September 15, 2025

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COMMUNITY

Voices

Trishit Banerjee moved to Japan in 2015, embarking on an academic and personal journey that taught him lessons about the collective and the individual.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Jun 23, 2025

A singular ensemble: Indian food, science and Fukushima

By Trishit Banerjee

After moving to Sendai for college, an Indian student began thinking about the dynamic between the individual and the ensemble — in food, science and society.

Drawn to tea ceremony while volunteering at a Japanese garden in Phoenix, Arizona, Michele Laudig (right) came to learn a “common language of movement and ritual” that brought her into new communities in New York City and Tokyo.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

May 26, 2025

A moving meditation: Finding serenity in tea ceremony across space and time

By Michele Laudig

After an American writer ventured into the world of tea ceremony, its lessons transformed her relationship to Japan and brought her into communities bonded by movement and ritual.

Megumi Koiwai (left) found refuge in writing and storytelling that allowed her to reconcile with her heritage and upbringing.

COMMUNITY / Voices

Mar 24, 2025

A community of stories: Making space for reflection and dialogue in Tokyo and beyond

By Megumi Koiwai

Through conversations with an international writing workshop, a writer of mixed heritage finds steadier footing and a sense of self.

Kendrick Lamar performs at the halftime show of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana.

COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye

Feb 17, 2025

Black History Month in 2025: The boundaries between 'us' and 'them'

By Baye McNeil

Our columnist reflects on the fraught ideologies of race from both sides of the Pacific.

Billed as a “cultural bridge that connects Japan and Vietnam,” Tet Viet Saitama drew tens of thousands of attendees from across the Kanto region.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Feb 2, 2025

Home away from home: My first time at a Tet festival in Japan

By Nguyen Bao Anh

A longtime resident of Japan attends Saitama’s first public celebration of Vietnam’s most important holiday.

Writer Baye McNeil and his wife, Miki, host a Kwanzaa gathering in Yokohama together. The end of the year at the McNeil’s home is a mix of several different holiday traditions, including those of Kwanzaa.

COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye

Dec 23, 2024

A holiday season built on creativity and care

By Baye McNeil

Fusing African heritage with Japanese spirituality, our columnist crafted a holiday season that celebrates cultural understanding.

Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida accepts a gift of 'dekopon' citruses, a specialty product and symbol of Kumamoto Prefecture, from Kumamon, itself a mascot and instantly recognizeable symbol of the region.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Oct 28, 2024

Japan’s ‘meibutsu’-industrial complex is a wonder to behold

By Jordan Allen

If you name a Japanese prefecture, many locals will instantly be able to tell you something that the region is famous for or a product synonymous with that area.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.

Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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