Kawaii & Pop– category –

You’ve probably seen them. A perfectly rendered anime character, all shimmering hair and impossibly large eyes, screaming in pixelated terror while playing a horror game. Or maybe it was a shark girl with a heavenly voice singing city po...

Yo, what’s the deal? Ayaka here, coming at you live from the heart of where the old-school meets the ultra-new. So, let’s talk about something you've def seen if you've ever scrolled through Japan-Tok or even just hit up a Japanese airpo...

Yo, what’s the deal with Japan and cute characters? Like, for real. You hop off the plane at Narita, and it hits you. It’s not just in the anime shops in Akihabara. It’s on bank ads. It’s on construction site barricades. It’s on your gra...

Yo, what's the deal? You’re scrolling, minding your own business, and the YouTube algorithm, this all-knowing digital oracle, slides something into your feed. The title is in Japanese, maybe something like 「プラスティック・ラブ」 or 「...

Ever fall down a YouTube or Spotify rabbit hole and land on a playlist of 90s Japanese music that feels… different? Like, you've been teleported into a sugar-coated, hyper-stylized version of Tokyo that feels simultaneously retro and fut...

Ever scrolled through your feed, seen some wild Japanese mascot that’s like, a haunted turnip with googly eyes, and just thought, “Okay, but… why?” You’ve seen it everywhere, even if you don’t know what to call it. It’s in Studio Ghibli’...

Yo, let's get real for a sec. You've seen it online, right? Those impossibly crisp, dark blue jeans from Japan, with a price tag that makes your wallet cry. You hear the hype—words like 'selvedge,' 'raw,' 'nep,' and 'slub' thrown around ...

You’ve seen it. For real. Scrolling through your feed, you hit a picture that just stops you cold. It’s a phone case, but calling it a phone case feels like calling a supernova a little campfire. It's an explosion of pastel-colored goo, ...

Yo, let's get real for a second. You’ve probably seen it, whether you were scrolling through the ‘gram or actually wandering the backstreets of a Tokyo neighborhood like Shimokitazawa or Kichijoji. You walk into a shop. It’s not a big ch...

Yo, what’s the deal with Japan and its gachapon obsession? For real. You walk down a random street in Tokyo, and bam, you're hit with this wall of sound—the clatter of plastic, the rhythmic cranking of a hundred tiny machines. It's a vib...

Yo, what’s the deal? Alex here. Ever been scrolling through YouTube late at night, letting the algorithm do its thing, when suddenly you’re hit with it? A Japanese track from, like, the 80s. The thumbnail is a pastel-perfect illustration...

Scroll through any social media feed for Tokyo, and you'll inevitably land in Harajuku. You'll see it before you even know its name: a tidal wave of pastel pink and electric blue, of foods that defy gravity and logic. Giant clouds of rai...