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September 01, 2025
 

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LIFE

Style & Design

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Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
LIFE / Style & Design
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tokyo’s tattoo artists say natural dyes and ‘made-to-fade’ inks are helping to push back on the long-held stigma against body art.
LIFE / Style & Design
Retired Tokyo trains live on as upcycled table lamps
Former railcars on the Den-en-toshi Line have been refashioned into table lamps available for purchase from Aug. 25.
LIFE / Style & Design
In Gaza-made obi, Palestinian embroidery meets Japanese kimono
Kimono sashes from the Palestinian Embroidery Obi Project combine Japanese materials with Middle Eastern designs.
Mexican designer Italia Segovia, 26, known as "Kumiko," poses for a picture wearing clothes from her brand Chicanjuku.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 26, 2025
Mexican designer blends Chicano and Harajuku styles
By Raquel Cunha and Rafael Escalera Montoto
Designer Italia "Kumiko" Segovia says experimentation is great as long as it's from a place of knowledge and respect.
The classic red brick arches of Tokyo’s first “gādo-shita,” built in 1910, are what most Japanese people think of when they think about commercial spaces under elevated railways.
LIFE / Style & Design / Longform
Jun 16, 2025
Revitalizing the space under Tokyo’s train tracks
By Alex K.T. Martin
Rail underpasses in big cities are being transformed into vibrant spaces for artisans, foodies and travelers — without erasing their past.
The Hotaruan Royal Garden Suite, a renovated traditional "minka" home, will host the second iteration of the Minka Preservation Society's MinkaMeets event.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 31, 2025
Traditional home experts to gather at MinkaMeets event
By Laura Pollacco
Roof thatching expert Haruo Nishio is one of several experts scheduled to speak at the June 7-8 event.
American actor and Cannes jury member Jeremy Strong has been turning heads on the red carpet at this year's film festival in southern France.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 25, 2025
Jeremy Strong brings male power-dressing to Cannes
By Adam PLOWRIGHT
A member of the film festival's jury, the "Succession" star believes at a moment when truth is under assault, film matters more than ever.
The larger-than-life hairstyles of Japan's Showa Era are unmistakable — and they're making a comeback.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 12, 2025
Sculpted waves, sleek updos: Showa hairstyles are back in fashion
By Carol R.H. Malasig
Television reruns and social media content showcasing Showa idols may be the driving force behind the revival of retro styles.
For centuries, artisans have unraveled strands of the fibrous bark of "shuro" trees to create a medley of everyday objects. Designer Kazuki Nagasawa is now transforming the traditional material into ethereal contemporary pieces.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 9, 2025
Kazuki Nagasawa's sustainable designs are rooted in tradition
By Danielle Demetriou
The recent SaloneSatellite Award-winner transforms a humble bark, long used by artisans to craft everyday objects, into ethereal works of contemporary design.
A seamstress at Kineya Tabi sews together split-toe "tabi" socks, once a major industry for the town of Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture.
LIFE / Style & Design
May 3, 2025
Japan’s ‘tabi’ sock mecca runs on thread and memories
By Aarohi Narain
At their peak in the early-20th century, Gyoda’s artisans churned out more than 84 million pairs of socks each year.

Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
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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