Shibuya's Hachiko Square train car moving to Akita ahead of renovation
An old train car that has been used as a tourist information center outside Tokyo's busy Shibuya Station is being moved to the northeastern birthplace of Hachiko, the famously loyal dog immortalized by a nearby statue. The Tokyu Railways carriage, which was in service from ...
New Harajuku Station building unveiled ahead of March opening
The new Harajuku Station building in Tokyo's pop-culture hub, which is set to open on March 21 in time for the Tokyo Olympic Games, was unveiled to the media Wednesday by East Japan Railway Co. The new station facility, which is on the capital's busy ...
A cut above the rest: A new generation of barbers is trying to overcome an image problem
A group of men sporting tattoos and smoking cigarettes chats casually on benches outside Mr. Brothers Cut Club in Tokyo's trendy Harajuku neighborhood. Were it not for a couple of red, white and blue barber's poles hanging near the entranceway, a passerby might think they've ...
Reborn Shibuya Parco hopes to regain iconic status amid tough times for brick-and-mortar stores
After a three-year renewal project, Shibuya Parco, an iconic shopping complex in the bustling central Tokyo district, is back in the game. Having been at the vanguard of fashion and youth culture, especially in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the facility, which reopened Friday, largely ...
Halloween's rise in the 2010s provided Shibuya crossing with plenty of tricks and treats
While Halloween has been around in Japan for a few decades it wasn't until recently that it became a true phenomenon, especially at Tokyo's iconic Shibuya crossing.
Tokyo's cops choreograph a Halloween 'spooktacular'
A writer spends her first Halloween at Shibuya crossing at a street party directed by the Tokyo police.
Tokyo's Shibuya abuzz with costumed pre-Halloween merrymakers on weekend amid heavy police presence
Shibuya was brimming with superheroes, otherworldly creatures and scores of police Saturday night as costumed revelers congregated in one of Tokyo's major entertainment districts on the weekend before Halloween. While the area around Shibuya's iconic scramble crossing filled with many Halloween revelers as the night ...
Tokyo's Pet Loss Cafe offers a place to grieve and heal
Ritsuko Shimazaki, 58, occasionally takes a 70-minute train ride to visit one coffee shop in particular near the upscale district of Omotesando in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. The cafe — seemingly a standard trendy coffee shop with wooden tables and about a dozen seats surrounded by ...
In revenge killing, man stabs to death head of Tokyo foster home where he used to live, police say
The suspect admitted to the murder, telling investigators he resented the time he spent at the foster home and wanted to attack anyone working there.
Giving visitors to Japan something they can dance to
Is this a case of deja vu on the dancefloor? In 2012, police in Osaka started raiding clubs for violating the adult entertainment business law, popularly known as fūeihō. The law forbids dancing after midnight. When pressed on the matter, police officials said they were simply ...
Police investigate how fire from burning building spread to an Odakyu train
Tokyo police investigate how a fire spread to an Odakyu Line train after it came to an emergency stop close to a burning building.
Osaka's Yodogawa Ward serves as municipal model on LGBT rights
Since becoming the first municipality in Japan to declare support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in 2013, the Yodogawa Ward Office in Osaka has attracted attention from other institutions keen to learn from its approach. The ward first moved to implement measures to ...
