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September 30, 2025
 

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COMMUNITY

Our Lives

Our Lives
How-tos
Issues
Voices
Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Linda Joyce moved to rural Tochigi Prefecture in 2024 for a career shift from teaching to hospitality and sustainable tourism.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Linda Joyce: ‘We hope people recognize the benefits of exploring rural areas’
Former teacher Linda Joyce shifted careers to the tourism industry in 2024 and now works at a historic property in rural Tochigi Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
A friendly Kai ken dog with a big heart
Three-year-old Bronte has remained a happy-go-lucky fellow despite the adverse conditions of his upbringing.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / Longform
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan
From sugar plantations in Peru to factory floors in Japan, the Nikkei story is one of migration, resilience and identity.
Melos Han-Tani is a game designer of eclectic interests whose upcoming releases, Angeline Era and Danchi Days, are set in alternate-history Ireland and a public housing complex in Japan, respectively.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 12, 2025
Melos Han-Tani: ‘Figuring out what you value is valuable for any artist’
By Gendel Gento
A designer, programmer and composer, Han-Tani draws inspiration from a wide range of sources and channels his creativity through games, music and writing.
Cymbal is a shy but sweet cat with distinctive markings and a gentle demeanor.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 9, 2025
Gentle care is the key to Cymbal’s heart
A little patience will go a long way with 5-year-old Cymbal, a shy cat with distinctive markings that was rescued earlier this year.
A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Jon Heese naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 2007 and embarked upon a career in local politics the following year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 8, 2025
Canadian-born politician tackles Ibaraki’s issues big and small
By Gendel Gento
After being elected to four terms in the Tsukuba Municipal Assembly, Jon Heese now serves as a prefectural assemblyman — and one of Ibaraki Prefecture’s biggest cheerleaders.
Hampen hails from Tokushima, Shikoku, and is named after the fish paste specialty that the region is known for.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Sep 3, 2025
Smiley, spirited Hampen will run into your arms
This 7-year-old dog from Tokushima is eager for human companionship and loves to go on walks.
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 29, 2025
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
By Kris Kosaka
The Japanese-English literary translator reflects on catching the recent wave of “post-Murakami” fiction and how he balances reading for work versus pleasure.
Despite coming from a difficult background that resulted in behavioral issues, Tosca has turned a new leaf with his new owners in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Aug 28, 2025
Tosca turns a new leaf in a new home
A dog with a troubled past has finally found his way to a loving family.
Seri Yanai and Daniel Wishes founded the shadow puppetry company Mochinosha in 2012 when they were students at the London School of Puppetry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 22, 2025
Seri Yanai: ‘We mix modern and analog to create something new’
By Ayako Nakano
The co-founder of Mochinosha, a shadow puppetry company based in Saitama Prefecture, talks about her journey to the stage and her artistic inspirations.

Japanese team detects gradual seafloor caving near Nankai Trough
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the Prime Minister's Office on Sept. 1 during an anti-disaster drill simulating an earthquake in the Nankai Trough.
Osaka Expo visitors exceed breakeven point
The Osaka Expo in Osaka on Sept. 13. The daily number of visitors to the expo has topped 200,000 since mid-September as its Oct. 13 closing approaches.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Japan private-sector pay hits record in 2024
The average salary for men was ¥5.87 million, up 3.2%, and that of women was ¥3.33 million, up 5.5%, both marking record highs.
Japan revises 30-year probability rate of Nankai Trough megaquake
A newspaper headline in Japanese about a possible Nankai Trough earthquake. In a report issued Friday, the government's Earthquake Research Committee widened the probability range for a magnitude 8 to 9 earthquake occurring off the country's Pacific coast within the next 30 years from "around 80%" to 60% to 94.5% or higher.
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
Yuanhui Li's illustration is one of the awardees in the student category of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' annual award for artists.
On defense and foreign policy, LDP candidates largely align — except where they don’t
The Liberal Democratic Party presidential election candidates in Nagoya on Friday
Can Japan crack the China code in table tennis?
Tomokazu Harimoto waits for China's Wang Chuqin to serve during the men's singles final at the WTT Champions Yokohama 2025 tournament on Aug. 11.
Auberge Eaufeu brings French flair to a quiet village in Ishikawa
Located in the village of Kanagaso in Ishikawa Prefecture, Auberge Eaufeu is housed in a former elementary school that has been converted into a French-style inn.
Taiwan showcases chipmaking prowess as a private exhibitor at Osaka Expo
Visitors wait in line to enter the Tech World pavilion at the Osaka Expo on Thursday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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