Few cults have left as nightmarish a legacy as Aum Shinrikyo in Japan. A doomsday group led by near-blind yogi Shoko Asahara, it unleashed a deadly sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway…

Banking the Mikuma and Kagetsu Rivers in a large basin in western Oita Prefecture and wreathed by verdant mountains on all sides, lies Hita, a historical town steeped in local folklore. The…

When one foreign official recently had the gall to call Japan’s new border policies “flexible,” I presumed he had taken leave of his senses. Rather, the “eased” rules have saddled hopeful arrivals…

Issues around imperial succession have been in the news of late and much of the commentary has convinced me we are failing as a species. In case you missed it: Princess Mako,…

I recently watched Enter the Void, a trippy art-house séance of a film steeped in Oriental mysticism which follows drug-addled expats in the seedy Tokyo underworld. It’s not the sort of movie…

“Who needs me?” asks Alex Kerr.  His question hangs suspended in the crackling virtual air before he moves to break the silence. “Disneyland really doesn’t. Osaka doesn’t either,” he says. “But Iya…

When Fumio Kishida was sworn into office on October 4, it was rather boring for several reasons. Firstly, the man himself has the charisma of an automated answering machine. Secondly, he will…

The age of remote working finally found its footing in Tokyo over the course of the past year. But if you’re part of this nascent work-from-home crowd you may well be yearning…