When Ryo Taniguchi, designer of the official mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was thinking about studying abroad as a teenager, his illustrator father gave him some sage advice: take the scenic route. Taniguchi, whose winning designs of two futuristic, rooted-in-culture characters ...

Growing up as an ethnic Korean in Japan has given Kunihiko Ryo a unique perspective on the big picture, something that is especially useful in his role as music director for the opening and closing ceremonies at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. A pianist, composer and ...

A project that began with a simple idea to deliver the magic of cinema to children in Africa has not only led to a cultural exchange but to an unlikely collaboration — the production of a music video by Japanese and Ugandan elementary school ...

Once in a while, a maverick who is eager to blaze a trail comes along in the entertainment world. Tokyo- and Chicago-based stand-up comedian Saku Yanagawa considers himself just that — a world-traveling comic who delivers his unique, biting perspective shaped by life lived in ...

After a decade running an executive training program dedicated to Japanese female leadership, philanthropist Atsuko Fish has had many takeaways, but the biggest was that she had not pushed women anywhere hard enough to achieve social change. The Japanese Women's Leadership Initiative executive four-week training ...

To people who might question Adam Altar's credentials as an ordained Christian minister licensed to perform weddings in Japan, Altar would respond by turning the other cheek. For young Japanese couples who may value pageantry over religion, Altar believes that he provides a more meaningful ...

Few instruments are as integral to a nation's traditional culture as Japan's shamisen, whose evocative sound accompanies a range of performances from kabuki and puppet plays to folk songs and geisha entertainments in teahouses. But in the 21st century, the three-stringed instrument is facing something ...

What were the odds of coming across a man who was a torchbearer for the 2016 Rio Olympics on a morning hike to the top of the Morro do Leme, the site of Forte Duque de Caxias, at the east end of Copacabana Beach? Having ...

Documenting the severe consequences of the human tragedy that unfolded in the so-called Fukushima "no-go zone" following the March 11, 2011, disaster is an undertaking that would evoke raw emotions under ordinary circumstances. But for photographers Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression, shining a light on ...

With a multitude of complex issues being tackled by the Group of Seven nations, it is difficult if not impossible to ensure that the agenda being discussed at the two-day talks will actually bear fruit. But the G-7 Research Group, a global network of scholars, ...