Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMUNITY

Issues

Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Dec 2, 2024

Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?

By Phoebe Amoroso

An app called Timeleft hopes to combat big-city alienation through a simple meal with a diverse group of people.

New and strengthened rules aim to make street drinking a thing of the past in Shibuya's nightlife center — but the reality may not be that simple.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Oct 21, 2024

Can you drink in Shibuya and Shinjuku this Halloween? It depends.

By Ansel Swindells

Shibuya and Shinjuku are both planning on cracking down on street drinking this Halloween and beyond. But the problem might be bigger than a night of drunken revelry.

Without Japanese outdoorsman George Masa, America might not have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — so why do so many people in Japan not know he existed?

COMMUNITY / Issues

Oct 7, 2024

The forgotten Japanese naturalist who created a U.S. national park

By Drew Damron

George Masa was an enigmatic figure, but his contributions to preserving America's natural beauty are unassailable.

An archival photo depicting a CWAJ board meeting from April 6, 1966

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Aug 15, 2024

From the division of war, 75 years of intercultural aid

By Waka Ikeda

Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the mission of the College Women’s Association of Japan remains straightforward yet ambitious: Women supporting women.

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.

COMMUNITY / Issues / Longform

Aug 9, 2024

In search of the ‘Japanese dream’

By Thu-Huong Ha

You've likely heard of the American dream. In Japan, where no such concept exists, immigrants forge their own ideals.

More tourists than ever are guided around Japan based on the content they consume online, but can those same creators help direct them to less-populated areas of the country?

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

Jul 29, 2024

Influencers helped cause overtourism. Can they help fix it?

By Jane Pipkin

“I don't want to use filters or put out content just for the sake of views and followers,” one content creator says. “I want to show people what the real Japan is.”

In 2023, Bryan Eastlake (left) began a three-year contract with the local Takahama tourism association to write, post photos and otherwise promote the small town in northern Kyoto Prefecture to a wider audience.

COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element

May 20, 2024

The new vanguard of rural revitalization efforts in Japan

By Justin Randall

Currently, the Regional Revitalization Corps has around 200 foreign residents working in different industries around the country.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.

As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports