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April 29, 2026
 

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Jessica Kozuka
Kiyoshi Gonda (left), sixth-generation sakemaker of Gonda Shuzo in Saitama Prefecture, wants to make his sake from as many local ingredients as possible.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 27, 2026
A Saitama sake brewery embraces a little-known rice variety
Gonda Shuzo in Kumagaya is banking on Sake Musashi, a local cultivar, to define the terroir of the region's sake.
Since all 22 kilns in Suzu were destroyed in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, many of the local potters came together for a joint firing in the municipal kiln.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 1, 2026
Noto's Suzu ware reemerges from the earthquake rubble
Two years after the 2024 earthquake and tsunami, Noto potters find purpose in carrying on their craft.
Art Week Tokyo featured a live performance of Keiichiro Shibuya¡¯s ¡°Android Opera Mirror ¡ª Deconstruction and Rebirth ¡ª,¡± starring an advanced humanoid robot.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 28, 2025
Is human-machine collaboration the future of fine art?
At this year¡¯s Art Week Tokyo, AI emerged as a major and incredibly nuanced theme among participating artists.
Workers in Okinawa oxidize a pool of indigo dye, one of many regional textile craft traditions examined in Charlotte Linton's new book.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2025
New book scrutinizes sustainability of traditional Japanese textiles
In ¡°Dyeing with the Earth,¡± an Oxford research fellow examines how Japan¡¯s age-old textile traditions sometimes run counter to modern ideas of eco-friendly processes.
¡°The Bathhouse of Honest Desires,¡± a Taiwanese-Japanese collaboration, was performed the first weekend of the Autumn Meteorite festival.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 10, 2025
Autumn Meteorite stages a month of inventive theater in Tokyo
The inaugural performing arts festival brings a variety of shows, from monodramas to 20-people, multivenue ensemble productions.
In a region more associated with art, Keirin Hotel 10 takes a decidedly more athletic approach to attracting tourists.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 16, 2025
A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling
Naoshima is known for art, but this coastal hotel in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, focuses on Japan¡¯s competitive cycling scene.
Located in Patina Osaka, P72 doesn't have a fixed menu, opting instead to rely on whatever is available from local suppliers and its on-site garden to create its innovative plant-based cuisine.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 25, 2025
P72 sows the seeds for a dynamic plant-based cuisine
With an ever-changing menu dictated by what's available from its garden and suppliers, the Osaka-based restaurant injects creativity and spontaneity into its green cuisine.
FemUniti was founded in 2024 by Setsu Suzuki (right) and Meagan Ward (second from left) to empower women entrepreneurs and connect them to resources and opportunities.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
May 19, 2025
Detroit-Nagoya network empowers women-owned businesses around the world
Supporting women in business is a ¡°blueprint for the future,¡± says the cofounder of femUniti ¡ª and she has the data to back it up.
The Four Seasons Hotel Osaka opened in 2024, just one of many new luxury accommodations the city boasts ahead of the 2025 World Expo.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025
Osaka Expo-bound? Take your pick of the city¡¯s new luxury hotels.
Increased capacity makes lodging a buyer¡¯s market, as intense competition keeps prices down and encourages hotels to differentiate themselves from the pack.
Tokyo Humanities Cafe was launched in 2017 by Laurence Williams (left) and Alex Watson, professors at Sophia and Meiji Universities, respectively.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 7, 2025
Tokyo Humanities Cafe feeds hungry minds
A free quarterly event invites everyone to explore what it means to be human.
Hiromi Okuda¡¯s study abroad experience at the University of Mumbai inspired her to build a career at the intersection of social welfare and IT.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 7, 2025
Hiromi Okuda: 'Humans and emerging tech should exist symbiotically'
For the past 30 years, Hiromi Okuda has forged a career at the intersection of social welfare and technology.
