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December 21, 2024
 

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Kat Joplin
Looking for LGBTQ+ events this holiday season? Tokyo is chockful of a variety of ways to spread cheer in the way that suits you best.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 20, 2024
Make the Yuletide gay: Tokyo’s LGBTQ+ Christmas events
Drag shows and lip-sync karaoke may not be traditional holiday get-togethers, but they deck the halls just the same.
While baldness can often be the butt of jokes in Japan, it can also be a powerfully freeing act of self-acceptance for those struggling with hair loss.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 16, 2024
Thinning up top? Hair loss in Japan is not the end.
Among Asian countries, Japan has the highest rate of alopecia at around 26%, as well as 7.8% of women experiencing some form of hair thinning.
If you're still trying to be active during Japan's record-setting heat, you should also know how best to care for yourself when you inevitably get a sunburn.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2024
Japan’s nasty summer has left you with a nastier sunburn. Now what?
Aloe facial masks, non-alcohol-based lotions and souped-up sunscreen can take the edge off the pain of getting a sunburn.
Durian Lollobrigida and his co-hosts — actors Megumi and Chiaki Horan, singer Thelma Aoyama and former “Terrace House” panelist Yoshimi Tokui — offer in-studio commentary on the contestants’ footage in Netflix’s new reality dating show, “The Boyfriend.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 13, 2024
'The Boyfriend' host Durian Lollobrigida puts a face to queer joy
Involvement in Netflix's new reality dating show is just the latest success in the Japanese drag queen's rise.
Japan has a long history of parasol use, and there's no time like the present to see if they can help you get a bit of heat relief.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Jul 6, 2024
Parasols are an age-old solution to today’s crippling heat
By Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868), bamboo and waterproofed paper ‘kasa’ (umbrellas) and ‘higasa’ (parasols) were everyday tools and props in kabuki plays.
While Japan may not have a large market for English-language publications, there's still hope to grow your career overseas while living here.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jul 1, 2024
How to make it as an English-language author in Japan
Some writers find career stability in teaching, while others find that the culture and vibrance of this country inspires their imaginations.
Here are a handful of places around Tokyo where you can treat the dad in your life to the pampering they deserve.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 12, 2024
Retro barbers, executive facials: Pamper dad with a Tokyo spa day
Despite forward-thinking on male grooming, Japan markets these pampering services largely toward women — but here are a few places dad might enjoy this Father's Day.
Korean skincare routines tend to be more complex than Japan’s counterpart beauty industry of “less is more,” making K-beauty something of a sweet spot between Japan and the West.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 9, 2024
K-beauty or J-beauty? The two 'are not so different these days.'
In early 2024, imports of Korean beauty products to Japan topped French cosmetics for the first time.
A typical show for the Derek Toro persona features Ice Elloso as a suave, macho hero straight from a Schwarzenegger film, along with a trademark goatee and tons of props and gadgets.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 20, 2024
‘Drag is my superpower’: A night of pride for Filipino kings and queens
Sparkle: Road to Opulence, an April 19 lip-sync and drag performance, kicked off Pride weekend in Tokyo with a bang.
Seoul may be a cosmetic surgery mecca, but Tokyo has its fair share of high-quality clinics as well.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 12, 2024
A wrinkles-and-all guide to cosmetic surgery in Japan
Japan is uniquely positioned between two opposing hot spots of the beauty industry: Seoul and Tokyo.
The Tokyo Kiki Lounge is a queer pageant, dance competition and party, known in the ball culture as a “kiki ball.”
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 1, 2024
You're free to be yourself at the Tokyo Kiki Lounge
The pageant, dance competition and party is a thriving safe space for Japan's queer community.
Drag queen Kylie Sonique Love performs at the third edition of Opulence. While the LGBTQ community suffered a few setbacks this year, there were also many occasions in which people could let loose and celebrate the scene.
LIFE / Lifestyle / 2023 in Review
Dec 10, 2023
Politics and pageantry for Japan's LGBTQ community in 2023
The year was one in which more Japanese members of the LGBTQ community began to push for rights such as marriage equality.
Drag queens (from left) Trinity the Tuck, Manila Luzon and Kylie Sonique Love headlined the most recent edition of Opulence, Tokyo's fast-growing drag performance extravaganza.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2023
The opulence of Manila Luzon
The Asian American drag queen who rose to stardom after a stint on "RuPaul's Drag Race" pays things forward with her Philippines-based show "Drag Den."
Yvie Oddly poses in front of Eagle Tokyo Blue, a Ni-chome bar instrumental in organizing many events around the Japan visits of "RuPaul's Drag Race" stars.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 2, 2023
A 'Drag Race' tour brings inspiration and profits
When the competitors of "RuPaul's Drag Race" come through Tokyo, the local scene gets a major boost.
Nobody wishes for a medical emergency, but preparing for one while you're in a foreign country can only make things easier.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Sep 18, 2023
How to avoid medical purgatory when hospitalized in Japan
Much like a legal will, a visit to the hospital is the last thing for which you want to prepare — yet doing so will save you stress and worry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Reviews
Jun 13, 2023
Opulence: Glitter, glitter and a lot of gold
Seeing Tokyo-based drag queens perform with 'RuPaul's Drag Race' royalty would definitely make any local drag fans proud.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 26, 2023
Opulence: The international drag show that owns everything
'Drag Race' stars and Tokyo-based queens set the stage for a spectacle that aims to put Japan’s drag scene on the global map.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 30, 2023
Anger, joy and feelings of pride: Tokyo's biggest LGBTQ event returns in full form
Amid 'rainbow washing' and 'counter marches,' drag queen Le Horla writes about what the return of Tokyo Rainbow Pride means to them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 20, 2023
We're coming out: Tokyo Rainbow Pride is back, back, back, back, back again
After three years of muted celebrations, Tokyo's main LGBTQ party hopes to roar back to life with an in-person, public event.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Mar 10, 2023
Japan’s first 'Drag Race' contestant hits the stage
Tokyo-based Swedish drag queen Endigo is representing the country's pop culture on “Drag Race Sverige,” a Swedish off-shoot of drag queen RuPaul’s award-winning reality television show.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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