Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
For a food with such a long and venerable history, udon gets surprisingly short shrift in Tokyo. Sure, it’s not hard to find these long, chunky, white wheat noodles. But compared with the many artisan soba-ya serving handcrafted buckwheat noodles, there are very few ...
Attention all chocoholics! Here’s a way to satiate your sweet tooth without gaining a single gram. In fact you’re likely to work off plenty of calories as you explore “Chocolate: The Exhibition.” This major show, which opens Nov. 3 at the National Museum of ...
One of the most welcome things about the B-kyū gurume (B-grade gourmet) boom is that it’s rescued dishes such as ramen and katsudon from the clutches of salarymen. The down-home cooking that constitutes the bulk of the B-kyū menu is now widely appreciated as ...
Traditional Japanese confections, or wagashi, can take a little getting used to for Western palates: The sticky-gooey texture of mochi (pounded rice) and the sweet an (bean paste) filling that are often used are quite different from most European-style cakes and cookies. But one ...
Autumn is the golden season. Fruit and hearty root vegetables; mushrooms, nuts and new-season rice; plentiful fish and seafood, too: This abundance is the palette from which Japan’s top kaiseki chefs draw in creating their intricate, elegant multicourse meals. Few are as accomplished at ...
In this new monthly column I’ll be hunting down home comforts from around the world. And when the weather turns abruptly cold, the American mind turns to Thanksgiving, that annual feast of rare origin — it’s as American as apple pie. Mmm, pie … ...
The instrument I was given to harvest sake rice was a small sickle, about 20 cm in length, with a thin, curved blade and a serrated edge. It was, essentially, the agricultural equivalent of a pair of children’s scissors: If used improperly, you could ...
By now, everyone has likely heard of — and been baffled by — the recent “bagel head” phenomenon. Last month, a video clip that showed three people in Tokyo undergoing a beauty treatment that involved saline injections into their foreheads went viral on the ...
The golden age of luxury long-distance train travel is over. The days when overnight journeys were made in exclusive style — complete with Pullman sleeping cars, lounge bar and restaurant on wheels — have gone the way of the steam locomotive. But memories die ...
Great fanfare accompanied the reopening of Tokyo Station’s redbrick building in Marunouchi this week. And, just like any major new (or in this case 98-year-old) landmark, it’s a bonanza for tie-in marketing, including plenty of sweets — all limited-edition items that can only be ...
Fall is in the air! With the return of cooler weather, your appetite may be making a comeback too. Luckily, fall is a great time for gourmets to indulge in Japan. There’s an abundance of fresh produce in season, and some of the tastiest ...
From its origins as a regional festival in the backwaters of Aomori Prefecture, the B-1 Grand Prix has attained a status of Fuji Rock-like proportions. The seven-year-old event, which attracts enthusiasts of local cooking from around Japan, almost single-handedly kick-started the country’s obsession with ...
