Japan City Series - Chubu Area - Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken

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Next up on my Japan City series of the Chubu area is the lovely Kanazawa!

The city of Kanazawa is a place I wished I would have went to a lot sooner than I did because after visiting, I already wished I could go back. It had the historic feel of Kyoto but without being as touristy and busy. It’s like if Kyoto had a sibling. Kanazawa can do what Kyoto can, but just to a smaller degree but that doesn’t minimize how much enjoyment you can have there. It has a historic old town, beautiful gardens and a favourite of mine, a castle (well, just the grounds, the castle is gone T_T). I just can’t get enough of castles!

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Bon Bon Show - Episode 8

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Episode Eight is live and this time, Kirk and I start our new Japan Tour Series where we chat about places we have both been to to share what we enjoyed to do, see and eat. We start with the prefecture that facilitated the first ever real life meetup between Kirk and I. One that took 10+ years friendship building and communication.

We hope you enjoy and learn something new about Shimane that inspires you to visit if you are ever in the area. If you need any tips, feel free to reach out.

As always, thanks for listening!

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Bon Bon Show - Episode 7

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Episode Seven is live and this time, Kirk and I chat about our new favourite game (of all time?), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s a lovely and sad, but amazingly well crafted turn based RPG by a new studio out of Montpellier France.

Kirk and I gush over the game and detail all the things we love about it so far. At the time of recording, we hadn’t yet finished the game. No major spoilers are chatted about but minor spoilers be warned (anything part of the initial marketing trailers and website).

As always, thanks for listening!

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Bon Bon Show - Episode 6

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Episode Six is live and this time, Kirk and I chat about the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam (JLPT), our goal of taking the N3 exam in December 2025 and some tools we will use to help us prepare!

If you are interested in the taking the JLPT exam yourself and looking for some potential resources to use in your studying, hopefully this episode can introduce you to at least one helpful tool.

As always, thanks for listening!

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Japan City Series - Chubu Area - Okazaki-shi, Aichi-ken

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I kick off my Japan City series of the Chubu area with Okazaki!

The city of Okazaki is a special place for me personally since I spent 3 months there living at a home stay while going to a Japanese language school. So, even though I may have a personal bias towards Okazaki, if you plan on making a stop in Achi-ken, especially in the nearby Nagoya, here are a few reasons why Okazaki should make your list.

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