Kyoto no doubt once had strong rural features, and even today its hills and streams, though meticulously incorporated into the cultural landscape as civilizing features, can be sensed. For a more intimate vision of how nature, agriculture and high culture once co-existed, a visit to Ohara, just forty-five minutes from Kyoto Station by bus, is…

The yakuza are a source of fascination, but remain hidden in a world shrouded with secrecy that most Japanese people are completely naïve about. Author Shoko Tendo writes explicitly about her life as a yakuza boss’ daughter in her novel Yakuza Moon, and lifts the lid on this subterranean society. Having sold over 100, 000…

Although the Japanese are well-represented in professional major league baseball in North America, with dozens of players playing this year, they are woefully under-represented in other sports such as hockey, football and basketball. Hockey can be forgiven as there is just not that much interest in the sport here and physical size is a factor…

One of the things Japan is most famous for is its ability to transform and recontextualize almost anything under the sun into something incredibly new and different while retaining the essential components of the original article. From the car revolution that still has Japan in the lead when it comes to hybrid technology, to the…

You know you are in a sub-tropical, summer climate the moment you see the vibrant flora and early blooms of Japan’s volcanic gardens. On the islands of Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa, one is immediately struck by the luxuriance of flowers, mandarin and citrus fruits, and the city esplanades lined with cycads and phoenix palms. The…

OCTOPUS ORIGINS The shoes that put the company on the map, three years after it had been founded, were famously devised by Mr. Onitsuka one hot summer evening in 1951 as he was enjoying a salad of cucumber and cold octopus. He had initially started out to make basketball shoes in the belief that the…

It’s not here yet, but soon it will come; the hot and humid horror that is summer in Tokyo. Waking up in early July, one may feel that they have been transported to a new and formerly unbeknownst to Dante Alighieri tenth ring of hell. Tokyo is hot. Three simple words that do not do…

The drink is the color of water, only thicker – fragrant, and intoxicating. The cool alcohol is smooth, yet slightly spicy, and warm in your mouth; the bouquet is lightly fruity and complex. A good sake bears about as much resemblance to the paint-thinner export varieties as a traditional kimono does to a nylon dressing…

Though not yet a household name in Japan, with her stunningly exotic looks and feminine physique it’s easy to draw comparisons to former tennis “It Girl” Anna Kournikova or current tennis beauty queen Maria Sharapova. The fact that she is registered with famed Japanese talent agency Horipro, and models on the side, only reinforces these…

There is nothing that compares to the exhilaration, the reality and intense energy that is exuded at a professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fight. Simply the closest thing to two modern day warriors battling it out in a titanic clash of almost unfathomable power, watching a fight is testimony to the physical capabilities and tenacity…