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January 16, 2025
 

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Alex K.T. Martin

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Alex K.T. Martin
Alex K.T. Martin is a Tokyo-based journalist and senior writer at The Japan Times, primarily focusing on feature stories. Previously he was a Tokyo correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Sep 7, 2019
Death notes: Traditional rituals associated with curses persist in 21st-century Japan
It's a scorching summer afternoon with temperatures crawling toward 37 degrees Celsius. Kadota Inari Shrine is empty except for a chorus of screeching cicadas and the smooth stone statues of foxes guarding its entrance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 4, 2019
Spectral sightings at Zenshoan Temple
Tokyo's Yanaka district ghosts are back to haunt the public via rakugo storyteller Sanyutei Encho's collection of spooky paintings.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 3, 2019
Chindonya: The beat goes on
Once a dying profession, chindonya troupes are passing their knowledge on to the next generation
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jul 11, 2019
Viral Momo Challenge hoax, based on sculpture by Japanese artist, being turned into Hollywood horror film
Momo, the goggle-eyed creature created by a Japanese artist that triggered a viral social-media hoax terrifying children and parents alike, is receiving a Hollywood makeover.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2019
One year after deadly flooding in western Japan, disaster resonates for vulnerable areas of Tokyo
In the worst-case scenario, 2.5 million residents will be affected as five low-lying wards are submerged in water over 10 meters deep.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2019
Blue-collar clothier Workman shakes up Japan's stagnant apparel market
It's a weekday morning and a steady stream of customers is entering a Workman store in Tokyo's industrial Ota Ward, mostly blue-collar workers looking for ¥99 rubber gloves, ¥3,500 safety shoes and other gear they need before heading to construction sites.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 26, 2019
Episode 18: Is the Japanese wolf really extinct?
The last confirmed sighting of the Japanese wolf was in 1905, but is it really extinct? The Japan Times' Alex Martin talks to Oscar Boyd about chasing down the story.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 14, 2019
With diagnosis and treatment lacking, nonprofit strives to raise awareness of OCD in Japan
A peer-inspired dieting competition triggered the unhealthy lifestyle, but it wasn't only an eating disorder that haunted Sayaka Hashiba's late sister.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 8, 2019
Stranger things: Weird ways to get festive in Japan
Men in straw capes wearing ferocious horned masks with gleaming eyes and long, pointed fangs stare down at a group of reporters. Others donning masks of a devil, monkey and a long-nosed tengu birdman squat as they pose for photographs during a news conference on Nov. 30 — the day after UNESCO added...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 1, 2019
Cibi: A 'little' store bridging the Japan-Australia gap in a big way
From coffee and pastries to discerningly curated Japanese-designed products, Cibi bridges a gap between Australia and Japan.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 25, 2019
In search of Japan's extinct wolves: Sightings of a mysterious canine in Chichibu have been captivating animal enthusiasts
It was around 3 p.m. on a chilly day in December. The sky was overcast and the scent of rain hung in the air when Rina Kambayashi happened upon a creature she had never seen before. Opening the front door to her family's gracefully weathered 150-year-old traditional wooden house, Kambayashi stepped out...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 20, 2019
Downsized dwellings: Inside Tokyo's tiny living spaces
Twenty-five-year-old Sotaro Ito lives in a 9.46-square-meter apartment with a loft in the capital's retro-hip Koenji district.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Apr 18, 2019
Japan's nōkanshi traditional morticians give dearly departed a final farewell
Yuko Nakajima says her job isn't as pretty as portrayed in "Departures," director Yojiro Takita's Oscar-winning 2008 film about Japanese ritual morticians.
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Mar 30, 2019
Defining the Heisei Era: Japan deals with death, disasters and a feeling of insecurity
Post-disaster Tohoku has been rife with supernatural sightings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 23, 2019
Flower power: A Tokyo florist's decision to close his shop amid a shrinking market affects a wider community
It's 2:30 a.m. and dark outside. Tsuyoshi Hirasawa can see his breath in the February chill as he turns the key in the ignition of his white Honda minivan. The large hands gripping the steering wheel are rough and leathery from years of working with water, soil and the stems and branches of plants he...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2019
Japanese artist behind ghastly creature in viral 'Momo Challenge' baffled by disturbing hoax
The ghastly image of a goggle-eyed creature that triggered the so-called Momo Challenge — a viral social-media hoax terrifying children and parents alike — was born in a cluttered two-story studio on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2019
Tokyo restaurateur develops spore sheet to speed up aging of meat — and fish
Mikio Atobe carefully peels a layer of rayon netting from a chunk of farmed bluefin tuna, revealing a secondary sheet of cloth clinging to its exposed flesh, partially yellowed by the mold coating it.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2019
Embracing a buraku heritage: Examining changing attitudes toward a social minority
When Chie Takaiwa struck up the courage to reveal a family secret to her colleague some years ago, she was met by an unexpected response.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / Heisei Icons
Feb 7, 2019
Masayoshi Son: Betting big and winning
There's a well-known anecdote about Masayoshi Son, the maverick billionaire founder and chief executive of SoftBank Group Corp. and the man behind the world's largest technology investment fund.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jan 22, 2019
The Todai Riots: 1968-69
A photographer who documented the occupation of the University of Tokyo from inside the barricades half a century ago remembers the final days of resistance
Japan avoids commenting on Cleveland-Cliffs CEO's provocative comment
Cleveland-Cliffs is reportedly in talks with North Carolina-based steelmaker Nucor to acquire U.S. Steel.
Miyazaki quake falls short of triggering Nankai Trough megaquake advisory
A mirror reflects a collapsed house in the city of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Dec. 10, nearly one year after a major earthquake struck nearby on New Year's Day in 2024.
South Korean investigators question arrested President Yoon in insurrection probe
A screen displays a news report on the arrest of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Wednesday. Investigators arrested Yoon after launching a pre-dawn operation to bring the impeached leader in for questioning over his short-lived martial law declaration.
BlackRock quits climate group as Wall Street lowers environmental profile
In November, BlackRock and rivals were sued by Texas and 10 other Republican-led states that claimed their activism cut coal production and boosted energy prices.
Crashed Jeju jet’s black box failure shows decadeslong gap in power rules
The flight data recorder retrieved from Jeju Air flight 2216, which crashed killing 179 people in December. Black boxes holding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the flight stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, South Korea's transport ministry said Saturday.
With new regional party, Shinji Ishimaru touts rebirth
Shinji Ishimaru announces details of his new regional party at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Nippon Steel’s case against Biden probably unwinnable, attorneys argue
U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, Pennsylvannia, in 2019. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel face significant legal challenges in their case against the United States.
Japanese companies rush to up English-language disclosures in 2025
The Tokyo Stock Exchange will soon require some companies to publish their financials in English in addition to Japanese.
Tokyo plans to subsidize epidurals, but are hospitals ready?
Epidurals during childbirth have long been uncommon in Japan, though they have been growing more popular in recent years.
Due north: Foreign-born guides introduce Hokkaido’s unique charms
Lantoko, a company operated by Taiwan native Ping-Fang Lan, offers drift ice walking tours and other exhilarating experiences in and around Shiretoko National Park.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?
By Tomoko Otake

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