JAPAN TRENDS
The winner of the design competition to find a replacement for the much-troubled New National Stadium is Proposal A, designed by Kengo Kuma.
The new stadium will be the prime venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games but has been one of several albatrosses around the necks of the Games ...

More

JAPAN TRENDS
The Franco-German artist Benoît Maubrey will create a unique loudspeaker torii shrine gate in Kobe this September as part of the Kobe Biennale.
Maubrey’s acoustic shrine gate will be installed in Meriken Park in the waterfront area of the cosmopolitan Kansai city.
Here’s what the org...

More

JAPAN TRENDS
There seems to be a trend in Japan where everything gets turned into a collective activity. Just to name a few, we have shu-katsu (job-hunting or even death-hunting!) and kon-katsu (spouse-hunting) on the top of our list. More minor ones include nin-katsu (aimed at getting pregnant) ...

More

JAPAN TRENDS
Manami Okazaki has released a second edition of her book “Kokeshi, from Tohoku with Love”, featuring interviews with 23 kokeshi artisans as well as 200 photos documenting how the unique wooden dolls are made in northeast Japan.
Okazaki, the author of several books about aspects of Ja...

More

ROCKET NEWS
Pixiv now gives users the option of turning their artwork into fully-illustrated doujinshi (fan-made comics) with just a few mouse clicks.
If you’ve ever thought about trying to self-publish your own manga, pixiv, the social networking site for illustrators, is here to help with its n...

More

JAPAN TRENDS
Amazon Japan has started offering a monk dispatch service, where a Buddhist holy man is sent to conduct memorial services for you.
The service starts at a flat ¥35,000 (about $285) anywhere in Japan and started December 8th.
The service works by placing an order through the Amazon st...

More

JAPAN TRENDS
Japan continues to negotiate its relationship with drones. Just fun toys or dangerous tools?
Until spring this year, drones were perhaps most famous in Japan as a way to get cool aerial shots, such as OK Go’s Japan-inspired “I Won’t Let You Down” music video.
The rest of 2015, though...

More

JAPAN TODAY
NEW DELHI — Japan will build India’s first bullet train under a sweeping tally of agreements made following talks in New Delhi Saturday, deepening a partnership Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would “shape the course of Asia”.
The Indian premier spoke warmly of his friendship with J...

More

JAPAN TRENDS
Sanrio, the people behind of Japan’s most successful character franchises like Hello Kitty and My Melody, have started a new digital character creation service called Chanrio Maker.
Chanrio Maker allows you to build and customize a cute 2D avatar in the style of Chanrio, a character ...

More

JAPAN TODAY
TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday Japan intends to balance efforts to fight global warming with its focus on economic growth, in the wake of a landmark international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’ll achieve (the goal) without sacrificing economic growth,” ...

More