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…

The journey by train from Tokyo to JR Awa-Kamogawa station on the southern Boso Peninsula, is something of a revelation. The coastal cities and towns of Chiba prefecture may be scarred by congestions of sub-standard architecture, urban anomalies and an appalling lack of coordination, but after the settlement of Kisarazu, nature begins to assert its…

One masked figure stands out from the rest. She glides effortlessly across the stage as if she’s weightless and being ushered by a delicate yet decisive breeze. She commands everyone’s attention; the other masked silhouettes are now merely peripheral. The music morphs seamlessly into a contemporary Asian blend, an Okinawan sanshin provides melody and a…

Japanese summers, south of the Tohoku and below five hundred metres, are notoriously hot and tropically muggy. In the heat islands of the major cities, things get particularly steamy: August temperatures in Tokyo are generally over thirty degrees Celsius; nights rarely dip below the mid twenties. Osaka and Kyoto are typically a few degrees warmer,…

Though today’s city is a pleasant, relaxed enough place, Aizu-Wakamatsu’s strongest ties are to its past, a history that it draws nourishment from in the present and uses to fill out the otherwise rather featureless contours of the city. A major castle town on the all important trunk road north from Edo, the city’s fortunes…

“Are you sure you’ve got the right Chuck Wilson?” The man across the table is obviously joking, but the question still gives me a moment’s doubt—the Chuck Wilson I had arranged to meet is a power lifting champion, judo expert, and former television personality. The man I’m talking to is large, but not remarkably so,…

The International Rugby Board Junior World Championship (IRB JWC) is the world’s most prestigious competition for international teams at the U-20 level of the game and on Friday, June 5 this tournament, comprised of sixteen of the world’s finest teams, will kick off at stadiums in Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka, Fukuoka and Saga prefectures. Not only…

With their massive dark wooden beams, whitewashed exteriors and grass-thatched roofs held together without the support of a single nail, bolt or piece of metal, it’s easy to see why architects from around the world marvel at the craftsmanship of traditional Japanese minka farmhouses. Unlike modern Japanese houses, which typically are around for only 20…

Among other claims to fame, the town of Kishiwada has the dubious honor of being the setting for director Miike Takashi’s ultra-violent, 1997 movie, Young Thugs, Innocent Blood, a harrowing account of growing up in a severely dysfunctional family. It’s difficult matching the scenes in the film with the tranquility of today’s town, though its…

It is practice day for the Tokyo Apaches. Although you may be a professional basketball team, because your league is new and an upstart (Japan’s new BJ League), you have to practice at the local YMCA. You can’t linger long after practice either because a very serious group of middle-aged badminton ladies have the gym…