Happy New Year 2022

 

Car Yard Walkthrough! Cheap Toyota Centurys, Quirky Mitsuokas & Unicorn ...

Hints on Cooking and Living in Japan

 

Spirit of the Samurai

Suffering Sobriety: Alcoholism and Masculinity in Japan

Night Landscape in Japan with the Moon

Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show 2021

 

Book Break: Karen Hill Anton

Atsuko Okatsuka Stand-Up Comedy

Feeling stuck with your Japanese?

 

One Hundred Year-Old Japanese Family Home Becomes Boutique Hotel

A floating ryokan with only 19 guest room

The Sounds of Tokyo

1969 Datsun Sunny Van (VB10), plus Sunny Coupe, Trucks, VB310 (Bonus KUJ...

Afterlife in Japan: The traditional and the avant-garde

 

Osamu Dazai - A, Autumn

 “A, Autumn” is a remarkable, previously untranslated poetic short story about autumn, written in 1939 — years before his most famous novels. While on the surface, this story is no less depressing, it is actually alive with radical possibility. A reader gets a close-up look at Dazai’s poetic process, as feelings and thoughts about autumn inspire random, almost nonsense and wildly dark poetic riffs, on which Dazai then reflects and ruminates. 

 

1981 Nissan Skyline GT (HGC211)... Is Effort Worth It?

All Class CAJ Reunion 2023 Coming Soon

 

Higashi-Kurume Shopping Streets

Tokyo's most DANGEROUS neighborhood

【4K】Tokyo Walk - Asakusa to Odaiba 浅草→お台場 (June.2021|Sumida river)

First Foreign-owned Anime Studio in Japan

“Starting any company is difficult, but it’s definitely harder in Japan than it is in the U.S.,” Isom explains. “It’s also about becoming business-minded. I’m a creative person, so separating these two things — running a business and becoming an art director — is still something I have to figure out. You have to put the company and staff first. There might be certain projects that we want to do more, but we can’t because we have to make sure to keep the lights on.”

 

1959 Datsun Sports S211- Only Two Remain!

China's Future | Preview Clip

Japanese Americans during WWII

 

Nissan's CEO Is Now A Wanted Criminal

Takayama Beautiful and Traditional Town in Japan

Inside Japan's SLEEPER Train

Aogashima I The Smallest Japanese Island

We Bought an Abandoned House in Japan

A couple bought an abandoned farmhouse in rural Japan for $30,000

 

Japan, after the Olympics

 

Japan, after the Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics ended on a celebratory note, but the reality of life in Japan is different. Coronavirus infections are at a high, and just 36 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. We spoke with Motoko Rich, The Times’s Tokyo bureau chief, to get a sense of the post-Olympics mood.

What’s life like in Tokyo right now?

Motoko: There is a sense of cognitive dissonance. In the morning when I watch the news, commentators talk about an increasingly urgent sense of crisis. But the streets and trains are fairly busy. People are going to work in offices and eating lunch in restaurants, drinking coffee in cafes and shopping in stores, though nearly everyone wears a mask.

Polls found that the Japanese public did not support these Olympics at the start. Did people warm to them?

Once the Games started, public sentiment softened. During the Games, there were often lines at the five rings statue in front of the Olympic Stadium because people wanted to take commemorative photos. Crowds lined the routes of the long-distance cycling events and the marathon. There were still protests throughout the Games. But for many, it seems the drama of the Games diverted people’s attention away from their pre-Olympics anxiety. Sentiment was no doubt buoyed by the fact that Japan’s Olympic team delivered a great haul of medals.

What do you think will be the legacy of this year’s Games?

I am guessing there will be a reckoning for the entire Olympic movement about the cost and sacrifices of serving as a host city. An increasing number of countries are pulling out of bidding for the Games. And with both the likelihood of future pandemics and the reality of climate change hovering over everything we do, those forces are inevitably going to shape future Games.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano for the Isolated

Soul Food Restaurant in Tokyo - Black in Japan

 

In this episode of The Melanated Files (MFiles), we introduce David and Latonya Whitaker, the owners of the famed Soul Food House in Tokyo. David and Latonya have been living in Japan for over 15 years and have excited the taste buds of thousands with their love infused cooking. Watch to hear their story.

X Ambassadors - Renegades (Lyric Video)

Tokyo City Ambience Sounds

Hideki Matsuyama won the Masters Tournament

On Sunday, Hideki Matsuyama won the Masters Tournament. For years, writes our reporter, the shy, methodical golfer has unsettled opponents while avoiding the spotlight, not even revealing he had married and had a baby until months after the fact. “No one really asked me if I was married, or, you know, so I didn’t have to answer that question,” he said later.

The Summer Olympics, explained

 

The Summer Olympics, explained

After a year’s delay, the Tokyo Olympics are set to begin in July, with the Paralympics scheduled to start in August. Years of planning — and billions in television dollars at stake — mean Olympic organizers are keen to hold the event without postponing again.

But polling in Japan has trended strongly against the Games, as Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida report in The Times. Thousands of athletes and other participants will be heading to Tokyo, and less than 1 percent of Japan’s population has been vaccinated, CNBC reports. The country’s experience of the coronavirus pandemic has been comparatively mild, with the levels of infections and deaths far below those of the U.S. or Europe. But that’s not guaranteed to continue.

Though organizers have said that vaccinations will not be mandatory, the International Olympic Committee will supply vaccines for any competitors who need them. Organizers are also barring spectators from overseas, and cheering is forbidden at the Olympic torch relay, which kicked off in Fukushima Prefecture last month.

One thing that is staying the same: The Games will still be called Tokyo 2020, reflected in heaps of T-shirts, mugs, signage and other branded merchandise.