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January 03, 2025
 

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Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan
While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.
LIFE / Travel
Start the new year not with one temple visit, but seven
The seven lucky gods pilgrimage is a less hurried alternative to the often-crowded first temple or shrine visit of the year.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
Inbound tourism to Japan reached a record high in 2024, but managing the crowds and ensuring sustainability remain a challenge.
On Dec. 11, Universal Studios Japan officially unveiled its new Donkey Kong Country area, putting the iconic character in the spotlight for the first time in a while.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 12, 2024
USJ’s new Donkey Kong Country is a barrel of fun
By Joel Tansey
Mine Cart Madness is the area’s only ride, but there are shops and snacking options as well as chances to meet costumed characters from the iconic series.
The town of Futaba is still dealing with the effects of 3/11, but that isn't stopping some residents from looking forward.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 7, 2024
Futaba pivots to 'hope tourism' to revive its fortunes
By Mike Fu
Whether you’re a long-term resident of Japan or flying in for a holiday, the message is clear: Futaba welcomes you.
Best known as the home of Kuon Temple, Minobu, Yamanashi Prefecture, is a charming day trip from Tokyo with the potential for cultural verisimilitude.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2024
In rugged Yamanashi, a wild-goose chase for ‘real Japan’
By Owen Ziegler
Japan’s countryside certainly offers a different experience than its cities, but whether that makes it categorically superior is up for debate.
The Kurama Fire Festival is one of Japan's most visceral 'matsuri' (festivals), but growing throngs of spectators could bring changes in the future.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 2, 2024
At Japan’s hottest festival, crowds threaten to smother the flames
By Shawn B. Swinger
Despite the growing throngs of attendees, it’s the smaller details of the Kurama Fire Festival that add up to more than the sum of its parts.
Located in the Otemachi neighborhood, the 'skull mound' of Taira no Masakado is said to be the source of ills and misfortunes of any who would disturb the site.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2024
Take a Halloween stroll through Tokyo’s dark history
By Mark Schreiber
Tokyo has no shortage of creepy places to check out this Halloween, and the good news is that many are conveniently accessible.
A city as rich in history as Kyoto has accumulated plenty of hair-raising tales perfect for your Halloween perusal.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 26, 2024
Japan’s ancient capital houses a millennium of ghosts
By Edward J. Taylor
August is the traditional period in Japan when the worlds of the living and the dead overlap, but who’s to say spirits don’t make an exception for Halloween?
Stays at Aman Kyoto start at around $2,500 (about ¥375,000) and increasing to $4,000 (about ¥600,000) per night, but for the right traveler, it's not money entirely wasted.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 19, 2024
Kyoto’s most expensive hotel offers inner peace — for a price
By Tan Pin Yen
Aman Kyoto is one of the most luxurious options for stays in Japan’s ancient capital — but is it worth the hefty price tag?

Japan’s go-slow approach to selling high-speed rail globally
At 60, the shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan, with only one system ever sold overseas.
The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
Riot police march in front of the main building of Ssangyong Motor in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Aug. 6, 2009.
FBI probes New Orleans truck ramming as IS-inspired terrorist attack
Police investigators surround a white truck in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake
A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Las Vegas hotel, killing one
Investigators inspect he remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Sumo’s brotherhood gets latest inductee
Chugo Saito at Isenoumi stable on Friday. Saito has joined his older brother, Seigo, at the stable.
A year after a deadly earthquake, Noto Peninsula still faces long road to recovery
Photos taken from the same place but at different times in the Noto Peninsula towns of Wajima (left) and Suzu illustrate the progress made following the devastating earthquake that hit these areas of Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1, 2024.
A newcomer’s guide to the Hakone Ekiden experience
The start of the 2024 Hakone Ekiden in Tokyo's Otemachi district. Every year on Jan. 2 and 3, Hakone Ekiden brings millions of fans across Japan to a standstill.
Japan’s go-slow approach to selling high-speed rail globally
At 60, the shinkansen has been mostly stuck in Japan, with only one system ever sold overseas.
Japan news images of 2024: Upheaval, resilience and breakthroughs
A person walks down a street in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the days following a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, which struck off the coast of the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024. More than 500 deaths have been attributed to the event, which was the worst quake since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

Podcast

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

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake
By Kathryn Wortley

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