About Yojo Notes
Yojo (養生) is an old Japanese word for looking after your health day by day. It covers the unglamorous things: what you eat for breakfast, how you sit, how warm you keep your feet in February, whether you go to bed at a sensible hour. Yojo Notes is a small website about exactly those things.
We write in English for readers anywhere, from a Japanese point of view. Most of us live in Kyushu, in the southwest of Japan, and a fair amount of what we write starts with daily life here: a bowl of miso soup, a hot spring weekend, a desk in a narrow apartment, a pharmacy shelf full of kampo boxes.
What we cover
- Gut health: digestion, bloating, reflux and bowel habits, and the signs that need a doctor.
- Kampo and Eastern medicine: Japanese herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion and the idea of mibyo, explained with the evidence in view.
- Aromatherapy: essential oils at home, with dilution numbers and safety first. Our longer guides live in the Aroma corner.
- Posture and body care: stiff shoulders, necks, backs, desks and floor sitting.
- Food and seasons, health and living, and Japan and Kyushu: the wider everyday life around all of it.
Who writes it
Five writers share the work: Naoko Hirata on food and the gut, Keiko Matsunaga on kampo, Ruth Ellery on aromatherapy, Tom Ashworth on posture, and Shun Kodama on check-ups, seasons and life in Japan. You can read more about each of them on the writers page.
None of us writes as your doctor, and nothing here is a diagnosis or a treatment plan. We read guidance from health ministries, medical bodies and published research, we say plainly when evidence is thin, and every article points out when it is time to see a doctor, a pharmacist or a midwife.
How we work
- We do not sell essential oils, supplements, courses or appointments, and we do not take payment to mention products.
- We check facts against current guidance before publishing and review older pages when advice changes. Guides show the date they were last reviewed.
- When we get something wrong, we correct it. If you spot a mistake, please tell us through the contact page.