‘Watch out, he bites’: Japan’s dogs before the ‘pet boom’
Japan is the only country in the world in which pets outnumber children. The country has just 17 million children under the age of 16,…
Written By : George Lloyd
Top tips for snaffling up cool bargains at Japan’s 100-yen shops
The one-hundred-yen shop, where everything costs 100 yen or less, is not particular to Japan. But no other country can boast the depth and breadth…
New ‘2-on1’ style online lessons look to turn Eikaiwa business on its head
“In the lesson, I can talk to my teacher one-on-one, and I can understand almost everything that he/she says. But I can’t keep up with…
Who is Rola, the hottest face in Japanese advertising?
You’d be hard-pressed to visit Japan without seeing Rola’s face. You see her striking features everywhere — in countless advertisements for everything from makeup to…
Paying respect to the 47 rōnin, Japan’s most famous ‘men of honour,’ at Sengakuji Temple
The rival moral codes of pre-modern Japan live on in the present day. On the one hand, you have corporate Japan, which takes its morals…
Tōno: immerse yourself in the distant past with a visit to the cradle of Japanese folklore
Tōno 遠野 in Iwate Prefecture is the home of many Japanese folk tales. The town is the setting for Tōno Monogatari 遠野物語, an anthology of…
Can Japan meet its carbon emissions reduction targets?
On October 29th last year, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that Japan would reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. This was a…
Hotel New Otani Landscape Garden: an oasis of peace in Akasaka – and it’s free!
Looking for a quiet spot in central Tokyo is easier said than done. If ever you find yourself yearning from a break from the crowds…
Zoom lecture about Kagawa Toyohiko, “the Gandhi of Japan” on March 30th
Kagawa Toyohiko Kagawa Toyohiko (賀川 豊彦 1888-1960) was one of the foremost peace campaigners and internationalists of the twentieth century. He was known as ‘the…
A host of online events to mark 10 years since the nuclear disaster at Fukushima
March 11th 2021 marks the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the disaster that followed at TEPCO’s Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima….
Is Japan really a nation of nature lovers?
The idea that Japanese people have a particularly close relationship to nature, which westerners have somehow lost, is deeply ingrained in how the Japanese perceive…
A Japanese fairy story: Urashima Tarō and the Dragon Palace beneath the sea
Urashima Tarō （浦島太郎）is one of the most famous fairy stories in Japan, known to millions of elementary schoolchildren. One day a young fisherman named Urashima…
‘W-Junji’s Back Alley’ merchandise now on sale at Graveyard Gallery in Nakano
‘W-Junji’s Back Alley’ is a collaboration between world-famous horror manga artist Junji Ito and master ghost storyteller Junji Inagawa. Original merchandise from ‘W-Junji’s Back Alley’…
Market for personal information theft insurance looks set to boom in 2021
Market research firm Kenneth Research has published a report that shines a light on growing demand for personal information theft prevention services, including insurance. The…
How the Great Fire of 1657 shaped modern Tokyo
Take a stroll around modern Tokyo and the city appears to be the epitome of orderly peace and calm. It’s hard to believe that it…