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March 29, 2025
 

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BUDDHISM

After multiple failed attempts, Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) and his loyalists overthrew the Kamakura shogunate and restored imperial power — for a time.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Mar 15, 2025
Divine authority and mortal desires in the turbulent 14th century
The literary monk Kenko yearned for an “uncontaminated world,” even during the tumultuous rule of Emperor Go-Daigo, who toppled the shogunate and consolidated imperial power.
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, offers blessings to his followers at his Himalayan residence in the northern hill town of Dharamshala, India, on Dec. 20.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 11, 2025
Dalai Lama says his successor to be born outside China
Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to continue after the 89-year-old's death, he writes in his new book, "Voice for the Voiceless."
David Moreton, a former professor at Tokushima University, originally came to Japan as a missionary in 1988. He is now one of the world’s foremost experts on the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 24, 2025
How a Canadian missionary found spiritual transformation in Shikoku
David Moreton has devoted decades to researching southern Japan’s famed 88-temple pilgrimage, established by influential monk Kobo Daishi.
Kodai Furutani, the assistant chief priest at Ryugasan Unmon Temple in Annaka, Gunma Prefecture, is working to become an interfaith chaplain.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2025
Monk in chaplain training urges people to face death and live life
There is a deep-seated idea in Japan that a monk being seen at a hospital is a bad omen, as their presence reminds patients and medical staff of death.
The monkish aristocrat Yoshida no Kenko extolled the virtues of asymmetry, imperfection and ephemerality in his famed essay collection “Tsurezuregusa.”
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Feb 15, 2025
‘The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty’
A man of leisure from 700 years ago extols the virtues of asymmetry, imperfection and ephemerality.
Monks at the temple of the golden Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 2023
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025
Japanese-made AI Buddha to make debut in Bhutan
Monks in the country will use the chatbot on a trial basis to further improve its functions and create guidelines on its use.
Rodgers (right) was a longtime managing editor of Kyoto Journal and, alongside colleagues like Susan Pavloska (left) and John Einarsen (center), helped make it one of Japan’s leading English-language publications.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 27, 2025
Ken Rodgers, a fixture of the Kyoto literary scene, dies at 72
Hailing from Australia, Rodgers made a home and community for himself in Japan’s ancient capital across more than four decades.
A drone view shows makeshift tents for quake-affected residents following the earthquake that struck Tingri county, in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, on Jan. 8.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 14, 2025
Earthquake shakes Tibetan monasteries; casualties among clergy unknown
The magnitude 6.8 quake reduced to rubble roofs and walls at a monastery and a nunnery about 15 kilometers east of the epicenter in Tingri county.
At each shrine and temple, priests create festive, decorative go-shuin stamps, and you can collect the marks of all seven of the lucky gods on one piece of paper (called a shikishi) to serve as a good-luck talisman.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 27, 2024
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.
The Kanzeon Bodhisattva statue, which was taken from Kannonji Temple in Nagasaki Prefecture to South Korea by a South Korean thief ring
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
South Korean temple pledges to return Buddha statue next spring
In October 2023, the South Korean Supreme Court affirmed that the statue was owned by a Japanese temple in Nagasaki Prefecture.
A police officer directs traffic in front of a court in Hanoi.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2024
Rights group says Vietnam's imprisonment of Khmer monks violated religious freedom
A court in the southern province of Long An condemned the men to prison terms between two and six years.
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’
Japan’s countryside certainly offers a different experience than its cities, but whether that makes it categorically superior is up for debate.
Shurei Sasai in Nagpur, India, on Oct. 13
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2024
Monk from Japan works to lead people in India to Buddhism
Shurei Sasai has been devoting his life to freeing people from discrimination based on the Indian caste system for more than half a century.
People farm in the Punakha valley, Bhutan, in 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 11, 2024
Buddhist Bhutan to build 'mindfulness city' to create jobs and woo investment
The Gelephu Mindfulness City will lie in a special administrative region with separate rules and laws.
Workers unload a large marble Buddha statue from a truck in Mandalay, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 6, 2024
The marble 'living Buddhas' trapped by Myanmar's civil war
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has been mired in bloody conflict since the military toppled the government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.
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
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.
Today's religious thinkers face the challenge of demonstrating that faith offers deeper meaning and understanding in an increasingly secular world.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024
Is the world ready for a religious comeback?
Individuals are seeking meaning through alternative avenues, suggesting a readiness for religious discourse.
A white hood believed to have been worn by the Sengoku Period warlord Uesugi Kenshin
JAPAN / History
Sep 15, 2024
Repair work begins for hood linked to warlord Uesugi Kenshin
The white hood is expected to be exhibited to the public in 2028 or 2030.
Cleaner Kazuyoshi Taguchi (bottom) and colleague Kazumi Minowa clean the right ear of the Ushiku Daibutsu giant Buddha statue in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2024
Celestial clean: Japanese duo spruce up world's tallest bronze Buddha
The 120-meter statue of Buddha is spruced up once a year.
Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2024
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
Can a 700-year-old dance have an effect on extreme heat or torrential rain? Probably not. When you're feeling powerless, though, any little thing helps.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
Tokyo police seek public's help on Setagaya family murder 24 years ago
Police seek information from the public on a high-profile murder case, in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, on Saturday
Student suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral
A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Rise and shine with ‘The Wakey Show’
“The Wakey Show” is NHK’s first new daily children’s program in three years, and it carries on the station’s storied past in youth-centric educational entertainment.
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Podcast

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

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