A day in my life in Japan 🇯🇵 Kimono👘 Asakusa⛩ Coming of Age🧧 Yummy foods 🍣

This video is sponsored by Sakurako, an authentic Japanese monthly snack subscription box. If you're interested in Japanese culture or miss Japan, you're in the right place. Today, I'll take you guys along with me, and we're going to experience the Japanese culture together.

If you don't know, the legal age in Japan used to be 20. Coming of age is a pretty big deal in Japan; it's a public holiday, and ceremonies are held across the country in city halls, ward offices, and other official centers. Large cities will host several. From my childhood, my mom always wanted me to experience Japanese culture as much as other Japanese kids who grew up in Japan. I don't know if other countries celebrate coming of age across the country, but I think it's super unique, and I've always wanted to attend the ceremony. However, since I moved out of Japan, I couldn't participate in it.

Last summer, after turning 20, my family and I brainstormed how I could experience this culture, and I came up with a fantastic idea. Since I can't attend the event itself, we decided to celebrate it ourselves. If you don't know, as part of the ceremony, women dress up in a beautiful and colorful style of kimonos called furisode—a kimono with long dangling sleeves—and men wear traditional Japanese dress or suit and tie. Rather than wearing a traditional furisode, I decided to wear the kimono that my great-grandma gifted to my grandma for her wedding. In traditional Japanese weddings, women wear kimono instead of a wedding dress.

In my opinion, wearing a kimono that has passed through generations to celebrate my coming of age and doing a photo shoot is much better than the official ceremony. Putting on a kimono alone is a pretty tough process, especially if you're a beginner, so most people go to a beauty salon or kimono salon beforehand to help them have their kimono put on and their hair done nicely. We found a studio that helps you put on your kimono, do your hair, and take your photos. You don't need to bring your own kimono; you can rent one there. I highly recommend getting your photos taken. Don't worry, it's not considered cultural appropriation if you wear a kimono respectfully. The majority of the Japanese people would appreciate it if you're interested in our culture and enjoy it in a respectful way.

There are several studios across Japan offering this service. You can also go outside and spend the day in a kimono, but since it's super hard to move in a kimono, I took it off after our photo shoot. After getting my photos taken, we decided to spend a bit of time in Asakusa, then have lunch to celebrate. Asakusa is one of the most popular sightseeing areas in Tokyo. Despite suffering extensive damage during the Tokyo bombings that took place during the Second World War, the area was rebuilt and preserved as a historical shitamachi. So, the downtown area of Asakusa is now one of the most visited tourist spots in the city.

What you're currently seeing is the Nakamise shopping street, which connects the front gate and the main hall of Sensō-ji Temple. The street is full of local shops and food stalls, and it's a great place to taste local flavors. The Sensō-ji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo. What you are seeing is ningyoyaki. Ningyo-yaki is very popular in Tokyo, where you can watch them being baked. “Ningyo” is a Japanese word for “doll,” so the name of the sweet reads “baked doll.” Ningyo-yaki are small cakes baked in small molds and filled with sweet red bean paste. Ningyo-yaki are popular souvenirs, and it's fun to discover the different shapes made by various shops.

Wow! What I would recommend is you can rent a kimono, put it on, and shop in Asakusa with your friends. You can take a bunch of Instagram photos, and there were a lot of girls wearing kimono and taking photos. So if you want something for your social media, I would highly, highly recommend doing so. As I said, it's not cultural appropriation but more so a cultural appreciation. In Japan, Sakurako is a monthly snack subscription box full of 19 traditional, authentic, and artisanal snacks, and also one kitchenware, delivered straight from Japan to your door. Sakurako curates and provides authentic Japanese snacks, sweets, tea, and more from local makers in Japan every month with a different concept.

This is shrimp crackers; let's taste it! This is like a really great afternoon snack if you like savory snacks. The great thing about Sakurako is that it's not only about enjoying snacks and getting delicious, yummy snacks every month, but more enjoying the culture and experiencing and learning about Japanese culture. They have this booklet where you can learn about Japanese culture, and every month they have a different theme. I forgot to add this month's theme is “Tea Time in Yokohama.” Sakurako is partnering with the Kanagawa government and local snack makers to introduce traditional Yokohama delights in a special Yokohama-inspired design box.

So you will not get bored each month reading something. Even though I'm half Japanese, I always learn something new about Japanese culture and traditions, and I share it with my family. My mom is even like surprised; even though she's fully Japanese, there's so much great information about history, about the culture, about foods, and also you can learn about each snack too. You can check the allergens and can also check whether it's vegetarian-friendly. All these snacks are made in Japan.

I think it's so interesting to experience a culture while eating their food. When I go to my family, the main thing that we do is not really sightseeing but enjoying their foods. When eating foods from other countries, you can learn the culture, and you can learn the history deeply with your tongue. The ingredients they use really show the climate and how they consume it. Even the same ingredients can be used really differently in different places around the world, and I think it is really interesting. I just love it. You can use “CALL OF DUTY” to get five percent off your first Sakurako box through the link down in the description below.

After hanging out a bit in Asakusa, I decided to go to Shibuya, which is one of my favorite places in Tokyo. It's always super crowded, and there's so many shopping options and cafe options. Actually, if you visit Japan and don’t go to Shibuya, what are you doing? There was some sort of a special event going on, so you can see a bunch of people wearing yukata. The difference between kimono and yukata is that, in simple terms, think of yukata as a more casual kimono; yukata is much cheaper than kimono.

One of my favorite things to do when I go outside is always taking boba, so I took my boba and was just chilling there while I was shopping for myself. I randomly came across a Nintendo store, a Jump shop, and also a Pokémon store. As I said, in Shibuya, you can shop for many things. There are so many special and limited items that are only sold in these stores. So if you're interested in anime, Pokémon, or any sort of games, I would highly recommend checking these out. I will put a link down in the description below.

For my dinner, I came to this xiaolongbao. In Japan, we say “bāozi”—my friend really pronounces it a different way, so I'm not really sure about the pronunciation, but whatever; it’s my favorite food in the entire world. I know it's not Japanese cuisine, but I wanted to eat it. You know, whenever I visit Japan, I always, always have xiaolongbao. You can try it outside of Japan too, but you know, if you live in Japan and have never had xiaolongbao, I would highly recommend you to do so.

After having xiaolongbao, I finally decided to go back home, and this is Shibuya. It's actually much more crowded right now because of COVID, you know? A couple of years ago, like a year ago or two years ago, there were no people—well, less people compared to normal times. So it's nice to see Shibuya being crowded again because Shibuya should be full of people. It suits the city, and this crowded rush time is one of the best things about Shibuya, in my opinion. Do I want to live here? Probably not, but you know visiting is a great idea. So yeah, bye!