Japanese beer makers are in trouble. Retail sales for regular beer have been declining for years now as salarymen who like a can of fizzy lager in the evening opt for cheaper variations. Even ...

If there’s one thing you’ll notice walking around Tokyo, it’s that people are always on the move. At any given moment of the day, no matter where you are in the city, the sidewalks are jammed ...

Foot-in-mouth disease strikes Toru Hashimoto again. On Monday the brash right-wing politician shocked reporters in Osaka when he said that the so-called "comfort women" (local women forced into ...

Whether you like them or not, Golden Bomber seems to have found their own gold in the entertainment scene. Their latest album titled The Past Masters Vol. 1 which was released on April 24th, topped ...

I usually don’t watch TV dramas, but there is always one or two a year that almost forcibly catch my attention. Legal High was definitely one of them. The drama was first aired last year as a ...

For its latest concept bra to announce its new range, Triumph has come up with the Branomics Bra. Yes, you've guessed it. This is a reference to Prime Minister Abe's "Abenomics", the fiscal ...

As Japan’s population continues to decline, we see more and more non-human characters pop out and come to life on a daily basis. The yuru-kyara boom which started less than a decade ago is now ...

If Kabukicho had a theme park starring Akihabara chika aidoru ("underground" idols), this might be it... After opening last summer amidst much sound and fury, we finally paid a visit to the Robot ...

For a country with a declining birthrate (and by extension, the population as a whole), Japan's toy manufacturers are not showing any signs of giving up. Granted it hasn't been plain sailing for ...

In Japan, April is the month of new starts. The new school year. New company employees join their firms. And we see an increasing number of TV commercials promoting the message of “It’s now or ...

Raising kids is indeed one of the toughest jobs out there. While parenting entails balancing when to treat and when to reprimand your child (of which I’m sure the latter is much harder), Media ...

The Japanese have one of these effortless and inimitable attitudes towards religion. It is both part of their lives, sort of, in the form of Shinto customs, visiting shrines, animistic "power ...

It's a common perception among foreigners that the Japanese are polite and respectful. They say that the Japanese show, if not innately have, good manners in public and seem to act orderly even under ...

The popular anime franchise Evangelion is well know for creating all kind of Evangelion-themed products. To promote the DVD and Blu-Ray release of the latest movie Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo ...

Residents in Japan may have spotted that recently Kirin has been featuring Disney characters on its Gogo no Kocha (Afternoon Tea) drink bottle labels. Just another gratuitous and forgettable ploy ...