japan
Meow Meow Meow
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.
The Future of Japan Is 'Very Dark,' Says Ryu Murakami
Ryu Murakami is one of Japan’s most celebrated and controversial authors. 'From the Fatherland with Love,' published in 2005 and now being translated into English for the first time, envisions a Japan wrecked by complete economic collapse, abandoned by...
Are Visual Novels Just Porny, Boring Video Games?
Visual novels are like choose-your-own-adventure books that you play on your computer, if choose-your-own adventures ended not in the Gypsy woman’s curse coming true, but in graphic, porny sex scenes. They can be gay themed or set in a lusty fantasy...
How Deep-Sea Mud Found Off a Tiny Japanese Island May Change the Gadget Economy
China pretty much dominates the world market for rare earth elements, but a huge find underneath Japan's seas may now help break that stranglehold.
Hadoken-ing: Real-Life Street Fighters
Hadoken-ing is a trend from Japan that has pretty much blown up the internet today, so we decided to feature a fashion shoot we did a while back that takes that idea to the next level, putting real-life street fighters in pixelated 3D realms.
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...
Inside the Abandoned Radioactive Towns of Japan
Photographer Toshiya Watanabe's family lived in Namie, a town in the fallout zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant meltdown, which is now abandoned two years later. Toshiya has gone back to document the changes, or lack thereof, that he sees in his...
This Guy Makes Life-Size Child Dolls Wearing Lingerie
Before you berate me for immediately assuming these dolls are for pedophiles, consider that there is no male counterpart, they wear lingerie, and just look at the pictures. Also, most of the customers are adult men. Weird, huh?
Sewing for the Heart
“Sewing for the Heart” is from Yoko Ogawa’s new collection, 'Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales,' and it’s as perversely tantalizing as anything she’s written. In the story, a cabaret singer with a heart that developed outside her body hires a reclusive bag...
A J-Pop Star Had a Head-Shaving Freakout Because She Has a Boyfriend
J-pop star Minami Minegishi—a senior member of 80-strong girl-group sensation AKB48—recently brought the "shave your head and make a hysterical apology on the internet" brand of freakout to Japan. Why? For committing the selfish sin of having a...
Japan's Suicidal Salarymen Are Dying for Work
A large amount of the population in Japan's biggest cities have a destructive relationship with work, literally, with many grinding themselves away to an early grave. The social phenomenon has its own word, karoshi, and it isn't death from digit...
Fast Times at Suzuka Circuit
I'm in the press box at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, watching the qualifying round of the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix. It’s hard to sustain a line of thought for too long here, as every few seconds a stupidly fast car whips past your face at...