One of the year’s most spectacular startup payoffs isn’t in Silicon Valley or China, it’s in Japan.

Mercari Inc.’s $3.7 billion coming-out party will deliver a 149-times return to early investor Unit…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 1 month ago | 0 comments

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 kind …

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 1 month ago | 0 comments

If you dare to litter in Tokyo, you’d better watch out, because there’s a team of fearsome samurai warriors ready to admonish you.

posted by  wastholm | 7 years, 1 month ago | 0 comments

The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art has two sites in Japan – one in bustling Tokyo and one in the peaceful Gunma countryside, two hours by train from the capital. Located next to the ranch park Ikaho…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 1 month ago | 0 comments

If you’ve ever done business in Japan, someone probably walked you through the intricacies of Japanese business card culture.

Chika Terada, the founder of Sansan, created one of Japan’s most successf…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

Automated passport control gates based on facial recognition technology were unveiled to the press Friday at Narita airport ahead of their official debut.

The unmanned gates, which will debut on Mond…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

Until yesterday, rare Japanese PC game Labyrinthe, developed by Caravan Interactive, was long thought to be lost forever. That is until the almost mythical third game in the already obscure Horror To…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

And then there were 13,800. That's how many Airbnbs are left operating in all of Japan, after the home-sharing site removed at least 62,000 homes, apartments, and rooms this weekend from its inventor…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

From a piggy bank that demands your cash to a pump-action gun blasting damp toilet roll pellets: Tokyo's toy show has a bewildering array of gadgets to delight both kids and the young-at-heart.

Gone …

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 2 months ago | 0 comments

A plan to turn a popular graphic-style novel into an animated television series has hit a dead end after the author's past discriminatory tweets on China and South Korea sparked a controversy.

The an…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 2 months ago | 1 comment