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December 05, 2023
 

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LIFE

Travel
Digital
Food & Drink
Style & Design
Language
Lifestyle
Chef Masato Nishihara chose Nara as the site for his restaurant, Tsukumo, for its antiquity, its proximity to nature and its ancient connections with overseas cultures.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Tsukumo: Japanese cuisine inspired by Nara's ancient roots
By Robbie Swinnerton
Like the treasures housed inside Nara's Shosoin repository, it may be years before chef Masato Nishihara reprises some of his exquisite dishes at Tsukumo.
Rabbits are supposedly easier to get through quarantine, but Japan’s outgoing quarantine rules for our fluffy friends actually take a fair bit of time.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Hare today, gone tomorrow: Another cautionary tale for expats headed home
By Brendan Craine
In another piece about leaving Japan, our departee learns some hard truths about the country’s quarantine guidelines for animals.
Tossing your car in the forest when you leave Japan doesn't help anyone. If you want to throw away your things properly, you'll need to pay attention to your paperwork.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Wheeling and dealing: A cautionary tale for expats headed home
By Brendan Craine
Ditching big items, like your car, can be tough in Japan if you don't time things just right.

Travel

Blair Masters and Talisker Scott Hunter pose for a photo with their kei truck, nicknamed “KT,” outside Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima Prefecture.
Travel / Longform
The little truck that could: A fresh way to tour Japan's north
By Talisker Scott Hunter
Travelers have documented almost every corner of Japan. Perhaps a new kind of adventure would be doing those same journeys by different means.
Travel
How a notebook and some pens can 'connect yourself to nature'
By Nako Nojima
Travel
Travel pros warn against diluting ‘Japaneseness’
By Gendel Gento
Travel
In volcanic Aso, the land gives much more than it takes
By Owen Ziegler
Travel / Longform
The farmer's intern: A month in the Japanese countryside
By Ansel Swindells
Travel
Dancing with ghosts at Tono’s rural folk festival
By Lance Henderstein
Travel
Beyond its yatai, Fukuoka hosts travel pleasures aplenty
By Erik Augustin Palm

Digital

Real-time strategy game Last Train Home tells an overlooked story of the Czechoslovak Legion’s evacuation across Russia in the embers of the Great War.
Digital
Last Train Home traverses murky morality of a WWI escape
By Samuel Horti
Czech studio Ashborne's first full release follows a legion of soldiers fleeing across revolutionary Russia — and all the dilemmas of war that entails.
Digital / ON: GAMES
A live-action Legend of Zelda movie is in development
By Owen Ziegler
Digital / ON: GAMES
A dark fantasy spin on ‘Pinocchio’ may put FromSoftware under pressure
By Owen Ziegler
Digital
Tokyo Game Show returns in full force with ‘largest-ever’ event
By Owen Ziegler
Digital
Let the gaming begin: A guide to Tokyo's video game landmarks
By W. Tanner Kirk
Digital
Your livestreaming guide to Tokyo Game Show 2023
By Owen Ziegler
Digital
Japanese YouTubers are hackers' newest target
By Ryota Sumi

Food & Drink

Japan's 'itameshi' (Japanized Italian cuisine) has as many detractors as proponents, but you can elevate your pasta beyond the criticism with this edamame-infused dish.
Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Recipe: Edamame 'mollicata' pasta
By Simon Daly
Known in Basilicata as 'mollicata,' this rustic preparation can be served with or without cheese.
Food & Drink
Tasting the 'Zen of coffee' at speakeasy-esque Cokuun
By Melinda Joe
Food & Drink
Blue Bottle Kyoto gives coffee the 'kaiseki' treatment
By Melinda Joe
Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Recipe: Coffee-spiced stuffed pitas
By Simon Daly
Food & Drink
Here’s the tea on traditional dobin teapot-steamed mushrooms
By Elizabeth Andoh
Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Recipe: Velvety kabocha soup
By Cassandra Lord
Food & Drink
Samurai Restaurant Time gives kitschy thrills fit for Kabukicho
By Laura Pollacco

Style & Design

Kyoji’s Ma_do Fragments Wall Art collection of stainless steel frames, designed by Katsuyama Motonori, features off-cuts and other objects selected from Kyoji’s collaborating craftspeople.
Style & Design
Off-the-wall designs to spruce up your home or office
By Mio Yamada
On: Design looks at some products that can bring new life to bare walls.
Style & Design
Hong Kong's origami fans share their passion at regular meet-ups
By Caroline Tam
Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Designart’s young creators foreshadow the future
By Mio Yamada
Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Game-changing designs from sporting goods brands
By Mio Yamada
Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Japan-made novelties with deeper purpose
By Mio Yamada
Style & Design
Summer is the season of playful design debuts
By Mio Yamada
Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Japanese fashion can no longer afford to play hard to get
By Samuel Thomas

