Kathy Krauth, a social studies teacher at the American School in Japan, admits she was never a huge fan of tanka, traditional Japanese poetry. “Tanka never really spoke to me. I dismissed it as early Japanese history with cherry blossoms.” That all changed when ...

Gliding through powder across Mount Hakkoda in Aomori Prefecture or scanning the surfers at Shonan Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, Gardner Robinson’s life and work merge so completely that on the clock and on the slopes are one and the same. Founder and editor of ...

Climb the stone walkway, stippled with fallen red camellia blossoms, that leads to Kyoto’s Honen-in Temple, past a mossy thatched gate and raised platforms of sand combed in tight patterns of waves and chrysanthemums, and you enter a hushed and otherworldly space at the ...

A surfboard mounted against a sea of sludge, whimsically defiant to the ruinous tide of debris. It’s the kind of quirky beauty you might expect from Michael Arias, an American filmmaker based in Tokyo. Arias’ creative work, in film through to his recent photographs ...

In this age of reality TV, cheap exhibitionism and superhuman feats, is there still space for the common man? Justyn “Jup” Brown’s reply is a resounding yes. When talking about himself, the 39-year-old New Zealander says, “I’m just a plumber,” even though his eclectic ...

Before The Japan Times was invited inside Nagoya’s iD Cafe to speak to Thomas, the nightclub’s security manager, we stopped to chat to a uniformed policeman near the club. He told us there were as many as 50 fights in a nearby park on ...

Harvey Young, a ceramic artist for over 40 years who has spent nearly three decades in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, knows a thing or two about shaping beauty out of chaos — and about the sudden misfires life can bring. Even his early love for ...

Twisted wreckage thrown against the pastoral countryside, surreal scenes of the elements of everyday horribly juxtaposed, a world exploded yet eerily calm in its chaos. The photos are at once deeply disturbing and uncomfortably captivating. Rich colors, uncanny detail and stunning skies brought out ...

For Robert Hughes, the shortest answer is doing. From his early determination to procure a traditional Japanese sword to his more recent work with Japanese students in the poverty-stricken streets of the Philippines, Hughes, 54, has spent over 30 years in Japan allowing his ...

Mamiko Matsuda, the best-selling author, translator and nutritional expert who divides her time between Japan and Houston, overcame an early struggle with poor health and disease to become an advocate for healthy diets and “natural hygiene.” Matsuda, 63, also had to overcome a youthful ...

Japan’s fusion of the traditional and modern fascinated musician Yara Eddine as a young child when she learned about the country at a school in Canada. Fifteen years later, Eddine witnessed this integration firsthand. Arriving at Narita International Airport alongside the contemporary craziness of ...