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For Designart 2024, 130 (one thirty) is exhibiting its first furniture collection of 100% recyclable 3D-printed works at Issey Miyake Ginza.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 19, 2024

117 creative exhibits take over Tokyo for Designart 2024

Designart’s official exhibitions at the World Kita -Aoyama Building in Minato Ward are always well-rounded displays of both established and up-and-coming designers.
At least 10 firms have temporarily suspended some business activities with Nomura because of its market manipulation scandal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024

Big clients halt trades with Nomura over market manipulation scandal

At least 10 firms have temporarily suspended some business activities with Japan's biggest brokerage because of the breach.
Waight Keller, who designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress, finds a different kind of luxury at a mass market brand.
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 22, 2024

A designer moves easily from royal gowns to Uniqlo

Clare Waight Keller, who designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress, finds a different kind of luxury at a mass market brand.
A city as rich in history as Kyoto has accumulated plenty of hair-raising tales perfect for your Halloween perusal.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2024

Japan’s ancient capital houses a millennium of ghosts

August is the traditional period in Japan when the worlds of the living and the dead overlap, but who’s to say spirits don’t make an exception for Halloween?
Sanwa Koutsu's Kuroko Taxi service has drivers dressed in traditional stagehand garb communicate with passengers only through gestures and written messages.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 9, 2024

The sound of silence: Japan's no-conversation services

“Constant social interaction can feel like torture for us introverts,” one customer says. "I think it’s a pretty smart business move."
For some Americans, physical distance between them and their country in the immediate post-election period is the best thing they can do for their mental health.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 9, 2024

Americans are traveling abroad as a post-election salve

One woman who temporarily relocated to Mexico City wishes she had traveled even further to a place like Japan for even more distance from domestic politcal news.
In Japan, these sweet morsels are a traditional New Year's treat, but they share a surprising overlap with American Thanksgiving flavors, too.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Washoku Essentials
Nov 10, 2024

The winter sweet that matches perfectly with autumn

If I’m in America for Thanksgiving, I’ll serve "kuri kinton" (syrup-stewed chestnuts in sweet potato paste) as a festive accompaniment to the holiday turkey.
The newly opened Nintendo Museum and upcoming Donkey Kong Country area of Universal Studios Japan are the latest examples of the gaming giant's efforts to expand beyond traditional consoles and handhelds.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 16, 2024

Why Nintendo is becoming a 'talent agency' for its beloved characters

Game and console sales account for over 90% of Nintendo's revenue, so exposure to characters could be "a trigger" to attract more people to consoles.
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 18, 2024

For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action

Always trying to solve the problems of modern life, the perennial candidate refuses to bow to societal expectations of age.
Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Nov 25, 2024

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

The modern sauna experience is more than just taking a seat in some steam — whisking, aufguss shows and spectacle all play a part.
A statue of Konosuke Matsushita in the grounds of the Konosuke Matsushita Museum in Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024

‘God of management’ comes back to life as an AI model

Panasonic icon Konosuke Matsushita is one of the most respected by the Japanese business community.
Designed by Kei Atsumi and Motoya Iizawa, "The Warp" was a 3D-printed tea pavilion with organic, twisting curves placed in downtown Dubai.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 30, 2024

Far East meets Middle East at Dubai Design Week 2024

This year's Dubai Design Week functioned much like a portal between continents, philosophies and futures.
Rachel Accurso, in character as the internet personality Ms. Rachel, in New York on Nov. 4.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 30, 2024

Ms. Rachel’s improbable journey from toddler whisperer to holiday toy sensation

A series of toys depicting children’s YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel is quickly becoming one of the hottest holiday gifts.
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.
LIFE / Digital / 2024 in Review
Dec 6, 2024

It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Black Myth: Wukong both have a claim to the best game of 2024, a year marked by cultural scandals and lawsuits.
Every Tokyo transplant has their favorite comfort food spot, and it seems Kanye West has found his at Good Wood Terrace.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 8, 2024

Did Kanye West really discover Tokyo’s best jerk chicken spot?

Social media in Japan has become fascinated with Good Wood Terrace after Ye’s visit, with many visiting to try it out themselves.
People walk around an outlet mall in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. At stores across Japan, clerks use a form of polite language called "manyuaru keigo," literally, “manual honorifics,” named for the service manuals they study it from.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 6, 2024

Japan's honorific language can be challenging for native speakers, too

According to surveys, more than half of those in their teens, 20s and 30s, believe they cannot use "keigo," or honorific language, appropriately.
Passersby hold umbrellas as they walk under strong sunlight as the Japanese government issued heat stroke alerts in 39 of the country's 47 prefectures in Tokyo on July 22.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 12, 2024

Climate change forged a new reality in 2024: 'This is life now'

As the year draws to a close, the environmental conclusion is both blatant and bleak: 2024 was the hottest year since records began.
On Dec. 11, Universal Studios Japan officially unveiled its new Donkey Kong Country area, putting the iconic character in the spotlight for the first time in a while.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 12, 2024

USJ’s new Donkey Kong Country is a barrel of fun

Mine Cart Madness is the area’s only ride, but there are shops and snacking options as well as chances to meet costumed characters from the iconic series.
Japan's traditional New Year cuisine has a long history, though modern developments have led to slight changes in the way things work.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 22, 2024

A brief history of ‘osechi ryōri,' Japan's edible tradition for the new year

In addition to wordplay, color and shape often determine the reason why certain foods are part of Japan’s New Year holiday menu.
One researcher claims that the much-touted long lifespans of Japan, Italy and other countries may be propped up by faulty data.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 25, 2024

The secret to living to 110? Bad record-keeping, says Ig Nobel Prize winner.

The true secret to extreme longevity seems to be to "move where birth certificates are rare, teach your kids pension fraud and start lying," the researcher has said.
Riot police march in front of the main building of Ssangyong Motor in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Aug. 6, 2009.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 25, 2024

The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'

A struggling car giant in South Korea announcing in 2009 it was laying off more than 2,600 people resulted in an occupation of its factory.
Casual Japanese usage increasingly sees the "i" at the end of exclamations like "yabai" (dangerous) replaced by a small "tsu."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 26, 2024

Small letter, big impact: A little 'tsu' makes all the difference

When reading the small "tsu," shorten the preceding vowel slightly and then start with the sound of the subsequent consonant.
The hands of dyeing craftsman Yoshiharu Okamoto are stained a deep blue by his work with indigo.
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 26, 2024

True blue tradition: How Japan's coveted jeans are made

Craftspeople in Okayama Prefecture are carrying on a centuries-old tradition of indigo dyeing that contrasts with contemporary fast fashion.
Japanese architect and Expo Site Design Producer Sou Fujimoto stands on the construction site of his Grand Ring.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 1, 2025

Architect Sou Fujimoto says his 'Grand Ring' will be a symbol of unity at the Osaka Expo

Traditional techniques for joining wooden pillars were used and inspired by the raised platform at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.
A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 1, 2025

Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake

The Year of the Snake is characterized by wisdom, calm and steady progress. It urges introspection, calculated moves and a journey of reinvention.
Incorporating modern technologies into your Japanese classes might be a way to connect with younger students.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 3, 2025

Start the new year with a fresh approach to teaching Japanese

It’s important for language instructors to update their methods to best appeal to their younger students.
Tomiko Itooka died of old age in a nursing home for the elderly in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 5, 2025

Tomiko Itooka, the world's oldest person, dies at 116

Itooka was born on May 23, 1908, in the commercial hub of Osaka — four months before the Ford Model T automobile was launched in the United States.
At the new L'Abysse Osaka, Yannick Alleno both pays homage to and casts aside the tradition around Japan's national dish.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 5, 2025

Now in Osaka, Yannick Alleno wants ‘flavors people have never experienced’

Opened in late October, Sushi L'Abysse Osaka is the Michelin-starred chef’s first outpost in Asia.
Hobonichi's 'techō' notebooks come in both set and customizable formats, and a thriving community of enthusiasts means there are even extensive guides on how to make the journal even more unique to your individual approach to journaling.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 10, 2025

American stationery nerds are fueling a Japanese notebook boom

A Japanese-made paper planner from the 1980s has reblossomed in the post-COVID era.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance plans to raise its starting monthly salary for university graduates joining the nonlife insurer in April 2026 to as much as ¥410,000.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 12, 2025

Tokio Marine to raise starting pay to up to ¥410,000

The insurance firm aims to secure and retain human resources amid continuing labor shortages in Japan.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami