A project is underway to create kimonos representing the participating countries for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

posted by  Yubi | 7 years ago | 0 comments

The Hikari factory is in northern Japan, in Akita Prefecture, just a little south and east of the capital city of Akita itself. Akita is on the western coast of Japan, so the prevailing winds blow fo…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years ago | 0 comments

Carp streamers featuring printed denim patterns are flying in Kurashiki City, the denim capital of Japan.

The streamers were made by a blue jeans company and a carp streamer maker in Okayama Prefectu…

posted by  Yubi | 7 years ago | 0 comments

Gundam is a nearly 40-year-old franchise of animated TV shows, movies, comics, and video games from Japan. Each piece of media centers around a teen pilot who must pilot an enormous (and super cool) …

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

Tokyo is vying to become an innovation hub for entrepreneurs and investors, challenging Japan’s reputation as an environment that fails to nurture entrepreneurship, and a new nonprofit organization i…

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

A sightseeing route running through the Tateyama mountain range in central Japan's Northern Alps opened Monday, offering views at one point of snow walls as tall as 17 meters each side of the road.

T…

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

Isao Takahata, a master of Japanese animation who co-founded the beloved animation house Studio Ghibli with fellow titan Hayao Miyazaki, died following a battle with lung cancer at the Teikyo Univers…

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

Certain so-called “rare-earth” metals are vital to modern manufacturing and technology. Applications range from lasers and magnets to ceramic capacitors, oxidative agents, high-temperature supercondu…

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

A week ago, I saw Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” or “Inu-ga-shima.” I saw it as someone who, upon hearing that name, is forcibly reminded of Oni-ga-shima, the isle of demons where Peach Boy, a hero o…

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

The Ace Hotel chain is opening its first Japanese outpost in Kyoto this winter, in a former telephone exchange building overhauled by Kengo Kuma.

Japanese architect Kuma will convert the ShinPuhKan b…

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