Shiho Hanadate is part of a small yet growing number of young tappers pivotal in securing the future of domestic sap collection used in Japanese lacquerware.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 30, 2024
The young sap collectors underpinning Japanese lacquerware
¡°You can¡¯t cut into the core, so you have to judge the thickness of the bark,¡± says tapper Shiho Hanadate. ¡°You have to develop a sense for it.¡±
Oitomi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of the company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 23, 2024
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Thanks to the Dodgers superstar, the waitlist for Oitomi¡¯s Miyabi Tetsubin kettle now stretches to more than a year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 20, 2022
Merged with surf and jungle, Okinawa¡¯s holiest sites survive
Where Shinto integrates nature into its holy sites, the caves, trees and shoreline sacred to Okinawa's indigenous religion can often seem untouched by human hands.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 13, 2022
Todd Silverstein: ¡®Startups are challenging but Naro is like several startups put together¡¯
An experienced producer, Todd Silverstein finds a way to bring the aspects of Japan that he finds most inspiring to your living room.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Nov 20, 2021
Miyazaki distiller sees the potential in hyper-local, sustainable ²õ³ó¨­³¦³ó¨±
The Watanabe Distillery is a small, family-run business that was founded in 1914 and now produces about 50,000 liters of shu014dchu016b per year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 3, 2021
Transforming Tono from hop heartland to boutique beer destination
A community group called Brewing Tono is helping local hop farmers and innovative brewpubs put this Iwate Prefecture town on the craft beer map.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 30, 2019
More zany than Zen: Kyoto hotels paving the way to 2020
Tired of always staying at the same minimalist hotel? Inject some levity into your Kyoto trip by booking a room at one of these avant-garde boutique hotels instead.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Beyond Omotenashi
Apr 15, 2018
Visitors to Okinawa invited to be citizen scientists as tourism takes its toll on coral
Divers equipped with a simple color chart and an app can help keep an eye on the island prefecture's delicate coral ecosystem.
The Japanese dietitian who keeps the Blue Jays¡¯ engines running
Sports dietitian Yuka Sanui works behind the scenes to ensure Blue Jays players get the most out of their bodies when they step on the field.
Head of U.S. military in South Korea calls for ¡®kill web¡¯ linking Seoul, Tokyo and Manila
U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson (center), commander of U.S. Forces Korea, walks on a pontoon bridge with U.S. and South Korean Army soldiers during a U.S.-South Korea joint river-crossing exercise, part of the annual Freedom Shield joint military training, near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 14.
Zoo employee admits to burning wife¡¯s body in incinerator
The incinerator at the Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido on Sunday
Magnitude 6.2 quake shakes Hokkaido
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake, measuring an upper 5 on Japan¡¯s seismic intensity scale, struck Hokkaido before 5:30 a.m. on Monday.
China holds live-fire drills in waters near Luzon as Japan joins military exercises in Philippines
Head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr., speaks during the opening ceremony of the U.S.-Philippines Balikatan joint military exercises, at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Monday.
Beyond the hub-and-spoke: Japan quietly emerges as a secondary connector
Commander of the Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment, Maj. Gen. Toshikatsu Musha, and commander of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Amphibious and Mine Warfare Force, Rear Adm. Ikeuchi Izuru, attend the opening ceremony of the U.S.-Philippines Balikatan joint military exercises, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on April 20.
The Japanese dietitian who keeps the Blue Jays¡¯ engines running
Sports dietitian Yuka Sanui works behind the scenes to ensure Blue Jays players get the most out of their bodies when they step on the field.
The American chef reconnecting with Japan through a Kyoto restaurant
SoNoMa chef partner Kyle Connaughton (right) and chef de cuisine Keita Tominaga both have ties to Sonoma County in Northern California, the restaurant¡¯s namesake. Connaughton rose to prominence there with SingleThread, while Tominaga¡¯s father ran a Japanese restaurant in the region.
Hokusai¡¯s erotic art on display at a Kabukicho noh theater
¡°The Dream of the Fisherman¡¯s Wife,¡± a rarely exhibited print by Hokusai, will be on display at the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Theater for a limited time, from May 1 to 10.?
Inkonbini: Slice-of-life, cozy gaming from Japan¡¯s convenience stores
Alongside the simplified management of a convenience store, Inkonbini asks players to help a small cast of regular shoppers with not only their shopping but problems in their personal lives.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
Can AI replace a priest? Japan¡¯s temples and shrines are testing the limits.
By Alex K.T. Martin

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