsewhere and provide a link back to this blog or to my Flickr site. And this credit should be visibly connected to the photo(s) that you have used (i.e. if you’ve used my photos and those of others somewhere, don’t cite all of us in a batch after the fact, but give each photographer credit for the specific photo he/she took). You can use this code if you like:
© <a href=”http://amoderngirl.wordpress.com”>A Modern Girl</a> and <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/people/kristi-san/”>kristi-san</a>
Relatedly, the photo in the header was taken by Guwashi999. It’s a nighttime shot of Shibuya, one of my favorite parts of Tokyo. The original can be found here.
Happy reading!
hi, visit my blog and read an interesting malay story. maybe you will need a translator.
Hi Kristi,
My name is Carla and my partner, Eugene, and I have recently written an ebook on living in Japan. You can find it at http://www.howtoliveinjapan.com
We are just contacting you to see if you could possibly do a small post or even just put the link to our page up on your blog.
We’ve been following your blog for some time now and we would really appreciate any help.
Currently we are living in Tateyama, Chiba teaching and the ebook is just a guide to things that we had no idea about, but wish we did before moving to Japan.
Kind Regards
Carla and Eugene
Hi Kristi,
My name is Billy Martyn. My brother John and I are launching ABCLoop (www.abcloop.com) in early October, a Tokyo based social networking site that connects the English-speaking community with local Japanese that want to learn English and find English speaking social and professional events.
We are fans of your blog and would like to meet with you over coffee to introduce ourselves and discuss the possibility of collaborating. Will you be available sometime between October 8th and 20th? Please let us know.
Thanks,
Billy
Billy@abcloop.com
Mobile: 080-6401-9694
Hi Kristi-
I’m the editor of Expat Arrivals.com (http://www.expatarrivals.com), a site devoted to developing comprehensive destination guides aimed at easing expat transitions abroad. I came across your blog while doing research to enhance the Japan portion of our site, and I was hoping I could convince you to share some of your expat insight. We’re constantly looking for contributors, and in exchange, we can give our writers promotional profiles where you have the opportunity to promote yourself, your blog and your business. Would you be interested in adding some content to Expat Arrivals? I know you’ve yet to arrive in the country, but sometimes tips on preparation are the best kind of info! Thanks for your time and consideration, I look forward to hearing from you!
Best-
Stephanie
Hello!
First and foremost, thank’s for a very entertaining blog!
I’ve been reading it for a while, but I have yet to contribute anything, so it’s
due time for me to make up for it! =)
I’ve found this quite amazing guy named Man. He’s a gaijin (Swedish I think)
who raps in perfect Japanese!
This one is his “Nagoya state of mind” which is a freestyle cover of
Jay Z feat Alicia Keys – Empire state of mind.
As far as I know he is the only non Japanese person who raps in Japanese (at least
at this level)
I haven’t seen any new artists like him since Monkey Majik and Gero,
so I would love it if you did something on this guy!
Anyways, thanks for an awesome blog!
Cheers!
//Marin
Dear Kristi,
I love your blog, and am contacting you regarding research for a new book I’m writing for ThingsAsian Press. I am looking for insights and quotable comments from individuals who have worked in Japan. I’m gathering information on a variety of fields, such as teaching, technology, office-based business, consultant services, visual arts, music, culinary arts, martial arts, entertainment, fashion, volunteer work, etc.
If you are interested in participating in this project, please respond and I will send you a questionnaire. The reward for your efforts will include writer’s credits and bio, plus six copies of the published book.
Looking forward to your reply….Celeste
Hello
I and two partners are looking for writers who are interested about Japanese history, culture, politics, modern life, and so forth.
I will say more if you are interested.
Lee Jay
Very nice blog!! Lovin’ it!
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Hey Kristi,
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I found yours through the post a week project on WordPress and had to subscribe, since I lived in Tokyo (near the New Otani Hotel) for 6 months in 1988, right before I started grad school. I still miss Japan, and would love to get back there some day. I did a lot of hiking when I was there (using a book called Day Hikes Outside Tokyo, I think) and found exploring the countryside that way a really amazing compliment to living and working in the city itself. I look forward to following your blog and seeing how gaijin life in Tokyo has changed and stayed the same since my day. Where in the city do you live?
Beth
P.S. Would love to know if the The Taj restaurant (right around the corner from Akasakamitsuke subway stop) is still there. We LOVED their food and ate there at least weekly, our one main exception to eating Japanese food consistently during our stay (the other was the lunchtime run to Wendy’s near work when we messed up and worked through the limited lunchtime window when all the Japanese restaurants were open for lunch After that it was either cucumber sandwiches at a coffee shop or Wendy’s til dinnertime).
Beth, thanks so much for the comment! I’m enjoying your blog as well. I actually live a bit outside Tokyo in Ichikawa (Chiba), but I get into the heart of the city fairly often to do interviews, work in my office, and of course, to have fun. :) I’ll try to remember to have a look for that restaurant the next time I’m in Akasakamitsuke!
Hi Kristi,
We contact you because we believe the following could be interesting information for your site visitors.
We are a small indie developer company for creative iPhone apps, and we have recently developed and released an iPhone educational game about Katakana and Hiragana. You can find info about it at http://www.underplot-apps.com/page/178/Match-Kana/ .
The idea behind Match Kana is to help Japanese learners practice the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries. It’s a simple matching game, but recognition and practicing the important Hiragana and Katakana glyphs is an important activity and since it’s presented as a game makes is also lot of fun.
Match Kana is available on iTunes and can be downloaded for FREE here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/match-kana/id412656918?mt=8
Kind Regards,
Niki Genov
Underplot Apps
http://www.underplot-apps.com
Hello.
