If Tokyo has one enduring image abroad it’s that everyone and everything is rushing. In the mornings, high-heeled women in skirt-suits can be seen running down the sidewalk towards the train ...

Are we about to witness a revival of the J-horror film genre? Local horror films experienced a boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Starting with the 1998 release of Ringu, a raft of small but ...

Ginza Mitsukoshi has opened the first airport-style duty-free store in Japan. The only place in Japan that has previously been allowed to host such retail facilities outside of airports is Okinawa, ...

Later this year, the Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games kick off. After they are finished, the handover event during the Rio closing ceremony will then see the clock really start ticking ...

Just under a year ago, Shinjuku Station was taken over by 100,000 "pop-able" bubbles as a promo for the PlayStation game Dragon Quest. Once again Dragon Quest will be hijacking the same ...

While Japanese TV and history is filled with many people we would likely label LGBT, the issue of same-sex marriage in Japan has been almost taboo until recently. However, following the decisions ...

Woman Act is a slightly awkwardly named Kanagawa Prefecture initiative aimed at bringing "women more and more into the main role". A worthy cause, we would all agree, in Japan's acutely ...

Gatebox is a "hologram communication robot" that integrates with a smart home. Developed by Japan's Vinclu Inc and apparently the first of its kind, Gatebox can converse with you, turn on ...

The controversy over the new National Stadium to be built for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics rolls on and on. After Kengo Kuma's design was chosen in the second contest that became necessary when Zaha ...

Half British, half Japanese. That alone would set Hana Tajima apart from most, but she is also a Muslim convert (at the age of 17) and a fashion designer and blogger. Tajima has teamed up fast ...

Okay, Wacky Japan alert... but this is quite fun, in a very cheeky way, and also might just be worthy of closer investigation. After all, here is a product that will not only turn heads, it might ...

This article by Adriana Mazza first appeared on Tokyo Cheapo. Photo by Adriana Mazza Boroichi Market: Intangible Folk Cultural Asset There’s something pretty magical about an intangible ...

If you’ve been to Japan you’ve seen them: Brightly lit vending machines with rows of beverages lined up, each facing the passerby and beckoning to be sampled. Maybe you’ve noticed the coffee ...

Moff is based in Tokyo but has its sights firmly on the global market. Its wearable smart toy Moff Band was released internationally after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. Now it has ...

The surprise smash hit event of 2015 in Tokyo was the Shunga Exhibition, the first such large-scale public showing of erotic prints in Japan. 200,000 people packed the tiny Eisei Bunko Museum over ...