Crime is serious stuff. But everyone once and while, some Japanese TV news stations make it as goofy as possible.
In anime and manga, when characters get excited—often sexually excited—blood dribbles or squirts out of their noses.…
“Hentai is brilliant,” reads the title of a recent Guardian article about a British game show contestant who won a…
Kim Kardashian West has not only launched a line of shapewear called “Kimono,” but has also reportedly filed a…
One of my first memories of moving to Japan in 2001 was the surprise at seeing how everyone lined up on one side of…
Until recently, Japan didn’t have much of an influx of foreign tourists. Now, it does, and with that comes problems.
Yesterday, Japan’s foreign minister asked the English-language media to write Japanese family names first, as done…
Pictured is Ebisu Bridge. It’s the most famous in Osaka, and the Dotonbori canal below runs through the heart of the…
Today, the Japanese government announced the name of the new imperial era: Reiwa (令和). It will replace Heisei, the…
Maybe you’ve been to Japan or plan on going. Perhaps you recently moved here, or it could be that you’re simply…
If you’re in Japan, keep this mantra in mind: Never do drugs in this country. Ever.
On Valentine’s Day in Japan, women traditionally give men chocolate. Each year, a group of protesters gathers to…
Since Ariana Grande revealed her new tattoo last week, the pop star has been criticized in the English-speaking…
It’s flu and cold season. That means people in Japan are wearing sickness masks in public. Either they are ill or…
Earlier this week, Naomi Osaka fielded a question from a Japanese reporter who wanted the tennis star to reply in…
Manners in Japan are tricky, complex and sometimes hard to follow—even for Japanese people.
When Japanese politicians visit the Yasukuni Shrine, the country’s most controversial Shinto shrine, it causes an…
At Toon Town in Tokyo Disneyland, there is a photo spot area with a bunch of boxes. The spot has become even more…
In the Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody, a t-shirt was digitally changed as not to cause offense.
In Japanese, there is an expression: deru kui wa utareru (出る杭は打たれる). It’s the equivalent of the English phrase, “The…