The beauty of Japan's lonely vending machines
Jacopo Prisco , CNN Written by Vending machines are a mainstay of Japanese culture. There are over 5.5 million in the country -- one for every 23 people, the highest ratio in the world…
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Seven members of Japanese cult executed for Tokyo sarin attack
Seven members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which carried out the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, have been executed, Japanese officials said Friday. Cult leader Shoko Asahara, wh…
What 40 years of 'Space Invaders' says about the 1970s -- and today
The "Space Invaders" arcade video game, celebrating its 40th anniversary, is an iconic piece of software, credited as one of the earliest digital shooting games. Like many early games, it a…
Can Japan survive without immigrants?
Japan is considered a "super-aged" nation, where more than 20% of the population is over 65 and the birth rate has reached record lows. By 2060, the country's population is e…
Japan lowers its age of adulthood to 18
The Japanese government enacted a bill Wednesday lowering the age of adulthood from 20 to 18, but teenagers beware: the legal age of drinking will stay fixed at 20. The change, the first of its …
Architect creates 'prehistoric' dining experience in downtown Tokyo
Tokyo's buzzing Roppongi district is a picture of neon-lit modernity, where glistening skyscrapers stand amid designer boutiques and late-night bars. At the two-story barbecue res…
Photographer captures wacky Japanese public toilets
Most of us don't visit public bathrooms unless we really need to. Not Hidefumi Nakamura. This Japanese photographer travels the length and breadth of Japan to find the country's quirki…
Ibusuki Beach: Sand bathing in southern Japan
For more than 300 years, Japanese have traveled to Ibusuki's shoreline in search of a sandy cure for rheumatism, back pain, post-stroke paralysis, hemorrhoids, asthma, diabetes, menstrual d…
Legends of Judo: Kosei Inoue, Olympic champion and Japanese supercoach
In Japan, where judo is more than just a sport, Kosei Inoue is no ordinary athlete. Essentially unbeatable between 1999 and 2003, the half-heavyweight judoka won three world titles and Olym…
'Ultra-technologists' to open digital-only museum in Tokyo
There are plenty of unusual museums in the world -- museums for sex, museums for ice cream, museums for hair. But they all rely on a tried-and-tested formula: presenting (mostly) …