Students at Daigo Junior High in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto have collected aluminum cans from their homes since 1994 and converted them to cash for the Kansai Guide Dog Association. Over 30 years, the donations have surpassed 6.18 million yen ($39,000), enough to train two guide dogs. We unpack what makes this multigenerational effort possible.
Asahi Kasei Homes is expanding its smart dog pod sharing service WanPod to 30 commercial facilities in Japan's Kanto region this summer. The climate-controlled private suites — equipped with smart locks, monitoring cameras, music players and privacy curtains — recorded 89% satisfaction and zero accidents in trials. Discover how a Japanese chemical-housing conglomerate is building a uniquely Japanese pet coexistence infrastructure.
With matcha in short supply and prices soaring, an unassuming Japanese herb called yomogi (mugwort) is being talked up as the 'next matcha.' One Osaka supplier shipped a record 754 tons in 2025 and expanded cultivation 1.5x. Mugwort-steam salons jumped 1.8x in three years. A trading-company veteran turned mugwort farmer is now branding the weed.
Gunma Prefecture's passport-style pamphlet sold out 10,000 copies on day one. Behind the frenzy: a beloved internet meme calling Gunma 'Japan's undeveloped territory' and a regional rivalry where prefectures fight to be the least popular.
Japan has procured Russian crude for the first time since the Strait of Hormuz blockade — a Sakhalin-2 spot cargo bound for Taiyo Oil's Imabari refinery in Ehime Prefecture, arriving May 4. Behind the move lies the controversial 'Sakhalin exception' to G7 sanctions, extended through June 2026. We unpack the structural vulnerability that no amount of moral diplomacy can hide, and compare Japan's response to Germany, South Korea, and India.
Yamaguchi's premium sake brand Dassai and Japanese engineering giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have successfully brewed sake in space for the first time in human history. The result: a single 100ml bottle priced at $700,000. Inside the Dassai MOON Project, the long-term plan to build a brewery on the Moon, plus practical brewery-tour info for international visitors in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi.
Global matcha production has roughly doubled in just five years. Japan can no longer meet world demand alone, and Chinese matcha is rapidly filling the gap. Should matcha be defended as Japanese cultural heritage, or embraced as a global beverage? We explore the strategic crossroads facing Japan's matcha industry.
Once dismissed overseas as resembling 'black paper,' nori is now riding the global onigiri boom into kitchens worldwide. A 3-Michelin-star Italian chef uses nori pesto on cuttlefish, and the global market is projected to grow from $3.8B in 2025 to $6.4B by 2034. From the famous 2010 Nature paper that overturned the 'Westerners can't digest seaweed' myth, to Japan being overtaken by Korea in production volume — here's how Japanese seaweed conquered the world.
Japan is famously polytheistic and its gods rarely clash — unless we're talking about mushroom-shaped vs bamboo shoot-shaped chocolate snacks. Discover the hilarious 50-year "war" between Meiji's Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato: national elections, celebrity endorsements, peace treaties, and why this debate can break friendships.
Osaka Ohsho, the 55-year-old Japanese gyoza chain, opens its first North American flagship in Sawtelle (Little Osaka), Los Angeles, on May 8, 2026. We unpack the Mitsubishi Shokuhin joint venture, the SNS-driven distribution strategy, the tableside cooking spectacle, and how the brand plans to flip gyoza from a ramen side dish into a main attraction.
Japan had FIVE earthquakes of intensity 5 or higher in April 2026, including a magnitude 7.7 offshore Sanriku quake. Casualties: zero deaths, zero collapses. How? The 1981 building code, a 21-story 'fortress' built to survive a magnitude 8 hit, and one counterintuitive rule: don't run outside. A humorous look at the world's most earthquake-hardened country.