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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Longform
May 9, 2022

Out of the box: Japan's vending machines get a modern makeover amid pandemic

The health crisis has highlighted the merits of the unmanned dispensers, leading to a flurry of new — and sometimes bizarre — products being offered by the electronic boxes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 29, 2021

Stefan Le Du: 'These storefronts are like urban time capsules, traces of a not-so-remote past'

Fascinated by urban environments, Stefan Le Du began a project to document Tokyo's storefronts. It has taught him a lot about the Japanese approach to cities.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jun 19, 2020

Traditional Hiroshima Shinto dance in peril due to coronavirus

Orders from local kagura communities — themselves grappling with the economic fallout of the pandemic — have stopped coming in.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Top 5
Nov 23, 2019

Ramen worth lining up for in Tokyo

Overwhelmed with how many ramen choices there are in Tokyo? Here's The Japan Times' pick of Tokyo's five best — and most innovative — ramen shops.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Jan 22, 2018

Let's discuss the Harenohi Coming-of-Age Day kimono disaster

Police received at least 160 complaints after a kimono rental firm halted operations just before Coming-of-Age Day ceremonies, leaving young women without formal attire for the once-in-a-lifetime event.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Dec 8, 2017

Warming to Sugamo's venerable shopping street

Gifting, and therefore shopping for gifts, seems part of the gestalt of winter. In Tokyo, though, retail wonderlands tend to be packed and pricey, full of ersatz Christmas music, harried customers and long lines. I opt instead for a low-key commercial street near Sugamo Station in Toshima Ward, known...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 25, 2017

East of Meiji Shrine, west of Jingu Stadium

It's a brisk February day, with a neoprene blue and cloudless sky. I alight at Harajuku Station and head northeast, threading narrow alleyways filled with cute guys and kawaii gals browsing boutiques.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2013

Britain's charity shops go after the label-conscious but risk alienating the bargain-seekers

In the U.K., charity wardrobe chic is pushing prices up and putting charity shops out of the reach of poorer people, a reversal of the original goal of the stores.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 28, 2012

Seeking out what's in store for Kuramae

Back when Tokyo was Edo and Tokugawa shoguns ruled the land (1603-1867), the burgeoning city's most vital staple, rice, was protected in kura (storage houses) along the right bank of the Sumida River. Then, by the simple expedient of adding mae (in front of) to "kura," the area facing the white-washed,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 24, 2010

Seattle pair put sake on local map

Japan abounds with foreigners attracted by its cultural opportunities, who live in the country and eventually make a livelihood by specializing in attributes the country has to offer. Scattered across the world, their counterparts reside in towns in Europe or America, those who, after spending time in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 27, 2010

The long-range vision of Monocle

For a jet-setting, award-winning media, design and branding entrepreneur, Tyler Brûlé is pretty accessible. When he called last week, a few days before the opening of his highly anticipated Monocle Shop Tokyo within the new Francfranc Village building in Aoyama, he was at the site making last-minute...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Top trimmer styles two leaders in a row

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has declared he will continue his predecessor's reform policies. That's hardly a surprise, as Abe was Chief Cabinet Secretary under former leader Junichiro Koizumi, and before that was secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party when Koizumi was its president....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2003

Smaller electronics stores use personal touch to keep retail giants at bay

Hiroshi Fujita was shocked two years ago to learn that a large electronics chain store would open across the street from his small shop in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Shitamachi survivors

Although the shitamachi areas of Tokyo may have lost some of their bygone ambience, a few shops dating back to the Meiji or early Showa eras still remain. Sticking to tried-and-tested favorites, they are loved by customers old and new. Some have even appeared in the works of great writers and poets such...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 1999

A confectioner for all seasons

Japanese tea and wagashi (Japanese-style confections) are inseparable in the tea ceremony. Wagashi, served before the tea itself, are said to draw out the essence of the tea.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1997

Old-style shopping areas fight to survive

Staff writer
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 10, 2021

A ‘new wind is blowing’ for Japan’s coffee culture

Japan's kissaten and coffee shops are no strangers to social change. COVID-19 is pushing both shops and their customers into digital-driven habits.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 11, 2020

Readers’ choice: Tokyo’s best burger restaurants

The Japan Times' readers weigh in with five more recommendations for where to get your burger fix in the capital.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 22, 2019

Frau Krumm: Redefining German bread in Tokyo

A longtime love of bread inspired former professional tennis player Kimiko Date to open Frau Krumm, a German bread bakery in Tokyo's chic Ebisu neighborhood.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 30, 2018

Taking a perch with the hip birds of Uguisudanicho

One of two places in Tokyo named after valleys favored by the melodious uguisu (Japanese bush warbler), Uguisudanicho is a small neighborhood wedged between Daikanyama, Ebisu and Shibuya straddling the line between old-school businesses and gentrification.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 2, 2018

Playing cat and mouse in the alleyways of Harajuku

Although most people familiar with Tokyo's Harajuku area have explored — or at least heard of — the uber-trendy and fashion-focused Cat Street, the smaller and quieter road that runs above it is full of its own unique mishmash of history, food and fashion.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 13, 2018

Shōtengai: Examining the evolution of Tokyo's venerable shopping districts

Jesse McFaddin strolls around Togoshi Ginza shōtengai (shopping district) on a recent chilly December afternoon.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 10, 2017

Skills forged in Kyushu, blades forged in Oregon

After failing to win respect for his craft in Japan, 17th-generation bladesmith Murray Carter brought the Yoshimoto name to Portland.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 28, 2016

Backstage drama on Ginza's Konparu-dori

A temperate breeze swings through the surrounding willow trees as I pass jewel-encrusted ball gowns in the display windows of Ginza Takaraya, near Shinbashi Station in Tokyo. I'm scouting out Konparu-dori, a street named for the eponymous noh troupe that was gifted land here by the Tokugawa shoganate...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 23, 2016

You don't know what you've got (till it's gone) in Tokyo's nagaya

After hearing rumors that one of my favorite hideaways in Tokyo, the Sanuki Club, is slated for demolition, I stand outside the hotel's front gates with apprehension. Aside from offering some of the cheapest lodgings available in Minato Ward, the property's beer and barbecue terrace — tucked under...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 26, 2015

Circumnavigating joys in Kaminoge

Decades ago, I strolled around the quiet neighborhood of Kaminoge in Setagaya Ward with professor Shuichi Kato, the scholar who convinced me to come study in Tokyo. I vividly recollect, on my first day in Japan, encountering the fragrance of tiny orange kinmokusei (fragrant olive) blossoms as Kato spoke...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.