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Coffee house owner Vu Dinh Tu making coffee at a cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sept. 30.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2024

Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution

Coffee has become a byword for creativity and self-expression among young entrepreneurs — though their parents may take some convincing.
Ramen shop Menya Taisei's owner Taisei Hikage cooks ramen at his shop in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2024

Japan's rising ramen prices give election voters food for thought

The problems facing ramen shop owners reflect a cost-of-living crunch that has become a top issue for voters in the general election on Sunday.
Satoyo Kojika, who has run a barbershop inside the parliament building for more than half a century
JAPAN / Politics / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 23, 2024

Woman who ran a parliament barbershop for half a century retires

The shop has been run by Satoyo Kojika, 85, a native of the village of Kawauchi in Fukushima Prefecture.
Tsuyoshi Mizukoshi, owner of a pub in Nishiogi’s commercial area, is a community organizer who is rallying local residents against the road development plan.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Mar 3, 2025

Redevelopment and resistance in historic Nishiogikubo

Stakeholders in Suginami Ward have been fighting against a road development plan for some years — but economic forces are already transforming the neighborhood.
Descendents of the original "Gonin Byakushō" families are the only vendors allowed inside the gates of Kotohira Shrine, where they sell "kamiyoame," a golden-hued, yuzu-flavored candy meant for good fortune.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2025

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.
Kyoko Yafuso and her son Keiju Togei pose in front of their store in the Sunrise Naha shopping street.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 4, 2023

Tired Naha shopping arcade evolves into city’s best dining spot

Until about 10 years ago, the central shopping arcade around the Heiwa-dori street in Naha was deserted, with most stores closed and few visitors.
Major supermarket chain Daiei opened a checkout-free, walk-through store in the CeeU Yokohama mall on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 27, 2023

At new Japan supermarket outlet, high tech runs the store

The system replaces cash registers with a network of cameras, weight sensors and a smartphone app.
Wakana Nukui has been described as having a knack for storytelling and vividly sharing her vision with those around her.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Mar 24, 2024

A social entrepreneur who is determined to lift Cambodian women's status

Wakana Nukui has fostered new talent in design while opening shops dedicated to local products.
A woman checks a lottery ticket at a lottery ticket store in Shanghai
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 21, 2024

Chinese youth ease economical angst by playing the lottery

"It’s so difficult to make money now, no matter what you do”
From a Michelin-star kitchen in Italy to a central-Tokyo gelateria, Masako Minaguchi of Gelato MinNa believes doing what you love should always be a priority.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2024

Masako Minaguchi: ‘Gelato is full of possibilities’

From a Michelin-star kitchen in Italy to a central-Tokyo gelateria, this foodie believes doing what you love should always be a priority.
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?
Korey Kito, left, stands with his father Brian Kito in front of their confectionery, Fugetsu-Do, in Los Angeles.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 4, 2024

How Fugetsu-Do survived the evolution of Little Tokyo in LA

In addition to selling mochi and other treats out of the storefront, Fugetsu-do also stocks other Japanese specialty food stores across California.
Members of the Wajima City Morning Market Association pose for a group photograph on the site where the market once stood.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 30, 2024

In the wake of disaster, the revival of Wajima's market brings hope

Wajima's morning market on the Noto Peninsula was devastated a year ago. Now, led by women vendors and bold ideas, it is rising as a symbol of resilience.
In Tomoka Shibasaki's short story collection "A Hundred Years and a Day," time flows architecturally, through the life of structures such as a ramen shop or a cinema.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2025

'A Hundred Years and a Day': Short stories unfold through the lives of structures and spaces

In Tomoka Shibasaki’s curious collection, time flows architecturally, plots meander by design and humans are unnamed, ephemeral and often disappear.
After nine years, the Square Enix Cafe is finally closing up shop.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 15, 2025

Square Enix Cafe had everything going for it, except the ability to adapt

On March 31, the themed cafe just steps from JR Akihabara Station will close for good.
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 4, 2025

Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?

Amid widespread abuse of Japan’s tax-free shopping system, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are mulling over its possible abolition.
Koji Suzuki rides on his surfboard in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2023

Fukushima surfer hangs loose about treated water release

Koji Suzuki, 68, fled the tsunami in his car but was back riding the waves off Minamisoma four months after the disaster.
An Airbus A350 XWB passenger aircraft on the final assembly line at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2023

Fake spare parts were supplied to fix top-selling jet engine

The spread of undocumented or potentially faked parts into the engine supply chain is rare and treated with utmost urgency in the industry.
Shinjuku's Kabukicho is filled with colorful individuals that give the neighborhood its character.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Dec 22, 2023

Christmastime in Shinjuku Golden Gai

One of Tokyo's most storied watering holes gets a little quiet during the holidays now that it relies quite a bit on tourists.
The “myahk,” a community currency implemented on Okinawa Prefecture’s Miyako Island in 2018, is intimately tied to local efforts for environmental preservation.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Feb 10, 2024

Japanese communities are creating currencies to educate and empower citizens

The yen will do when paying for things throughout the country. In some places, though, you may try paying with a coin that also helps reduce plastic waste.
A customer buys a ticket for ramen at a vending machine at Goumen Maruko ramen shop in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 8, 2024

Japan runs on vending machines. It’s about to break millions of them.

New yen notes set to be introduced this summer won't be compatible with many machines that businesses like ramen shops rely on.
Tomiji Suzuki (back) attends a workshop in Tokyo. The 89-year-old is now making apps for the fast-growing elderly demographic, using ChatGPT to fine-tune his skills.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2024

ChatGPT a mentor for 89-year-old app developer

So far, Tomiji Suzuki has developed 11 free iPhone apps to help Japan's aging population.
Japan's Koki Kano (right) battles Yannick Borel of France in the gold-medal bout of the men's individual epee at the Paris Olympics on July 28.
OLYMPICS / Fencing
Aug 5, 2024

How a grassroots push helped Japan's fencers become world-beaters

Japan bagged five fencing medals in Paris to put it atop the medal table in the sport, the first time a non-European nation has done so.
The Nintendo Museum opens to the public on Oct. 2, but unlike the company's all-ages games, the new attraction may be geared more toward older rather than younger gamers.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 25, 2024

A first look inside the new Nintendo Museum

Set to open on Oct. 2, the gaming giant's newest foray into real-world experiences shows flashes of the same creativity that made the company what it is today.
Cider in Japan doesn't have as long a history as other alcoholic beverages, but with consumer preferences shifting, it might be just the easy sip for drinkers sick of stiff tipples.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 13, 2024

As Japan shuns stiff drinks, cider aims for a bigger share of the market

Sake brewer Isamu Yoshii was the first person in Japan to produce cider as an alcoholic drink in 1954, paving the way for a possible cider boom in the future.
Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 16, 2024

The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition

A year after disaster devastated the region, brewers have turned to nationwide partnerships and new technologies to sustain their culture.
Photos taken from the same place but at different times in the Noto Peninsula towns of Wajima (left) and Suzu illustrate the progress made following the devastating earthquake that hit these areas of Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1, 2024.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 1, 2025

A year after a deadly earthquake, Noto Peninsula still faces long road to recovery

Reconstruction remains a prolonged and complex ordeal for cities in the worst-hit areas, with recovery further hampered by torrential rains in September.
Risshaku-ji Buddhist temple in the snow, with the valley and town in the background.
SATOYAMA CONSORTIUM
Feb 4, 2025

Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty

Each year between mid-November and April, winter sports fans from around the world flock to Japan for the country’s renowned powder snow. Aussie snowboarders, in particular, have made Niseko in Hokkaido and Hakuba in Nagano their winter homes, escaping the hot summers Down Under.
Rintaro Sekizuka runs a record store in both London and Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 8, 2025

Tokyo’s vinyl experts say overseas buyers are ‘sustaining the scene’

A weak yen makes rare vinyls a steal for tourists, and locals say it's all part of a circular musical exchange.
Coming in handy: The "temaki-zushi" (hand-rolled sushi) was first created by Tama Sushi to solve the problem of eating sushi on the go.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 3, 2025

The sushi cone that changed everything

Inspired by ice cream cones, Tokyo’s “temaki-zushi” made sushi handheld, affordable — and a quietly radical moment in Japanese dining.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan