Daniel says to come to Japan for New Year and “don’t do anything” except eat, drink, watch TV, and visit temples.
1. How to Japanese Podcast Episode 71 centers on 育休, which Daniel Morales uses as a title and a language example.
2. Daniel Morales hosts from howtojapanese.com, explains that he is taking December 2025 off, and says his wife and he are expecting this month.
3. The episode asks what his old blog and newsletter writing can still teach about Japanese reading, food, beer, Murakami, and New Year in Japan.
4. He opens with a 2009 post on reading strategies, skimming, and kanji compounds.
5. He explains 育休 as a modifier-plus-noun compound and connects it to guessing word meaning while reading.
6. He says that moving from dictionary lookups to “reading for volume” requires understanding compound structure.
7. He then revisits the pandemic-era natto post, saying he learned to make natto after sourdough failed because his Chicago oven did not get hot enough.
8. He says the spores may have come from Amazon and that his method relied on skills he already had from making yogurt in an Instant Pot.
9. He corrects his own article by saying steaming soybeans needs over an hour, maybe an hour and a half or two hours.
10. He contrasts steaming with cooking beans in liquid, which makes them softer and changes the texture.
11. He moves to a 2016 Japan Times feature on Japanese craftsmanship beer and says the article still mostly holds up.
12. He mentions tax-rate changes between beer, happoshu, and daisan biru, plus the continued presence of Kirin “Kimugi.”
13. He notes that beer prices now feel lower relative to other countries and that Japan’s macro brew quality is good.
14. He describes market changes after his 2012 kakuhai article, including the growth of canned highballs and chuhai shelf space.
15. He says premium malts have staying power, while some daisan biru products may have faded.
16. He gives a specific date check, saying a supermarket bottle of Suntory Master’s Dream from April looked depressing on a late-November weekend.
17. The tone is personal, archival, and reflective, with long stretches of unscripted recommendation and detailed side notes.
18. The format is a solo monologue that repeatedly pivots between old articles, language notes, and practical reader advice.
19. Listeners who like Japanese language study, long-form blog history, and personal essayists will get the most from it.
20. Listeners wanting a tight narrative arc or a short topic focus may skip it.
