Culture Sep 8, 2020

Drive-in concerts and attractions in Japan shine headlights on fun despite COVID-19

Live entertainment is adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic by offering drive-in performances that visitors can experience from inside their cars.

National Jun 22, 2020

Japan fireworks makers look to light up coronavirus-hit industry

Around 80 percent of the displays due to be taking place during the peak season for pyrotechnics have been canceled.

National / Social Issues May 18, 2020

COVID-19 crisis takes toll on children's cafeterias for disadvantaged

With the outbreak, social distancing practices have forced many such cafeterias to shutter temporarily or look for ways to provide low-cost meals.

National / Social Issues Apr 26, 2020

'Corona divorce': Tokyo firm offers rooms to give people a break from their spouses

One service is stepping in to help them save marriages before it is too late, offering couples a breather from each other as they try to obey stay-at-home requests.

National Sep 13, 2018

Japanese pyrotechnician lights up Ecuador's skies to inspire kids, forge link with Fukushima

Ayumi Miyaura remembers her sadness in seeing young children at a day care center in an Ecuador prison where their mothers were incarcerated. Some of them, she learned, would go on to follow a similar criminal path. When Miyaura, a former pyrotechnician, thought of how ...

Music Sep 12, 2018

When 'Amuraa' ruled Japan

When pop diva Namie Amuro took the music scene by storm, she not only captivated throngs of girls and women with her performances but also inspired their fashion, spawning the "Amuraa" look of the mid-1990s. Clad in a miniskirt and thick-soled boots, with her hair ...

Lifestyle Apr 14, 2018

Japan's pet detectives

Myriad spiritual and high-tech options are available to help owners find their missing animals, but human trackers are still the best bet.

Lifestyle Mar 18, 2018

A fuzzy tale of Japan's famous cats in hats

When Ryo Yamazaki picked up a chunk of one of his cat's shed fur and fashioned it on top of his Scottish fold's head in a Trump-esque quiff, he did it for a laugh. Little did he know that the photo he took and posted ...

National Feb 15, 2018

Shogi showdown pits 'god' against 'genius'

The match of the century. The battle between a "god" and a "genius." The faceoff between the undisputed champion of shogi and his touted successor. The hype surrounding Saturday's match of the Japanese version of chess pits shogi legend Yoshiharu Habu against the nation's youngest ...

National / Science & Health Jan 31, 2018

Rare 'lunar trifecta' battles cloud cover to make appearance in night skies over Japan

Many of the nation's stargazers were treated to a celestial show Wednesday night with the appearance of a "super blue blood moon," a phenomenon caused by the rare confluence of three lunar events. According to NASA, which called the event a "lunar trifecta," a supermoon ...