Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises, the final film of director Miyao Miyazaki, in spite of the controversy over its extensive use of smoking scenes, has surpassed all box office expectations for the ...

Japan and the cat. Was ever a nation more beguiled with the feline? From Sanrio's Hello Kitty to cat cafes and YouTube sensation Maru, the box-loving pet, the Japanese are mad about cats. It has ...

While the weekend was all about the announcement that Tokyo would host the Olympic Games in 2020 -- the city's second bid and ultimately its second time to host -- some netizens and keen-eyed manga ...

The Japanese language is a creative thing, not least due to its multiple scripts -- kanji ideographs, and the syllabaries hiragana and katakana, plus there is distinctly Japanese use of the Roman ...

This coming winter, Japan's iconic cosmetic brand, shu uemura, will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of its beauty boutique in Omotesando in central Tokyo with the Christmas collection "Six Heart ...

On August 19th, Sega, one of Japan's biggest gaming companies, and BBC Earth celebrated the grand opening of Orbi Yokohama. Located inside Mark Is Minatomirai, a shopping complex in Yokohama, Orbi ...

At first, it was sensational. Then it became a trend. Now we've all had enough. Someone has been there, and someone else has done that. This summer, Japan witnessed a great number of youngsters ...

A little while ago we introduced a plucky newbie yuru-kyara mascot, Funassyi. As a native of Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture, he has been striving to revitalize the local culture and economy of the ...

In less than two weeks, we will find out the host city for the 2020 Olympics. Will Tokyo make it? With each city holding its own strength and weakness, I still don't think that we have come up ...

On July 30th, in Yoyogi, Tokyo, a group of people gathered to talk about business. At first glance, it might have looked like a typical business conference, with more than a hundred people getting ...

Yoshimoto Kogyo, one of the biggest entertainment companies in Japan, will host a one-of-a-kind talk show in Shibuya in September, featuring a group of hafu comedians. The theme of the "Hafu ...

Recently we learned that all public elementary schools and middle schools in Matsue, a city in Shimane prefecture, have been asked by the city's board of education to put A-bomb manga series Hadashi ...

A colleague recently brought back the customary omiyage souvenir from their Obon summer vacation to Miyagi prefecture and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the traditional mochi sweets packaging ...

We really love the +d brand by h concept, which works with individual designers to produce very cool but very practical stationery and other fun stuff for the home. Like that other fun brand ...

Audiences are a bit divided about Hayao Miyazaki's latest blockbuster anime, The Wind Rises, which takes as its subject the rather uncommercial story of an airplane designer. However, perhaps more ...