Native to Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture, the endangered animal is one of only two native wildcats in Japan — with the other being the Tsushima...
The tiny island is full of surprising treasures and traditions in the midst of an azure blue sea. And it boasts national status as a Significant...
The need for lightweight souvenirs gave birth in the 1620s to the Otsu-e, simple paintings on paper with popular themes.
Bookmark is a JAPAN Forward feature that gives you long reads for the weekend. Each edition introduces one overarching thought that branches off to a...
Sometime in late last year, somewhere in Hubei Province in central China, probably in the city of Wuhan, a spiked virus measuring nanometers in...
The “Year of the Rat” has certainly gotten off to an inauspicious start, what with the COVID-19 pandemic, trade wars, a shaky global economy,...
With the COVID-19 continuing to spread like wildfire worldwide, it is not surprising that foreigners living in Japan who have never even visited a doctor...
In the decades leading up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, sonno joi (revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians) activists and shogunate adherents, such as...
On a recent visit to the city of Changsha in China’s Hunan province, I took a side trip to Shaoshan, the picturesque little village...
It is a somewhat curious experience walking through the streets of the Bikan old merchant district in Kurashiki, the second largest city in Okayama Prefecture....
Near my apartment in Kyoto is a Shinto shrine of ancient origins which is known for a sacred well and its healing waters. I often...