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July 30, 2025
 

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Gendel Gento
Sega's first brick-and-mortar store in Japan is an example of how the country's video game industry is thinking of its digital products as tangible experiences.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 18, 2025
Sega’s first Japan store signals ‘immersive entertainment’ push
Opened on July 18 in the Shibuya Parco building, the video game company’s brick-and-mortar venture hints at a broader trend in Japan’s gaming landscape.
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 12, 2025
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
The Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society almost shuttered earlier this year, but a flood of support has buoyed efforts to save games on extinct media.
Tobias Bieker settled in Osaka in 2018 and started "Unpacking Japan" as a side project with ZenGroup five years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2025
Tobias Bieker: ‘A good interviewer helps the guest shine’
The host of the "Unpacking Japan" podcast offers his take on Osaka life, Japanese jazz and writing fiction.
Since its introduction in 1985, Sega's UFO Catcher machine has come to define crane games in Japan.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 24, 2025
King of Japan’s arcades, Sega’s UFO Catcher turns 40
Where would Japan’s arcades be without the rows and rows of crane games that Sega’s influential machine helped popularize?
For Japan residents, an unrelenting upward trend in the cost of living is changing the calculus for how to manage daily expenses — and long-term financial goals.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / Age Wise
Jun 16, 2025
Planning for the future in a time of inflation
A retirement expert says that income, investments and interest rates are all long-term factors to consider for Japan residents facing soaring prices.
Since moving to Tokyo from New York City in 2014, Hiraku Morilla has been promoting Keith Haring’s legacy in his professional life and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 6, 2025
Hiraku Morilla: ‘Pride means respect for those who walked so we could run’
The New York-raised director of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection reflects on his queer, multiracial identity and LGBTQ+ rights in Japan.
Kyoto's gaming landscape is dominated by Nintendo's headquarters, but a contingent of foreign-born indie developers is also working in the gaming giant's shadow.
LIFE / Digital
May 17, 2025
In Nintendo’s backyard, foreign indie game devs are thriving
“Of course, we’re all in the shadow of Nintendo, but we’re also here because of Nintendo,” says one British indie game developer.
The Tokyo version of the globe-trotting exhibition features a Ministry of Magic set, which includes an imposing replica of the Magic Is Might monument representing magical fascism.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 18, 2025
Calling all Potterheads: ‘The Goblet of Fire’ comes to Tokyo
The grand scale and attention to detail is likely to impress — just make sure to withdraw some galleons at Gringotts before coming.
After starting out as a games journalist, John Davis found opportunities in marketing and consulting that led him to work in the Japanese gaming industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 8, 2025
John Davis: ‘At its core, indie is about creative freedom’
The co-founder of BitSummit, Japan’s biggest indie gaming showcase, shares how he pivoted from journalism to gaming after moving here.
For the 20 Questions column this year, writers asked their interview subjects about everything from their lives in Japan to their thoughts on news topics.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 28, 2024
There were plenty of hot topics to opine on in 2024
We take a look back at some of the best answers that our interviewees gave for 20 Questions from throughout the year.
Hisako Tokuda left her office job to follow a passion for working with “bekko” (tortoiseshell) and says that even though it has been hard, she doesn’t regret it. 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 23, 2024
Hisako Tokuda: ‘I believe making things is what makes us human’
After taking an interest in tortoiseshell works, Hisako Tokuda left her office job and pursued her passion as an artisan.
Established in December 2021 in the middle of the pandemic-fuelled gaming craze, Sega Sapporo Studio is remarkable for growing amid a recent slump in the industry.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 17, 2024
Sega developers say new Sapporo studios lead to better lives
Aside from quality-of-life benefits that come from living outside a major metropolis, Sapporo also has a history of game development.
In September, the Sapporo Convention Center played host to the first Adventure Travel World Summit ever to take place in Asia.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 28, 2023
Travel pros warn against diluting ‘Japaneseness’
“Don’t dilute the Japaneseness, because that’s what makes it special,” said one travel expert. “We want to come to Japan.”
Japan to start new residency system for foreign workers
Students hoping to work in Japan attend a Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
Japan to regularly accept assistant language teachers from India
Indian assistant language teachers pose for a photo with Japanese Ambassador Keiichi Ono (center) at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Friday.
At LDP’s post-election meeting, calls intensify for Ishiba’s resignation
Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Shigeru Ishiba, flanked by LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama (left) and LDP Vice President Yoshihide Suga, speaks at a meeting of party lawmakers and executives at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
Why Ishiba refuses to quit even amid intense pressure for him to go
Supporters of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba take part in a rally across the street from the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
Vietnamese technical intern arrested over Saga murder
Saga Prefectural Police officials speak during a news conference held in the city of Imari, Saga Prefecture, early Monday following the arrest of a Vietnamese man a day earlier on suspicion of murder.
Amid fossil fuel shift in U.S., hope emerges for India and Japan tie-up on solar
A technician works on the assembly line at a solar panel manufacturing hub on the outskirts of New Delhi last October.
Japan and NATO to launch defense-industrial talks, top envoy says
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte looks at military equipment on the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami stealth frigate during a visit to the MSDF's naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April.
‘Killer satellites’ beware: Japan unveils first space defense guidelines
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani speaks to reporters during a visit to the Air Self-Defense Force's Space Situation Awareness radar in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi Prefecture, on Monday.
Three decades and a pile of notebooks: The beat writer who chronicled Ichiro’s career
Reporters and photographers, including long-time baseball beat writer Keizo Konishi, swarm around Ichiro Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic in San Diego in 2009.
Tokyo is the No. 2 choice for international students
The University of Tokyo. International students are increasingly flocking to Asia, with affordability being a particularly important metric.

Podcast

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

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear
By Jason Coskrey

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