Category: CULTURE

Despite all the media fanfare and money spent on advertising the campaign, the jury is still out on whether Premium Friday was a success or flop. The campaign launched by METI (the Ministry of ...

The new retail and commercial complex Ginza Six was announced last autumn, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and featuring shops, offices, a rooftop garden and Noh theater. The center of the complex, ...

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has recruited the virtual idol Hatsune Miku to promote Japanese food around the country. Perhaps only in Japan would you get a ...

Japan is famous for its toilets. Japan is also famous for its crafts. So why not combine the two? Well, someone did. Japanese toilets are somewhat renowned for their technology ingenuity, from the ...

It's almost time for the traditional festival of the Hinamatsuri, also known as Doll's Day or Girls' Day. This is when ornamental dolls representing the emperor and empress from the Heian period are ...

From the company name to its conspicuous advertisements, Tokyo-based go-kart rental service MariCar basically screams "It's-a me, Mario!" and, according to a lawsuit filed last Friday, Nintendo is ...

After teasing us with a preview and some hilarious-looking images, the first SoftBank commercials in the Justin Bieber "super student" campaign have finally been released. It features the Canadian ...

The latest example of a regional Japan promotional video hoping to go viral is this one from Oji in Nara Prefecture, which features a flying dog. The drone-dog flies around the area, "walking in ...

Ever wondered how quickly junior high school fashion changes in Japan? Look back over the shifts in junior high school (known as "JK" in Japanese) fads from 2016 to 2015, 2008, 2000, 1995, 1980 ...

Sumo has come home as the first Japan-born wrestler for 19 years has been promoted to the rank of yokozuna, the highest in the sport. Following a meeting by the Japan Sumo Association on January ...

From traditional instruments to the National Theatre mascot, you've never seen Piko Taro done quite like this. The curiously attired Piko Taro recently returned with a follow-up to his global ...

Piko Taro, the alter ego of comedian Daimao Kosaka, rocked Japan and the world with his indelibly catchy "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen (PPAP)" video in 2016. Having inspired so many imitators and boosted ...

If you thought Piko Taro's "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen" (PPAP) couldn't get any more "Japanese", think again. Adding to the countless numbers of adaptations and parodies already out there clogging up ...

What were the biggest trends and news events of 2016 in Japan? Here is our round-up. Political and Celebrity Scandals Every year there are plenty of political and celebrity scandals, though ...

Japanese artist and design extraordinaire Tokujin Yoshioka will create a new prism-themed installation at Shiseido Gallery in central Tokyo. Once again Yoshioka is returning to his regular ...