Will 2026 finally see the end of the craziness of 2025? It was a big year for Japan, with trends shifting in everything from tourism (good and bad) and Expo buzz to technology, internationalization ...

Japanese, especially newcomers to Japan, many of the customs and traditions of New Year may seem hard to understand. New Year or oshogatsu is the most important holiday period in Japan for families ...

As we look forward to what the new year will bring, the legacy of the World Exposition in Osaka 2025 which ended on Oct 13, continues on in the lasting memories, serendipitous interactions and ...

Hagoita (battledores) are traditional Japanese wooden paddles used to play hanetsuki (hitting a feathered shuttlecock), a game similar to badminton. Both the game and the paddles have existed since at ...

New Year’s is a major event in Japan, much like Christmas is in the West, full of cultural traditions that span back decades, and even centuries. One of those is the practice of adults handing ...

For over ten years now, I have sworn off Christmas and birthday cards: simply writing my name, plus a sentence or two, simply doesn’t justify the dollars spent purchasing and sending cards. As a ...

For those with an interest in Japanese cuisine, you can’t hear the name of Tokyo’s Tsukiji neighborhood without thinking about sushi, and it’s hard to think of sushi for very long without thinking ...

It wasn’t so long ago that a child making a new friend simply meant walking up to a kid in the park, on the playground, or at school and asking, “Want to play together?” Nowadays, while those ...

Japan's year-end homecoming travel rush peaked on Saturday, with major train stations and airports crowded from the morning as families with suitcases queued on platforms, kicking off a holiday ...