I’m impressed your blog.Because you know a good thing when you see Japanese culture.
I live in Saitama Japan and I am Japanese.
But I recently started to blog about Japanese things in English.
I look forward to following your blog.
hi there?firstof all i thought u were japanese but clearly ur not(uv mentioned that in one of ur blogs) where r u from and why did u get so interested in japan?
im starting my own travel blog sorta thing soon and i bumped into urs when i was checkin out for some blog sites!!!Iv found it pretty interesting(esp the beatles one) and will be visiting it more often….ciao!! rekz
Rekz, thanks for the comment! You’re right, I’m not Japanese, I’m actually Filipino-Italian-American. I became interested in Japan after I started studying the Japanese language, and it’s been a real adventure since then!
My (full)name is Sakaguchi Benjamin Akeala Belew.（坂口ベンジャミン明ベルー）
I am a half Japanese, half-American composer and artist that resides in Indiana. After hearing the devastated news of the earth quake, flood, nuclear radiation etc. I created a video with my composition “Aria” to send hope to my home land and the people.
Please take a look. And if you do, thank you for your time in doing so.
Sakaguchi Benjamin Akeala Belew
Dear Modern Girl
Would you be interested in trading links with our site? We’re japan-watch.com, your one-stop source for news and information on Japan’s markets, economy, and politics.
our url:
http://japan-watch.com/
thank you, -rvehill
rvehill@gmail.com
I have been reading your blog about Japan… It’s great! I love the photography.
In fact, I’ve been reading blogs from every country on this planet looking for writers that would make great contributors for an online magazine my daughter and I are developing. I like what you write about. We could help each other.
My name is Patrick McCormick and our magazine is called “The e-Buffet”. Our prototype is online now. I hope you will take a look at it. It’s only been a month and we have assembled a remarkable group of talented artists and writers. It has become a Creative Collaboration and we are growing stronger every day.
There are several excellent reasons for our early success recruiting this talent. First, it is a great opportunity to promote your own blog or website. Second we do not charge our contributors or make them work for free, we actually intend to pay them. The creators of The e-Buffet will take ten percent of the total gross revenue each month and place it into a pool to be split by the contributors. Admittedly, we are a start-up business and do not have deep pockets, so the pool will be small at first. However, with the type of artists we are attracting, I predict our readership will grow quickly.
So, I like your work and I offer you the same opportunity that I have given the others. If you get in touch with me now, you can still place some of your material in the first issue due out June 1, 2011. Oh, the first few months you can submit articles and photographs that have all ready been published elsewhere. I believe that makes this one of those “Win, Win” opportunities.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Patrick McCormick
Dear Modern Girl, welcome to the world.
Hello Modern Girl,
My name is Peter Dyloco. I’m a Hong Kong born, 17 year old student who has been living in Toronto for the last 8 years of my life.
My life goal is not only to move to Japan, but reform it from the inside out. Simply said: I want to become a Japanese politician. Too often have I read news articles about the aging Japanese population, the oh so fragile economy and the ballooning public debt. The political inaction doesn’t help. It pains me to see Japan falter in such ways, especially knowing that Japan can certainly do better.
I’ve begun my mission through my blog, http://savingjapan.net, a blog dedicated to suggesting solutions to the problems facing Japanese society. Would it be possible to exchange links for our sites? That would be very much appreciated.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Peter Dyloco
Thanks for the comment on my blog. Your blog is fantastic took. I look forward to reading more from you. I lived in Kyoto for years and years (can read about me and Jenny here http://cumbrianvixens.wordpress.com/about/ ) Motoko
Very Nice Pics. Thanks for sharing amazing pics of japan……keep posting !!!
I liked the header image very much. I humbly suggest you to use Pilcrow theme.
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Hi Kristi,
I couldn’t find a contact address – so am leaving a quick comment instead.
I stumbled across your site (lovely pictures btw) and wondered if you and your readers might be interested in a new book I recently finished that focuses on the wild places and wild life of inaka Japan, called ‘For Fukui’s Sake’?
Like you I was a JET and I spent a lot of my time exploring and adventuring in the more remote and rural parts of the country.
If you were interested in mentioning the book on your blog, I would happily email you a copy for your perusal.
There’s also more info on my site: http://www.ForFukuisSake.com
All the best
Sam
Hi Kristi-san,
I’ve found your blog at Haikugirl’s Japan ( http://haikugirl.wordpress.com/ ).
Your blog is familiar with the Japanese style than Japanese. Because you know “moga”, but I did not know it very much. :)
Thank you,
I nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award. Here are the details: http://photographerwilltravel.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/the-versatile-blogger/
Thank you for creating an entertaining blog!
hey modern girl
i’m woode wood, a singer/songwriter based in austin, texas. i’ll be visiting tokyo in 2012 and have been reading dif blogs familiarizing myself with the japanese. thank you for writing yours, it has been informative. here’s what i do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q_Qc1rYt4w
thanks again…..
woode
As a blogger on Japan, you may be interested in ”Big Sound Temple” by Ben Stevens – the world’s FIRST ever novel to be written entirely in ‘Japlish’. It is available on promotion as a free download on Amazon UK/US. Just search ”Big Sound Temple Ben Stevens”. Thank you.
Hi,
My name is Malte Zeeck, and I am with InterNations.org. I really enjoyed reading your blog! I think expats in Japan and around the world could really gain some great insights from this page. The quality of the blog in general is very convincing, which is why I would love to feature you and your writing on the Recommended Blog on Japan section on InterNations.org
Not only do we feature and link to your blog prominently; we also would like to hear from you directly in our questionnaire! We have also designed a link badge for your blog.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact me via email: maltezeeck@internations.org
Best,
Malte Zeeck