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Erik Augustin Palm
Shueisha is one of the major Japanese manga publishers and its Weekly Shonen Jump has been awarded the Guinness World record for bestselling manga magazine in 2022.
CULTURE / Books
May 26, 2026
Shueisha turns 100 with an eye on the future of manga
91²Ö¿â record-breaking manga publisher Shueisha marks 100 years in the business with a slew of projects that make its titles more accessible to readers.
Visitors can explore a life-size version of Carl Fredricksen¡¯s house in the ¡°Mundo Pixar Experience¡± exhibition¡¯s ¡°Up¡± area.
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2026
¡®Mundo Pixar Experience¡¯ feels like a homecoming in Tokyo
Packed crowds and long queues aside, the sprawling exhibition succeeds by transforming animated nostalgia into a tactile experience.
As Tokyo's public bathhouses age, many are embracing more contemporary aesthetics to stay relevant for a younger class of customer.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 13, 2026
Where Tokyo goes to sweat and soak
To stay relevant and attract new customers, public bathhouses and saunas are trading weary grandeur for contemporary cool.
The Sui Collection, a Cabinet Office-backed showcase of traditional Japanese artisanship, is visually stunning, but what is lost in translation when the state is a partner in cultural communication?
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 28, 2026
What happens when Japan curates its aesthetic for the world?
The Sui Collection of traditional artistry demonstrates how Japan wants to be seen ¡ª both domestically and abroad.
Rob Brown (left) and Sean Booth performed a recent Tokyo gig in almost complete darkness.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 9, 2026
No lights, total immersion: Autechre¡¯s ¡¯pitch-black¡¯ Tokyo show
At Zepp DiverCity, Autechre stripped a Tokyo concert of sight, saturating the room with sound ¡ª and controversy.
Designtide Tokyo returns for a final weekend of a designer-run marketplace, including one student exhibitor chosen to join the main field of professionals.
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 20, 2025
Designtide Tokyo 2025 closes this weekend with a creator-led marketplace
After returning in 2025 following a 12-year break, the event finished with a chance for designers and buyers to meet face to face.
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 qualifying countries scoured the streets of Shibuya for all manners of trash as part of the Spogomi litter-picking competition.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 9, 2025
Cleanliness gets competitive at Tokyo¡¯s Spogomi world cup
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 countries scoured Tokyo¡¯s streets for discarded wrappers, crushed cans and cigarette butts.
¡°Mother Bhumi¡± takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025
Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration
Five films screened at this year¡¯s TIFF put migration and its human impact front and center.
¡°KPop Demon Hunters¡± director Maggie Kang discussed how she fused Korean folklore with K-pop spectacle at Netflix¡¯s Creative Asia event in Busan.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Oct 5, 2025
With Hollywood facing headwinds, Netflix looks eastward
The streamer¡¯s Creative Asia event at the Busan International Film Festival unveiled new initiatives designed to expand the region¡¯s storytelling role.
Park Chan-wook (center) attended the Busan International Film Festival opening ceremony with ¡°No Other Choice" cast members on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 19, 2025
Park Chan-wook¡¯s sharp satire ¡®No Other Choice¡¯ opens Busan festival
The director's socially charged murder-comedy made its Asian premiere at the film festival on Wednesday.
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 13, 2025
An aesthetic escape to Hakone¡¯s art-drenched hills
Well known for its views of Mount Fuji, the mountainous community also holds a growing collection of world-class art.
"In My Closet" by the artist Noumra is on display at Tokyu Plaza Harajuku's Harakado space until June 18.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2025
At Tokyo Pride¡¯s first queer art exhibition, intimacy and resistance share the wall
A vibrant, community-sourced exhibition in Harajuku showcases queer art that spans the political, absurd and deeply personal.
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2025
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
Located deep within Kyushu¡¯s Shimabara Peninsula, this hot spring town offers dramatic scenery worth the effort it takes to get there.
An expanded multilevel pond and devices spraying cold mist have been installed at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum to protect against the dangers of warming summers on the institution's trees.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 24, 2025
World¡¯s first public bonsai museum reopens after renovations
After a five-month refurbishment, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum believes it¡¯s better suited to care for its trees during intensifying summers.
Tokyo Creative Salon combines elements of design, fashion and less easily categorizable artistic disciplines.
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 18, 2025
Tokyo Creative Salon sees the city as both runway and canvas
Through March 23, Tokyo¡¯s streets, shopping centers and civic spaces will host an interdisciplinary celebration of creativity.
Artist Adrian Steckeweh 3-D prints otherworldly clothes and accessories for himself, in a way augmenting his reality with tangible objects.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 16, 2025
Augmented reality artist Omega C navigates a precarious scene for XR art
Just this year, XR art featured heavily in the digital art festival Dig Shibuya and is the focus of the ongoing ¡°Machine Love¡± exhibition at Mori Art Museum.
The luxury Seven Stars in Kyushu train trades the hyper-efficiency of typical rail travel in Japan for a slower, more decadent version.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2025
Aboard Japan¡¯s most luxurious train, the journey is the destination
For those with yen to burn, the Seven Stars in Kyushu is one of the most luxurious ways to experience some of southern Japan¡¯s best hidden gems.
Documentary director Kaku Arakawa¡¯s filming style ¡ª naturalistic, intimate and unobtrusive ¡ª proved essential to portraying anime powerhouse Hayao Miyazaki as a man as flawed and human as he is a visionary artist in ¡°Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2025
Two decades of unparalleled access into the world of Hayao Miyazaki
Documentary director Kaku Arakawa has spent years filming the anime powerhouse to reveal the man beyond the myth.
Aside from purely aesthetics, the flowers in Mika Ninagawa¡¯s art carry deep cultural and spiritual meaning.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 25, 2025
Mika Ninagawa transforms the Kyocera Museum into a vibrant dreamworld
The artist¡¯s most expansive exhibition in the Kansai region to date is an experience that straddles the boundaries of photography, film and installation art.
Eugene Kangawa's Atelier iii is a space where visitors are invited to engage directly with the artist¡¯s evolving practice.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 18, 2025
Eugene Kangawa¡¯s art space embraces impermanence
The artist¡¯s Atelier iii studio resists spectacle and asks visitors to slow down and commit to being present.

Longform

Community programs and tracking systems are expanding across Japan as local governments search for ways to prevent dementia-related disappearances.
He told his wife he was ¡®coming home.¡¯ Then he disappeared.

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN