Can going robotic ease convenience stores’ profitability blues? With Japanese convenience stores reaching critical mass in terms of expansion and available labor, all while in an environment of constantly rising prices, they’ve... Read more »

This week’s news roundup is dominated by politics. We begin with the death of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was murdered days after speaking at a Sanseito event in Tokyo. Shigeru... Read more »

Pizza Hut Japan and a 165-year-old Kyoto tea company have us feeling sticky but happy. We call the phenomenon of cultures mixing together a melting pot, but today we’re seeing the melting... Read more »

Ipoh, Malaysia- 26 Dec, 2016: Unidentified vendor selling hand craft in Kong Heng Flea Market in Ipoh, Malaysia Image Credit: tang90246 If you’ve ever wandered into a small Tokyo shop filled with... Read more »

For our latest List of 7, we’re looking at Japan’s best medal prospects for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, a competition due to start at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday.... Read more »

One quarter of more than 200 heat waves that occurred worldwide this century may have been impossible without human-induced global warming. Emissions from the world’s largest fossil fuel and cement companies played... Read more »

And that regret is entirely on us, not on Shimosa Nakayama Station. Our ace reporter Mr. Sato has been living in Tokyo’s Nakano neighborhood for a long time, which means he’s taken... Read more »

113 races, zero wins, and countless memories. They say that everyone loves a winner, but they also say there’s an exception to every rule. Perhaps the biggest exception of all was Haru... Read more »

Summer in the city is sweltering. The Japan Meteorological Agency has announced that the heat will stay in Tokyo until October! Among the urban canyons, it’s hard to imagine anywhere that isn’t... Read more »