For New Yorkers interested in Japanese language and culture, the Japan Society is a remarkable resource. Events here embrace many spheres of human activity: politics, finance, food (I even noticed a talk on the power of miso!), music, and more.

The facilities are lovely, and in the Toyota Language Center, where I visited a couple of classes, I found the instructor and administrators congenial and helpful. The students, too.

A side note: in their bathrooms, I couldn’t help noticing that the toilets were way more advanced than at the usual American cultural institutions, offering “rear cleansing,” both gentle and standard, “front cleansing,” and dryer functions.