Culture

“All My Anxiety is Gone Once I Stand in the Booth”: DJ Risa Taniguchi on Making It in Europe and Why Tokyo’s Izakaya Keep Her Coming Back

Risa Taniguchi, dressed in flat-soled sneakers, black jeans and a black AllSaints overcoat tucked up…

Idol Groups to Visual Kei: Top 6 Japanese Christmas Songs

KFC, champagne and strawberry shortcake with frosting decorated in a swirling red and white motif. Japan didn’t…

Top 10 Japanese Albums of 2019

Seeing off the end of a decade and beckoning in a new era, Japanese music…

Meikyoku Kissa: A Guide to Tokyo’s Masterpiece Cafés

Tokyo’s café culture is a reflection of the capital’s dichotomous nature. Ultra-modern, third-wave coffee shops…

This Week in Tokyo Pop Culture | Dec 6: The Best of Live Music & Live Shrimp

  The end of the year in Japan is a joyous time when families get…

TW ScreenCap: 5 Japanese Films to Get You in the Holiday Spirit

We love movies here at TW. We’re avid Netflix consumers and theatergoers and even dabble…

5 Things We Saw at the New Tokyu Plaza Shibuya

For those heading to Tokyu Plaza Shibuya’s public grand reopening on December 5 make sure you…

Japan’s First Nintendo Store is a Treasure Trove of Nostalgia

Find an ’80s or ’90s kid, ask them about a favorite Nintendo memory, and almost…

Designer Keita Maruyama Curates Pop-up Shop for Tokyo Plaza Shibuya

Keita Maruyama first dipped his toes into the world of fashion in the mid-Nineties. He…

This Week in Tokyo Pop Culture | Nov 29: Lifting Twitter’s Toilet Lid

Twitter might often seem like the toilet of the internet, but ask any anthropologist and…

5 Japanese Designs You Didn’t Realize Were Improving Your Life

Earlier this month, the Good Design Awards held their first free exhibition at trendy Tokyo…

Takashi Murakami’s New Doraemon Exhibition Packs an Emotional Punch

At a casual glance, the new works by celebrated pop artist Takashi Murakami now on…

Kamakura Hanko: A Traditional Japanese Seal Makes the Perfect Personalized Keepsake

In the heart of Kamakura, traditional Japanese culture not only endures, it flourishes. Here you’ll…

5 Things We Saw at the New Shibuya Parco

After months of hiding behind Akira-inspired murals, Shibuya’s latest shopping complex opens its doors today…

7 Japanese Musicians that Influenced the World

Japanese music has, whether the rest of the world knows it or not, long had…