Menu
Search
 
July 12, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

LIFE

Travel

Travel
Digital
Food & Drink
Style & Design
Language
Lifestyle
Once a way to transport lumber from the mountains to the coast, log rafting is now Kitayama's biggest attraction.
LIFE / Travel
A tiny mountain hamlet keeps traditional log rafting afloat
Log rafting was once a means of transporting timber, but now it’s the tourist draw of a tiny Wakayama village.
LIFE / Travel
At a mountainside shrine, yuzu candy made by imperial decree
Located in the mountains of western Kagawa Prefecture, Kotohira has yet to suffer — or benefit — from Japan’s overtourism rush.
LIFE / Travel
In search of untouched Japan? Meet Hokkaido’s newest hiking trail.
The 410-kilometer Hokkaido East Trail links three national parks as it winds through marshland, calderas and more.
Walking along Osaka's Kanjosen brings you closer to a different side of the city that the head-in-the-clouds Expo 2025 misses.
LIFE / Travel
May 17, 2025
Fighting Osaka Expo fatigue? Walk the 21-km Loop Line for a cure.
By Edward J. Taylor
Officially completed in 1961, the Osaka Kanjosen runs through the city’s most famous and less touristed neighborhoods alike.
Tatsumi Onose (right), who plays the part of Commodore Matthew Perry in Shimoda's Black Ship Festival, says the historical episode the event is based on should be remembered for its positives more than its negatives.
LIFE / Travel
May 8, 2025
Celebrating Japan’s defeat at Shimoda’s Black Ship Festival
By Todd Fong
Held this year from May 16 to 18, an event to the south of Tokyo turns a historical episode of national humiliation into a plain old good time.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
LIFE / Travel
May 2, 2025
Want to see the future at the Osaka Expo? Get in line.
By Thu-Huong Ha
Androids and lab-grown heart cells: A dispatch from the world fair.
On the 28th floor of the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, the Peacock Lounge exemplifies the art deco decadence the brand has become synonymous with.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 19, 2025
Japan’s first Waldorf Astoria brings art deco luxury to Osaka
By Tan Pin Yen
Stays at the Waldorf Astoria Osaka start at ¥150,000 per night, but this is no hotel to be pinching pennies.
When you stare into the abyss at the bottom of the No. 3 shaft of the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, the abyss stares back.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 14, 2025
A new tour of Tokyo’s most underground attraction
By Owen Ziegler
From April, the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel will offer guided treks of areas previously inaccessible to the public.
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
By Erik Augustin Palm
Located deep within Kyushu’s Shimabara Peninsula, this hot spring town offers dramatic scenery worth the effort it takes to get there.
The Four Seasons Hotel Osaka opened in 2024, just one of many new luxury accommodations the city boasts ahead of the 2025 World Expo.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025
Osaka Expo-bound? Take your pick of the city’s new luxury hotels.
By Jessica Kozuka
Increased capacity makes lodging a buyer’s market, as intense competition keeps prices down and encourages hotels to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027
Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

Latest News

Man arrested for alleged murder in Kawasaki woman's case
1 hour ago
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
3 hours ago
Local governments leverage Osaka Expo to attract tourists
4 hours ago
Tech's diversity crisis is baking bias into AI systems
6 hours ago
Childhood shaped by war for two Ukrainian brothers
7 hours ago