Hiroshi Tanaka– Author –

You’ve finally found it. Tucked down a narrow side street, marked only by a steamed-up window and a short, dark blue curtain, or noren, hanging over the door. The moment you duck inside, the world outside vanishes, replaced by a humid, f...

You’ve seen them. Clustered in front of electronics stores in Akihabara, tucked away in a quiet corner of a suburban supermarket, or standing in massive, brightly-lit rows in specialty shops, their symphony of clicking and cranking formi...

If you’ve spent any time in Japan, you know the comforting embrace of chuka ryori. It’s that familiar, Japan-ified version of Chinese food found in every neighborhood: the savory gyoza, the gentle mapo tofu, the sweet-and-sour pork. It’s...

Picture a sold-out stadium, thousands of fans roaring, waving glow sticks in perfect, synchronized rhythm. On stage, bathed in holographic light, the star sings and dances. She’s a pop idol in every sense of the word. Except she isn’t re...

You've seen them. In every major Japanese train station, airport, and roadside rest stop, there are gleaming shops stacked floor to ceiling with exquisitely wrapped boxes. Inside, you’ll find meticulously arranged cookies, delicate cakes...

If you spend any time traveling through the suburbs of a Japanese city, you’ll eventually see them. Rising from the landscape of tiled roofs and tangled telephone wires are clusters of uniform, concrete buildings, usually five stories hi...

You asked me what happened in the nineties after Japan’s famous economic bubble burst. Most people picture a dreary decade of corporate restructuring and lost confidence, the beginning of a long national hangover. And while that’s not wr...

Imagine a narrow, winding road snaking up a dark mountainside just outside a major Japanese city. It’s late, well past the hour of respectable errands. At the top, the road opens into a small parking area, a lookout point perched on the ...

You've probably seen the pictures: steam rising from a stone-lined pool, snow-dusted pines in the background, perhaps a macaque or two looking blissfully relaxed. This is the postcard image of the Japanese onsen, or hot spring. It’s an i...

So, you’ve heard about the gokon. On the surface, it sounds simple enough: a group of single men and a group of single women, usually three-on-three or four-on-four, meet up for dinner and drinks. It’s a group date, a casual mixer arrang...

So you’ve heard about the snow in Japan. Of course you have. The word 'Japow' has become a kind of holy grail for skiers and snowboarders around the world, whispered in chairlift lines from Whistler to Chamonix. It describes a meteorolog...

You’ve seen them, of course. Peer into the window of almost any casual restaurant in Japan, from a bustling ramen joint in Shinjuku to a sleepy kissaten in a regional town, and you’ll find them: glistening, impossibly perfect replicas of...