With its masters required to hone their skills over decades, sushi is steeped in tradition. But it is also often a high-tech operation where robotic precision steals the limelight from the chef’s knife. Japan is dotted with thousands of “kaiten” (revolving) sushi restaurants where ...

As a schoolboy, Akihiro Matsumura spent hundreds of hours learning the intricate kanji that make up a part of written Japanese. Now, the graduate student can rely on his smartphone, tablet and laptop to remember them for him. “Sometimes I don’t even bother to ...

As the population declines, intolerance of children and the noise they make is increasing in a society growing less accustomed to hearing them, some child care experts say. While convenience stores blare electronic greetings and political candidates shout through high-volume megaphones at train stations, ...

Expectant parents who can’t wait to show the world what their baby will look like can now buy a 3-D model of the fetus to pass around to their friends. The 9-cm resin model of the white fetus, encased in a transparent block in ...

A 63-year-old former engineer may not fit the typical image of a darkly dressed assassin with deadly weapons who can disappear in a cloud of smoke. But Jinichi Kawakami is reputedly Japan’s last ninja. As the 21st head of the Ban clan, a line ...