Kengo Kuma is one of Japan’s great contemporary architects, with over 70 projects to his credit. His buildings are typified by a sensual simplicity and demonstrate an acute consciousness of the surrounding environment. His site-sensitive work always maintains a humanistic warmth and respect for nature, and is therefore always elegant, exuding an atmosphere of serenity….

We’ve all been there — in need of a cool one after work, at the end of a day traipsing around the shops, after the most recent ear-lashing from the missus, or just because… Beer, according to a certain American born scientist/writer/politician named Benjamin Franklin is proof God loves us. Whether or not this is…

Population swings have long been the subject of debate, study, analysis, predictions of doom and gloom, and general chitchat for the uninformed. In reality, there is no such thing as an “ideal” population. There are, however, many takes on required numbers to maintain, improve upon, and even decrease, living standards at any given point in…

The wandering performers, charcoal-makers and peddlers that once traversed the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula have long since vanished, but much else has remained remarkably unchanged. Along a seaboard corridor more suggestive of a rustic country route than a vector for north-south passenger traffic, cedars and other trees line slopes and gorges leading to…

Instagram is a mobile, desktop internet-based photo sharing application and service that allows users to share pictures and videos either publicly, or privately to pre-approved followers. Recently “Instagram” has become very popular in Japan. The buzzword “Insta-Bae” means “Instagenic (Instagram+photogenic)” in Japanese, photogenic pictures that get many likes on Instagram. “Insta-Bae” has been picked as…

When you hear “Kobe beef,” you may conjure up the image of a Japanese cattle rancher lovingly massaging its ample hind legs, alleviating any stress build up in its body, while his wife gently brushes the hide with sake, bringing out the sheen of its coat. Such is the mystique surrounding the production of the…

Sanchoku food means direct to the table.  While the farm to table concept in many countries has a very “peasant” food connotation with a higher emphasis on organic products, the Japanese sanchoku idea is a broader one. It really begins with the idea of wanting to bring seafood — so integral to Japanese cuisine —…

Miyakojima is the largest island of the Miyako Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. From a business perspective, it is known for its production of brown sugar made from sugarcane grown there, but the island is also a hot tourist destination. Just under an hour away from the main island of Okinawa and boasting beautiful white beaches,…

Ise Jingu shrine in Mie Prefecture is considered the most important Shinto shrine in Japan with more than 2,000 years of history. Jingu is described in the oldest Japanese texts, “Kojiki” and “Nihinshoki,” which were edited about 1,300 years ago. Rather than a single shrine, Ise Jingu is better described as complex consisting of many…

There is little doubt that Tokyo is a gourmand’s paradise; there are literally thousands of restaurants serving delicious food from all over the world in myriad combinations. While “bottle keep,” in which a customer buys a bottle of whiskey or sake and leaves it at the bar for their next visit, is practiced in some…