Soon the Autumn holiday season will be upon us. However the “Go To Travel” campaign is not applicable to residents of Tokyo and travelling has been made difficult due to COVID-19. But for those residents stuck in the city but dying for a holiday, we have good news. Introducing the limited luxury hotel deals exclusive…

VIVAVIDA! is an affordable and reliable medical and life insurance for foreigners/expats in Japan. With our utmost aim to provide a safety net for foreigners at a minimum cost, we would like to make you feel secured and need not worry of having expensive medical treatment during your stay in Japan. Our customer service and…

The rainy season is over and the summer heat is in full swing. The year 2020 has already seen the cancellation of many summer fireworks festivals. It is said, originally the tradition of yearly fireworks began during the “Kyoho Famine”. Prices rose due to the famine and epidemics such as cholera had become epidemic. It…

Thomasina Larkin stumbles across a local artist who likes to mix and match. Armed with phat magic markers, acrylic paints and his computer, Shibuya Tadaomi can transform anything that catches his eye into a soulful and lifelike image of robotic funk. Influenced by a childhood spent watching Transformers and Power Rangers, and surrounded by the…

A popular Japanese outdoor pastime offers participants the chance to get well and truly off the beaten track, writes Robert Cameron. It’s summer – time to hit the streams for some sawanobori.  This popular and uniquely Japanese sport, sometimes translated as stream-climbing or river-tracing, is virtually unknown outside of Japan, but is extremely popular here….

Mari Mari, quite contrary, how does your Japanese garden grow?  With large flat stones and no garden gnomes, and temple tiles all in a row, writes Stephen Mansfield. Having accumulated a small library of books and magazines devoted to the subject of Japanese gardens as well as having visited more than 150 gardens stretching from…

Sleep is likely to be in short supply this month as the country follows Japan’s progress in the 2006 Football World Cup in Germany. As the team heads to Europe, Jon Day asks national captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto what the stalwart defender hopes to take away from soccer’s glamorous tournament. When Japan’s first game at the…

JR East’s largest in-station shopping area “Gransta Tokyo” opened on Monday the 3rd of August, 2020. 66 stores opened in the new area around the north passage of Tokyo station. With the existing 87 stores already in the area, a total of 153 stores will be available. “Try New Tokyo St” features an unprecedented in-station…