Author: William

Japan has got its knickers in a twist over a French newspaper's satirical cartoon that shows two emaciated wrestlers facing up for a bout in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with the Fukushima reactors ...

Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises, the final film of director Miyao Miyazaki, in spite of the controversy over its extensive use of smoking scenes, has surpassed all box office expectations for the ...

Japan and the cat. Was ever a nation more beguiled with the feline? From Sanrio's Hello Kitty to cat cafes and YouTube sensation Maru, the box-loving pet, the Japanese are mad about cats. It has ...

While the weekend was all about the announcement that Tokyo would host the Olympic Games in 2020 -- the city's second bid and ultimately its second time to host -- some netizens and keen-eyed manga ...

A colleague recently brought back the customary omiyage souvenir from their Obon summer vacation to Miyagi prefecture and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the traditional mochi sweets packaging ...

Audiences are a bit divided about Hayao Miyazaki's latest blockbuster anime, The Wind Rises, which takes as its subject the rather uncommercial story of an airplane designer. However, perhaps more ...

Back in 2009, when the French embassy in Tokyo decided to demolish its premises and relocate, it invited in a whole bunch of French and Japanese artists to create site-specific temporary ...

One of those myths about Japan is the used panties vending machine. Well, these blogger at least has heard of genuine panty vending machines (at least the machines were real, though we can't vouch ...

Kagawa prefecture on Shikoku island, famed for its udon noodles, has found another way to turn its popular food to good use -- power. Chiyoda Manufacturing in Takamatsu City has announced "udon ...

No cheap all-you-can-drink all-nighters with friends rammed into a tiny booth, belting out Bon Jovi et al. They do things a bit differently in Ginza. Ginza 111 (apparently pronounced "Triple ...

J-World Tokyo, the world's first theme park dedicated to Shonen Jump manga, has opened in Ikebukuro, north Tokyo. Visitors can find the new amusement center in the Sunshine City World Import ...

You might have thought that communism was safe from mascots but then you'd be wrong. As shared by Matt Alt, the Japanese Communist Part has its own kawaii characters now, the so-called ...

Tokyo Reporter has posted about another incident in the ongoing "No dancing" saga that is affecting Japan's nightlife. GP Bar in Roppongi was raided and the manager and DJ arrested for the heinous ...

The World Cosplay Summit 2013, the international cosplay event being held this year for the eleventh time, will take over Nagoya from July 27th to August 4th. Cosplayers from all over the ...

After years of campaigning, Mt Fuji, Japan's highest peak and an ingenious piece of natural symmetry, was recently finally elevated to that status that perhaps of all people the Japanese seem to be ...