After moving back to Japan from the U.S., I have noticed a significantly wider variety of non-alcoholic drinks available here. My friends often opt for non-alcoholic beers and cocktails when they want to slow down their alcohol intake, and they...
Earth Day 2024, which takes place on April 22 annually and globally, is fast approaching. It is the world’s largest gathering to address the health of our planet. Since its launch in 1970, one billion people from 192 countries have participated in...
If you head north from Tokyo for an hour on a bullet train, you will reach Nasushiobara. This area is a popular destination for alpine hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter and hot springs all year round. You can take a local bus from there for...
The Local Vitalization Cooperator program, a Japanese community empowerment version of the Peace Corps, has deployed more than 6,500 paid volunteers from Hokkaido to Okinawa since it started in 2009. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and...
A small truck named COEXIST, run by 28-year-old Keita Sugawara, sells sustainable products made in Japan. He has built and mounted a wooden mobile shop on the back of a pickup truck, using timber from forest thinning in Tokyo, to showcase eco...
Energy efficiency has become a common theme in urban planning. Combining it with nature-driven designs and materials can enhance the resilience of buildings to climate change, owing to their temperature- and moisture-regulating effects. Wooden...
Japanese temples and shrines have stood for hundreds of years, weathering typhoons, snowfalls and scorching heat days. The elegant clay tiles known as “kawara,” adorned with intricate decorations, have graced rooftops for 1,400 years...
Even in the 18th century, Tokyo, or the old “Edo,” was the largest city in the world with a population of around one million (London was next, with 630,000). Lords and noble samurai families lived in spacious houses with gardens around the Edo...
The Japanese are long known for working hard and long hours. We do not take long vacations. Many of us remain at desks beyond office hours, partly because everyone else does and partly because there is too much work to do. The shrinking population...
It is heartbreaking, and yet so common, to see old men in the 70s manning construction and car parking sites in Japan, waving traffic control lights in blue uniforms and apologizing to passing-by pedestrians for the inconvenience, even under the...