Language

Rabbits are supposedly easier to get through quarantine, but Japan’s outgoing quarantine rules for our fluffy friends actually take a fair bit of time.
Language / BILINGUAL
Hare today, gone tomorrow: Another cautionary tale for expats headed home
By Brendan Craine
In another piece about leaving Japan, our departee learns some hard truths about the country’s quarantine guidelines for animals.
Language / Longform
How a dictionary came to spark outrage among the web’s otaku
By Thu-Huong Ha and Yukana Inoue
Language / BILINGUAL
Wheeling and dealing: A cautionary tale for expats headed home
By Brendan Craine
Language / BILINGUAL
A few small expressions can go a long way in your relationship
By Yuko Tamura
Language
Test your otaku vocabulary, from 'oshi' to 'bacon lettuce'
By Yukana Inoue and Thu-Huong Ha
Language / BILINGUAL
The culture, customs and vocabulary of Japan’s fall season
By Eric Margolis
Language / Vocabulary Boost
Breaking a promise comes with sharp penalties in Japan
By Tadasu Takahashi

Lifestyle

Yuki Fukui (center) squares up against a student during a training session at a judo dojo in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Lifestyle
'The people of Bhutan think differently, and that has changed me'
By Julian Ryall
Originally from Sendai, 26-year-old Yuki Fukui is the fifth Japanese judo coach for the Bhutanese national team.
Lifestyle
For brides on social media, diet ads are becoming unavoidable
By Aamina Inayat Khan
Lifestyle
Matcha meets Darjeeling in Indian man's tea ceremony house
By Rini Dutta
Lifestyle / Longform
Has Japan mastered sitting?
By Thu-Huong Ha
Lifestyle
Renting akiya: A backdoor into Japan's abandoned homes
By Laura Pollacco
Lifestyle
At new Tokyo hub, Warhammer fans bond over dice rolls and paint
By Shyam Bhardwa
Lifestyle
Out with speed dating, in with speed intimacy
By Gina Cherelus
View Older Articles
The quest to re-create what the Japanese ate 1,300 years ago
Tokyo Healthcare University professor Takayuki Mifune explains how he is trying to re-create bonito broth from 1,300 years ago.
Unusual names can complicate life in Japan. Now parents are being reined in.
Yuuki Matsumoto, formerly Yuni, at his residence in Yokohama on Aug. 24. Japanese children with unconventional names can face societal and practical challenges unique to their country and its written language. Matsumoto, 24, was bullied over his name to the extent he dropped out of school, and had it legally changed this year.
Kishida denies media report of ties to Unification Church
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
Philippines says Chinese boats 'swarming' reef in South China Sea
Chinese vessels gather near Whitsun Reef in disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday. The Philippines said Sunday that more than 135 Chinese "maritime militia" vessels were "swarming" the reef.
Aurora observed in Hokkaido for first time since 2003
An aurora is observed in Bihoro, Hokkaido, on Friday.
The wild card in Taiwan’s election: Frustrated young voters
Pedestrians cross a street in the Zhongshan district of Taipei. Many voters on the island, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their needs at home.
U.S. to deploy powerful new missile launcher to Indo-Pacific in '24
The U.S. Army's prototype Mid-Range Capability system, known as the “Typhon” Strategic Mid-Range Fires system, is seen in this image released in July following its successful launch of a Tomahawk missile.
Tokyo’s new venture capital hub aims to boost ties among investors
A coworking space at Tokyo Venture Capital Hub
Prominent Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow flees to Canada
Pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow is released in June 2021, after serving nearly seven months in prison for her role in Hong Kong's 2019 anti-government protests.
How Japan's renewable underestimates are impacting Asia's energy transition
A truck unloads tons of coal inside a warehouse in Tondo, Metro Manila, in 2016. Independent show ample potential for renewables in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Podcast

Pages from a new Otaku Dictionary catalog the lexicons of Japan’s various subcultures.
A problematic otaku dictionary and the Japanese approach to sitting

Longform

Tokyo Healthcare University professor Takayuki Mifune explains how he is trying to re-create bonito broth from 1,300 years ago.
The quest to re-create what the Japanese ate 1,300 years ago
By Alex K.T. Martin

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