Shun Ogawa– Author –

Ask most people to picture Japan, and their mind probably jumps to one of two extremes. On one end, you have the Blade Runner-esque cityscape: Tokyo or Osaka, a dense vertical forest of concrete and glass, pulsating with neon and crisscr...

There’s a particular kind of silence you find only in a place that was once deafeningly loud. Stand in the middle of a colossal, abandoned factory in provincial Japan, and you’ll feel it. It’s a silence thick with the ghosts of sound—the...

To the uninitiated, the concepts of tabehoudai (all-you-can-eat) and its thirsty cousin, nomihoudai (all-you-can-drink), seem like a straightforward proposition. A fixed price for limitless consumption. A glutton's paradise. A simple eco...

Come to any major Japanese city in the early spring, and you will see them. A silent army flooding the train stations and sidewalks, moving with a synchronized, nervous energy. They are unmistakable: thousands of young men and women, alm...

You probably have a picture of Japanese food in your head. Maybe it’s a master sushi chef, silent and focused, placing a glistening piece of tuna on a perfectly formed pillow of rice. Perhaps it’s an elaborate, multi-course kaiseki meal,...

You asked what it is about sitting in a steaming hot spring while it snows that makes it the definitive “Japow” experience. It’s a great question, because the image itself has become a kind of cultural shorthand for winter in Japan. You ...

You see it everywhere. The massive, synchronized armies of AKB48, the digital perfection of a virtual YouTuber like Hatsune Miku, the entire global phenomenon of K-Pop trainees polished to an impossible sheen. It’s a world of hyper-produ...

So, you’ve been invited to a nomikai. On the surface, it’s just drinks with your colleagues after work. Simple enough, right? But then your Japanese coworker leans over and whispers, with a look of both warning and encouragement, that th...

You asked where to find that specific, wonderfully retro 80s Sanrio vibe in Japan. It’s a great question because it gets at something much deeper than just shopping. You’re not just looking for cute stuff. You’re looking for a feeling—a ...

You push open a heavy wooden door, unmarked save for a small, faded sign, and step out of the frantic rhythm of a Tokyo street into a different decade. The air is thick with the scent of dark-roast coffee, old paper, and the faint, warm ...

Ask most people outside Japan about dating here, and you’ll likely get a portrait painted in shades of shyness. You'll hear about confessed feelings delivered with the gravity of a diplomatic summit, relationships that progress with glac...

You're standing in a Japanese garden, perhaps in Kyoto. The air is still, filled only with the sound of trickling water and the rustle of maple leaves. Before you lies a meticulously arranged world: moss-covered stones placed with intent...