In his lesser-known role as a refugee advocate, Miyavi, aka the samurai guitarist, asks that people look beyond the headline numbers before declaring Japan unwelcoming to asylum-seekers. Despite Japan taking in only 42 refugees in 2018 — accepting less than 1 percent of applicants — ...

The bizarre and unreasonable rules that schools in Japan enforce upon children are not preparing them for the modern world where technology is changing what it means to be a human, says Agnes Chan, a bestselling author of parenting books. Rather, she says, the oppressive ...

How much gaming is too much gaming? This is the question Japan's pre-eminent addiction expert, Dr. Susumu Higuchi, is trying to answer as he treats people whose lives have been destroyed by video game addiction. Online gaming addiction has become the fastest-growing form of addiction in ...

Nail technician Naoko Takano, who has spent half of her life tending to the nails of customers, including a roster of celebrity clients, talks about the nail art boom in Japan.

Mindfulness coach Junya Ogino believes that if leaders learned more about mindfulness and meditation, their employees would also reap the benefits.

When in-demand mature-age model Anna Yuki reached her personal "do or dye" moment, she chose gray hair over the color bottle, and graceful aging over the pursuit of youth. "No more highlighting and disguising the gray hair," Yuki says from the backyard of her Tokyo ...

Have you ever thought about where your trash goes after it's tossed into a basket and whisked away by the garbage truck that shows up like clockwork every week? If not, comic Shuichi Takizawa says now is the time to think about it. Though he may ...

Don't be fooled by her child-like grin and bubbly down-to-earth personality. Aya Osanai is serious about her mission to rewrite the rules of fitness and front a campaign to get Japan into shape. Although she appears very much the girl next door in her cropped ...

In sleepless Tokyo where people are always on the go, gathering around a table to share a meal and reflect on the day may seem like a dying tradition. But it's time to slow down and make the dining table the hub of family life ...

When life gave her lemons, film star Kirin Kiki didn't make lemonade, but wild grass enzyme juice. It's the only thing that has satisfied her taste buds since her advanced-stage cancer caused her to lose her appetite, and even her desire for alcohol has vanished ...