The "beer girls" (uriko) at baseball games are a somewhat iconic image of sporting events in Japan. They can be found walking around the stands with beer backpacks, always ready to pour you out a ...

The transformation of Shibuya continues with the opening of Shibuya Cast on April 28th. Following the opening of Shibuya Hikarie in 2012 and the upcoming openings of multiple other complexes ...

If the popularity of monkey parks and hot springs is any indicator, monkeys, particularly the Japanese macaque variety, are a sure way to attract visitors to tourist destinations throughout Japan. ...

This April, fashion brand Pac-Store is teaming up with Harajuku's Kawaii Monster Cafe for a special collaboration event featuring Pac-Man in all his yellow-headed glory. The Pac-Man x Kawaii ...

May the force be with you. Or should that be... toothpick? Does Japan harbor the biggest Star Wars fan base? Why else does it seem to have such an insatiable appetite for Star Wars products and ...

The spring in Japan means many things: the start of the new fiscal and academic year as well as the arrival of the cherry blossom season. The sakura blooms, transforming parks and other areas into ...

Everyone's favorite creators of chindogu (strange and "useless" gadgets) have done it again: made something we didn't even realize we needed. Thanko's latest arrival is the Smaneck Smartphone ...

127 million people live in Japan. 5.5 million vending machines live there too. That's about one for every 23 people, and it hasn't been until recently that they've started to communicate with one ...

A few years ago Maywa Denki released a toy that would go on to storm the world and win a major award. It was the Otamatone, a curious tadpole-shaped electronic synthesizer that you played by moving ...

The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) spotlights art and design-related attractions in a new travel guide 99+1 JAPAN: Traveling through Art, Design, and Architecture and an accompanying ...

How cool is this grandma? Cool enough to do a perfectly choreographed "kome dance" (rice dance) with two other female performers (approximately 40 years younger) in kimono. If you eat plenty of ...

In need of a rest? Get some shut-eye in the heart of Tokyo and on a luxury bed by France Bed at the Nescafe Harajuku cafe space from March 16th until March 26th. Part Nestlé coffee showroom and ...

Kudos to Japanese electronics company Nidec for conceiving the Motorize Smart PET Bottle, perhaps mankind's most unnecessary invention since the shoe umbrella. What is it? It's a phone-activated ...

In March 2016, Sony Global Education unveiled KOOV, a brilliant coding kit for young programmers. Building 21st-century skills, block by block. Play, Code. Create. That's the concept behind ...

The American ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs will open a new high-end "ice cream lounge" in one of the most chic areas of Tokyo serving cocktail-style desserts. To promote the release of the ...