As most visitors to Japan’s major urban areas can surely attest to, this country has an astonishing diversity of food and drink vending machines. Vending…

In a change of pace from our usual articles, we hope you’ll indulge us in a little guessing game. If you’ve watched Japanese TV, then…

(Updated on July 22, 2019) Worst confirmed arson incident in postwar Japan On July 18th, around 10:30 am, black smoke began to billow out of…

Katori senkō Along with traditional wind chimes, yukata summer kimonos, iced barley tea, shaved ice and traditional uchiwa fans, the spiral incense of the mosquito…

The calendar hasn’t even reached Halloween and the leaves have yet to turn their most beautiful crimson and orange colors in Kyoto or Tokyo but…

On January 11, in the Year of the Dog, a date which can be pronounced “wan wan wan” in Japanese, an onomatopoeia for barking, Sony…

Geishas and maikos (apprentice geishas) in the hanamachi entertainment quarters of Gion and Pontocho gathered on January 7 to participate in a yearly ceremony to…