November 18, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMUNITY

Issues

The Kyoto International Entrepreneur Community brings together local and global professionals from a range of industries, backgrounds and ages and collaborates with government-sponsored entities and nonprofit organizations.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Sep 24, 2025

Stirred, not shaken: Kyoto business platform blends local and global

By Samantha Seghers

Since its launch in 2018, the Kyoto International Entrepreneur Community has amassed a diverse membership and built solid relationships with local organizations.

The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Sep 1, 2025

Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido

By Justin Randall

The residents of Betsukai, Hokkaido — where cows outnumber people 7-to-1 — have extended a warm welcome to five players from overseas who joined the Pilot Spirits.

Musical act Petalhead, comprised of Jaime Alise (left) and Riku Ogura, performs at More Than Music’s beachside event in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Aug 25, 2025

More Than Music makes space for creative communion

By Shyam Bhardwa

Since 2018, Tokyo-based duo Justin Sachs and Atsuko Sunaga have been organizing live shows and curating a community with shared passions.

Kinga Skiers (left) co-founded the Tokyo chapter of Food Not Bombs in 2023. The organization aims to provide the capital’s homeless population with food and other essentials.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Aug 18, 2025

Solidarity with Tokyo’s homeless residents, one day at a time

By Shyam Bhardwa

Since 2023, the Tokyo chapter of Food Not Bombs has been supplying vegetarian meals and everyday goods to homeless people across the city.

From left to right: Green Legacy Hiroshima volunteer staff Mariko Kikuchi, Tomoko Watanabe, Nassrine Azimi and Sophie Qano stand before one of the trees that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

COMMUNITY / Issues

Aug 9, 2025

A campaign to preserve Hiroshima’s historic trees for another 1,000 years

By Patrick Parr

A total of 170 trees survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Since 2011, a nonprofit organization has been dedicated to sharing their seeds and saplings with the world.

Canadian-born Jesse Cunningham came to Japan to teach in the JET Programme, and later found opportunities to learn traditional blacksmithing in Kochi Prefecture.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Aug 4, 2025

The international artists supporting Japan’s craft legacy

By Laura Pollacco

From Kochi to Kamakura, non-Japanese craftspeople are training with local artisans and carving out a niche for themselves.

Wakana, a Japanese fan of Thai BL, visits a temple in Thon Buri, Bangkok featured in the Thai adaptation of the Japanese series “Cherry Magic.” Her media consumption kindled an interest in Thai culture and language, and ultimately led her to relocate to Thailand. “I fell in love with the whole country,” she says.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Jul 28, 2025

Boys’ love dramas from Thailand make waves in Japan

By Agnese Dionisio

Thailand has become a top producer of BL (boys’ love) dramas — and audiences in Japan are among the most ardent consumers.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.

A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo

By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports