Strutting her stuff in a gold-hemmed mini-skirt, white leather boots and shaking silver pom-poms, octogenarian Fumie Takino has discovered her elixir of youth — cheerleading. Takino and her troupe of spirited grannies tweak the nose of old age, even if their rambunctious routine to the song “Dreamgirls” leaves them painfully ...
Hiking in Japan is always fun with family, and with summer subsiding, some of the best months for a mountain walk are around the corner. Japan offers countless choices in its vast mountain ranges, but one of my favorite family hikes is only 90 ...
Scientists confirm that sleep deprivation has a detrimental impact on physical and mental health.
There is one precise moment when I question the wisdom of taking my two young daughters to visit the Snoopy Museum in Tokyo’s Roppongi district. It comes as my 2-year-old kicks her shoes off and makes a barefoot beeline for a fire extinguisher in ...
There has been a recent trend among Japanese comedians to go big — with their workouts. Toshiaki Kasuga, Nakayama Kinnikun and Yoshio Kojima all incorporate flexing into their routines, playing up macho stereotypes for laughs. However, Shun Kaneko isn’t laughing. “On Japanese TV, when ...
A cat lover’s paradise has opened in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi commercial district, housing cat-themed shops and cafes as well as a space for visitors to interact with rescued strays in the hope they will be adopted. More than 100 patrons a day from across Japan ...
Balloon artist Erisa Sasaki has traveled around Japan and overseas in pursuit of her goal to “bring smiles to people across the world” with her inflatable artworks. Sasaki, 38, a resident of Sapporo, Hokkaido, was a nervous child who tried to avoid attending elementary ...
Mina Perhonen’s new Call store is a one-stop shop in Omotesando for anyone who loves Nordic-inspired fashion and interiors. Filled with simple, soft-hued ceramics, rolls of irregular geometrically patterned textiles, racks of floaty cotton garments and displays of elegant hand-crafted goods, Call takes its ...
As much as I love Japan’s major cities, I quite enjoy leaving them as well. Places like Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto have played crucial roles in my family’s life, but it has been equally important for the four of us to get out of ...
Endurance races involving wheeled office chairs have spread from their birthplace in a small Kyoto suburban town across Japan to Taiwan and China. The races are named Isu-1 Grand Prix — a pun on the Japanese word “isu” for chair and Formula 1 racing. ...
Setting aside time for solitude can be a healthy habit, and doing it in a spiritual atmosphere can be even healthier. Many office workers in Tokyo’s Kamiyacho area, a business district between Roppongi and Toranomon, have benefited from the quiet space in Komyoji Temple ...
Inspired by a search for the meaning of life, a man who calls himself Candle June has embarked on a silent mission to light up lives through charity work on a large scale. Japan is still trying to recover from the damage and losses ...
Both horticulturalists and casual gardeners will be enthralled by “Dare to be Wild” (“Flower Show!” in Japan), a film based on the life of landscape designer Mary Reynolds. In 2002, at age 28, Reynolds became the first Irish and then-youngest-ever contestant to win gold ...
