Penniless and subsisting on only water for three weeks, Tokyo street-dweller Tokuchika Nishi thought he had come to the end of his life. "My money ran out and I thought it would be fine to just die a dog's death," says Nishi, 38, who had spent two years homeless in the ...
As New York City's bar owners and mixologists strive for the perfect drinking experience, Shintaro Okamoto encourages them to consider an often-overlooked detail — the quality of the ice. Okamoto, 43, founded his namesake ice studio in 2003 while still in graduate school for fine ...
What's the best thing about exploring Japan with kids? For us, it may be the eating. With two kids born in Tokyo, I can say without doubt that one of our favorite things to do together is cook, eat and talk about Japanese food. ...
A scenic western Japan port city has gone to the dark side in a bid to attract visitors — offering them an array of black-colored foods and other items, the same color as the water of the local onsen hot-spring spa. After the ...
My 5-year-old daughter has something precious in her hands. It's perfectly square, with a bright orange body, a black lens, a neck strap, a distinct red dot logo — and it's making me nervous. The object in question is an instant camera by Leica, the ...
Where else but Japan could you buy a miniature version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" figure crouching over a squat toilet, horror-struck? It's one of thousands of ingeniously designed trinkets you can buy for a pittance from toy machines across the nation. They're subversive, ...
After very successful runs in Rome and London, "The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945," an exhibition of maquettes, photographs, plans and drawings, is now in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. For providing an extensive look at varied and eclectic forms that ...
Ever since the release of Marie Kondo's 2011 bible on the Japanese art of decluttering, much of the developed world has been somewhat fixated on tidying up. Kondo's "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" has been so influential over the past six years or so ...
Consumers, retailers and businesses nationwide throw away millions of tons of food each year, with waste ultimately affecting profit levels and keeping officials up at night. Food loss can happen at any stage in the production process, whether it be harvesting, processing, retailing or consumption. It's ...
It all began with bread crusts — lots and lots of bread crusts. Tatsuya Sakamaki, owner of bread manufacturer Bongout in the Saitama city of Kawaguchi, was troubled by the bags of crusts that would accumulate from the 50 loaves of white sandwich bread he ...
A project to create kimono representing 196 countries is in progress, taking the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as an opportunity to spread the wonders of Japan's master craftsmanship across the country and overseas. With the output of traditional crafts dwindling to a fifth ...
Few are aware that Japan is a Mecca for classic car enthusiasts worldwide. Boasting a world-class national road network of blacktop roads, bridges and tunnels, the country is the perfect place to cruise around in a 1950s Rolls-Royce limousine or a 1970s Nissan Skyline ...
Singer-songwriter and comedian George Tokoro is no stranger to vintage cars. A self-proclaimed "car guy," he is famous not only as one of the most familiar faces on Japanese television, but also for being one of the country's most high-profile evangelists of automotive culture. "I ...
