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Abacus making a comeback with Japanese kids in an increasingly digital age
Who needs hacking? We got clacking! When I first heard my daughter was going to take abacus lessons after school, I didn’t really know what to make of it. I never touched one myself and just...
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Japanese banks irked by people stealing free ATM envelops and selling them...
Pushing the envelope of public decency. It seems like not a week goes by that another unusual thing is found being sold through Japanese online flea market service Mercari. In the past, we’ve seen...
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Family Mart’s tsukimi burger threatens to drown you in cheese
Well, if I had to drown in something… It’s autumn again in Japan, calendar-wise at least, not so much weather-wise. And this is when Japan celebrates the harvest moon, or as they call it,...
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Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba wins award for politician who wears glasses...
What better note is there for a Japanese PM to go out on? The political legacy of the soon-to-be retired Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will likely be spotty. Having overseen widespread...
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Osaka Expo expected to turn an operating profit of over 23 billion yen
But is that still enough to call it a success? When the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo was set to open last April, a large number of nay-sayers came out of the woodwork, predicting it would be a colossal...
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JR Hokkaido train driver in trouble for reading book about trains on stopped...
Employee accused of not being devoted enough to his work. The punctuality of trains in Japan is famous all over the world, but that level of efficiency doesn’t just happen by chance. It’s the result...
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Get your cakes in about a minute with Tokyo Station’s unmanned Tokyo Banana shop
No fuss, no muss, no people. The banana cream-filled cakes made by Tokyo Banana are such a famous souvenir present that our writer Mr. Sato always takes some with him when he ventures out of the...
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Japan’s choco mushroom snacks hold fashion show with designer Junko...
Mushrooms are in, bamboo is out this season. For years now, Japan has been a country divided between Kinoko no Yama, which is a chocolate and cookie snack shaped like little mushrooms, and Takenoko no...
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Kunchi: The major Japanese festival most Japanese people don’t know about
Dance Towns & Dragons. Nagasaki Prefecture is a rather popular tourist destination and even placed in very respectable 11th place in the prefectural attractiveness ranking this year for its many...
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Cherry blossoms appearing early in Nagano… about half a year early
Better early than never. It’s autumn once again in Japan, and that means sweet potatoes are in season, the leaves on trees turn a beautiful crimson, and cherry blossoms delight many with their gentle...
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Autumn is a great time to visit Uonuma, a gem of Japan’s heartland
And this year, Uonuma is celebrating its own coming of age! As a writer on the subject of Japan and Japanese culture, I’m often asked what some nice, out-of-the-way places are to visit in this county...
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Family Mart makes new anti-food-waste stickers, free for other stores and...
Help the crying food and save money too! Although long used by supermarkets to clear out their precooked foods nearing expiration, convenience stores in Japan have recently been adopting stickers...
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Posthumous “Gwegh, I’m deadngo” tweet sparks nationwide cancer awareness...
Rest in peace, Clemens. For all its pros and cons, social media remains an extremely powerful force in the world. It’s a way to tap into the public consciousness unlike any other medium before, and...
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Super Sentai Series to end after this season
Who are the Power Rangers going to get content from now? It’s with heavy hearts that we repot the impending end of the long-running Super Sentai Series of spandex-clad superhero teams that have been a...
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Dodger Stadium takoyaki comes to 7-Eleven for a limited time【Taste Test】
Six balls and they’re out. There’s certainly been a lot going on to keep Japanese baseball fans on their toes, with the Nippon Professional Baseball’s Japan Series going on and the likes of Shohei...
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Japanese military called in to deal with increasing bear attacks in rural...
Military is only there to provide logistic support and not take part in any hunting. With all the problems facing the world today, it’s easy to overlook the fact that parts of Japan are experiencing...
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Package delivery in Japan may be delayed due to bear risks
The bears are disrupting our national infrastructure now. This year’s spate of bear attacks really has been unlike any other year before it, and frightening incidents seem to be reported on a daily...
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Meet the eerie police statues of Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture
Goth cops! If there’s one benefit to this excruciatingly long summer weather in Japan, it’s that people have a wider window to take summer vacations in. That’s just what our writer Saya Togashi did...
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7-Eleven selling half-off fried food for Black Friday alongside...
It’s more like a Golden Brown Fryday. I never really got all the craziness over Black Friday sales. I guess you have to be in the USA to get the really good ones, because I always see news stories...
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Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated toy train is the perfect gift for kids who like...
What is a train really? Christmas is just around the corner, and many of us have children in our families that are really hard to shop for. It’s difficult to keep up with the changing trends, and even...
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