Radioactive Man

Today marks the second anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Japan and caused one of the most serious nuclear disasters in world history. The surrounding towns were evacuated in a rush, leaving empty homes and uncared-for animals. In the small town of Tomioka, however, less than six miles away from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a 53-year-old fifth-generation rice farmer refused to leave. He is surely the most stubborn man in Japan, if not the world. Full story

Meow Meow Meow

I Like to Have Tea With Cats in Japan Because I’m Shy

Cat cafes are huge in Japan right now. As the name suggests, these are coffee shops where cat lovers go to sip overpriced lattes and hang out with an adorable smoosh pile of kitties. Full story

Armageddon Party

Aum Shinrikyo Can’t Wait for Nuclear Winter

As if there were ever any cause for doubt, Japan’s absolute cultural superiority over America is by 1994 a total given. Full story

FLOWERS OF FLESH AND BLOOD

For many critics and movie-lovers great filmmakers can be separated into one of two groups: Hollywood directors who make great, artful cinema for a popular audience despite commercial demands... Full story

Hock Talk

A Pawnshop In... Melbourne & Tokyo

Smith Street has served as a popular place to score smack and gamble illegally. Often these two activities cause people to lose money very quickly, so Collingwood is a natural place for a neighborhood pawnshop. Full story

A Brazilian In... Tokyo & New York

I was born to an Italian-Brazilian-Portuguese mother and a Japanese father in Piracicaba, a small city in the southeast countryside of Brazil. Full story

A Twitch In Time

Daito Manabe's Electrified Face

Daito Manabe is a Japanese video artist who sticks half a dozen electrodes onto his face, synchs them all up to a blippy homemade soundtrack, and proceeds to electrocute himself into a choreography of grimaces and twitches. Full story

Hair Hats

Shinji Konishi Flips Wigs

When the Japanese hairstylist Shinji Konishi first molded wigs into the likenesses of assorted animals for a gallery show in Tokyo in 2008, he hoped repulsion would trump all else. Full story

You Do Have To Live Like A Refugee

Japan's New Breed of Web-Savvy Homeless

In that age-old contest, that heroic battle of champions to decide which country has the world’s premier internet cafés, none can truly compete with Japan and its facilities. Full story

Who's Hungry?

An Interview with Issei Sagawa, Cannibal

On the afternoon of June 12, 1981, a Japanese man named Issei Sagawa walked into the woods in Bois de Boulogne, France, carrying two suitcases. Full story