The lights of the high-end boutiques and bars of Tokyo’s Ginza neighborhood may someday be powered by coal burned more than 1,700 miles away (2,700 kilometers) in Mongolia, electricity zipping over u…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 3 comments

I’ll cheerfully admit that I do my share of writing (aka complaining) about work-related issues in Japan. The expected overtime (and karoshi, or “death from overwork”), intensely rigid bureaucracy an…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 2 comments

On the Japan Airlines flight over from Singapore, I caught a television programme made by Tokyo TV called “Why did you come to Japan?”

Clearly launched on the back of the inbound boom to Japan, it ba…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 2 comments

Walking into the enormous cavern of Yayoi Kusama at her National Art Center, Tokyo retrospective “My Eternal Soul,” you are greeted with a sensory overload. Her latest works are stacked floor to ceil…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 2 comments

Although Japan has a prominent number of police substations around communities, locals often take pride in how their cities generally have less surveillance and security cameras than other major deve…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 2 comments

Japan’s biggest toy trade show, the International Tokyo Toy Show, was held at Big Sight, Tokyo, on June 1–4. The show was open to the public on the last two days, with a total of more than 160,000 ex…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 2 comments

“You wouldn’t be here unless you were thinking about entering Japan market, right?”

The question from the moderator was a gentle nudge for Chris Martin, head of international for Mobike. Martin, whos…

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 2 comments

The first Japanese-assembled F-35A was unveiled at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Komaki South F-35 Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility here today. The Japan F-35 FACO is operated by …

posted by  banzaitokyo | 6 years, 10 months ago | 1 comment

In a move that makes us wonder whether Nara has a bit of a chip on its shoulder about its more popular neighbour Kyoto, the Nara Prefectural Government is bringing back its free bus tours for a limit…

posted by  Tanuki | 6 years, 11 months ago | 2 comments