Subculture & Vibe– category –

Imagine a Japan before the internet, before a thousand Instagram accounts could beam the sun-drenched aesthetic of Venice Beach skate culture directly into a teenager’s bedroom in suburban Tokyo. Picture the mid-1970s. The country was in...

You see them everywhere. Clustered outside a sleepy neighborhood candy shop, standing in silent, colorful ranks in the echoing halls of an arcade, or packed floor-to-ceiling in a dedicated subterranean temple of plastic in Akihabara. The...

To an outsider, it might look like just another photo booth, maybe one on a heavy dose of digital steroids. You see them tucked away in the glowing, cacophonous temples of modern leisure known as game centers, or occupying entire floors ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 know the feeling. The sun is high but not yet oppressive, casting a brilliant, almost-white glare across the sand. The air is thick with salt and the lazy scent of sunscreen. Waves crash in a steady, hypnotic rhythm—a metronome for t...

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 ...

If you really want to understand the vibe of late 90s Japan, don't start with a history book or a Kurosawa film. Start with a music video. Specifically, a music video from about 1998. Find one by Namie Amuro or Ayumi Hamasaki. What you’l...

Walk into any shop selling Japanese crafts, and you’ll likely see them. Rows of simple, cylindrical wooden dolls with rounded heads and serene, painted faces. No arms, no legs, just a quiet, distilled form. This is the kokeshi, an object...