Finding abandoned buildings outside Tokyo isn’t difficult. Head out into the countryside, or pass through one of Japan’s many faded towns, and there are long-disused structures almost everywhere. Man…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

A Japanese spacecraft has arrived at its target - an asteroid shaped like a diamond or, according to some, a spinning top.

Hayabusa 2 has been travelling toward the space rock Ryugu since launching f…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

One of Japan’s most prominent bloggers has been stabbed to death minutes after giving a seminar on how to resolve personal disputes on the internet.

Media reports said Kenichiro Okamoto, better known…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

If you haven’t heard of “virtual YouTubers” or VTubers, you’re not alone: the recent Japanese trend turns human actors into cartoony virtual characters for YouTube videos. Now Japanese gaming and med…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

A man attacked a police box in the central Japan city of Toyama on Tuesday, stabbing a police officer to death and fatally shooting a man nearby with the police officer's gun that he took, authoritie…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 1 comment

As an assistant language teacher (ALT) there are some situations where, no matter what you say (or do), it’s difficult to see anything other than a negative response from your peers. However, whether…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

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 and its sur…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

Today, rather than diving deep into a specific aspect of startups in Japan, we are going to take a hard look at both what is and what is not working within the Japanese startup ecosystem as a whole.

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

For anyone who’s ever marveled at Nintendo’s vivid, phantasmagoric, zoologically ornate video games, visiting the company’s understated home in Kyoto, Japan, can be disorienting at first. That such a…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese pop star, actress, illustrator and TV personality. She’s found mainstream success in Japan. She is also a proud otaku.

“I knew I was an otaku from a very early age,” Naka…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 8 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments