Toshihiko Hosaka began making sand sculptures in art school and has been using beaches and sand boxes as his canvas for almost 20 years. His work defies what we typically think of as sand art as he s…

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

Unlike many other countries, Japan’s physical newspaper market is generally healthy, as far as I am aware, and this survey from @nifty into newspapers appears to back up my opinions.

Note that some o…

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

For over two decades, Japanese photographer Shoichi Aoki has been documenting the most outlandish, provocative and definitive Tokyo street fashion.

But in December 2016, Aoki shut down the cult fanzi…

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

In Japan, where seniority and experience continue to take precedence over qualifications or ability, the idea of “respect your elders” is at the forefront of daily working life. One of the ways this …

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

The controversial “baby hatch” set up at a Kumamoto hospital in 2007 to enable people to leave infants anonymously took in a total of 125 babies over nine years through March last year.

Ahead of its …

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

Last year, we published two six-month mega reviews of both Japan Crate (Japanese snacks) and Doki Doki Crate (cute Japanese things). These were, and still are, a couple of the most popular Japan-rela…

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

Started by Twitter user @lefteyedgirl, the hashtag #gaijinconfessionfriday exploded in popularity at the end of April and is still going strong as of last Friday – with even some Japanese users getti…

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

Ayako Shimizu, the founder of Hikari Labs, has an innovative approach that represents a huge step forward in addressing this problem. Hikari Labs develops and distributes video games based on cogniti…

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

Uniqlo’s UT Grand Prix T-shirt design contest received the largest number of entries ever last year. The theme of the competition was Nintendo and fans from all over the world were invited to submit …

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

Japan and its tourism industry is obsessed with UNESCO World Heritage sites, a fascination driven by a highly successful TV show. While other countries boast many more registered sites, locals are ra…

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