You may groan and think me an oyaji, but enka songs offer great language lessons and also provide insight into how the Japanese conceive of love.

Yusuke Nakamura could easily have had a long, successful career as a surgeon in Japan, but he isn't the kind of person who is satisfied with unanswered questions.

The website Yahoo! 知恵袋 (Chiebukuro, literally "bag of knowledge") is a great resource for language learners and for anyone interested in observing Japanese interact online.

Tanka are one of the oldest forms of poetry in the world with a 1,300-year history.

Musician's relaxed personality fits the homegrown lifestyle of the 'Big Easy' well.

Murakami’s language has evolved over the course of his career, and knowing some of his tricks will help ease you into this 1,048-page novel.

At her first test shoot in Los Angeles, Tsubasa Watanabe was surprised by the outfit the photographer was asking her to wear: Hanging from the fingers of his outstretched hand was a pair of thong underwear. "This is the outfit?" she asked. "Yup," he answered. "Ok," she ...

Haruki Murakami has lost his magic. After two consecutive novels written in the third person (2009's "1Q84" and 2013's "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage"), Murakami has returned to first-person narration with his latest novel, "Kishidancho Goroshi" ("Killing Commendatore"), published in Japan and ...

It's a great time to be studying Japanese. As well as the internet, students can mine online video streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to improve their language skills.

Haruki Murakami has put scientists to shame. Harvard geneticists recently announced that they are two years away from bringing the wooly mammoth back from extinction, while Murakami is releasing his latest mammoth tonight: His novel "Kishidancho Goroshi" will be published in two 500-page volumes ...