You asked me why on earth someone would go camping by themselves. It’s a fair question, especially from a Western perspective where camping is almost synonymous with a car full of friends, a cooler packed for a dozen people, and someone ...

If you’ve spent any time looking at modern Japanese pop culture, you’ve probably seen the signs. Maybe it was a person on the train whose handbag was so completely covered in keychains of a single anime character that you couldn’t see th...

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 ...

I’ll never forget my first encounter with the phenomenon. I was wandering through a covered shopping arcade in a small Japanese city, the sound of a gentle rain drumming on the translucent roof. Drawn in by a warm, inviting glow, I press...

You asked me what the deal is with those immersive digital art museums you keep seeing pop up from Tokyo. You know the ones—videos of people wandering through shimmering crystal forests, wading knee-deep in projections of koi fish, or st...

Someone asked me the other day what the most “Japanese” thing they could do in Tokyo was. They were expecting, I think, a temple, a museum, or some elaborate tea ceremony. My answer surprised them. I told them to find a small, old coffee...

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...

I get this question a lot, usually after someone’s just watched a Studio Ghibli film for the first time. They’ll ask, “Are there really places in Japan like the ones in Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro? Places that feel… well, other?”...

You asked why the humble neighborhood public bath, the sento, still exists. It’s a fair question. In a country where practically every home, no matter how small, is equipped with a pristine, often technologically advanced private bathroo...

Imagine a party that lasted for a decade and then, almost overnight, the music stops. The lights come on, and everyone realizes the champagne was borrowed and the bill is due. That was Japan at the dawn of the 1990s. The dizzying heights...

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...

You are standing on the wooden veranda of a small temple in the northern hills of Kyoto. The garden before you is simple, almost austere. It consists of meticulously raked white gravel, a few thoughtfully placed stones, and a low, clippe...