Gracias! Despite the depth and deliciousness of Japan’s culinary traditions and domestic innovations, it’s not at all a country that’s immerse to foreign cuisines. Chinese, Indian, and Italian food are so broadly popular that they’re hardly considered ethnic foods, and Vietnamese, Thai, and French options are common parts of the big-city restaurant landscape too. But many people will tell you that the hard mode of looking for a place to eat in Japan is searching for a Mexican restaurant. Compared to cooking from Europe and elsewhere in Asia, Mexican food hasn’t made nearly as deep of inroads ..read more

Fans spot similarities between Aquous R9 and Hayao Miyazaki classics. It’s often the case that as individual types of technology advance, their physical form starts to become more universal. Broad consumer preferences start to solidify in terms of features and functions, and certain user interfaces emerge as the most intuitive and desirable, resulting in most new examples, even from different manufacturers, looking very similar to one another. Mobile phones are a great example. Back in the flip phone era, there was a lot of visual variety in terms of design. Now that touchscreen smartphones h ..read more

Full-size replica of the sword that can defeat darkness also plays music from the hit video game franchise. Every installment in Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda video game series presents the player with an array of items and equipment to acquire. Out of all of them, though, the most coveted is the Master Sword. The ultimate weapon with which to fight against the forces of evil, the Master Sword, as its name implies, is only bestowed upon heroes who complete arduous quests or otherwise prove they have the necessary courage, wisdom, and power to properly wield it. Or, alternatively, now you can jus ..read more

Top politician in Tokyo’s neighbor says higher prices for inbound travelers would be like fining them for coming to the country. Japan finds itself in an unprecedented situation right now. The pandemic was, obviously, a difficult period for the travel, hospitality, and restaurant industries, and they’re all eager to make up for lost time/profits now that the various related precautions and protocols are over. So Japan receiving record numbers of foreign tourists, all of whom need places to stay, food to eat, and things to do while they’re here, seems like it should be a simple, and happy, sol ..read more

Best of all, this customisation is absolutely free! Back in 2003, a Starbucks barista in England created a strawberry-flavoured Frappuccino to honour the local tradition of eating strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, and when it debuted in Japan it became so popular it’s been returning as the drink of the summer every year since. With customers being so familiar with the flavour, though, it can be fun to mix things up with a customisation hack, and we recently discovered one that’s not only delicious, but absolutely free. The tip-off came from an actual Starbucks barista so we knew it would b ..read more

Choose from seven colors of unicorn cones and customize your toppings at this limited-time shop in the Shibuya 109 department store. A few years ago, visitors to Tokyo’s Asakusa district found the perfect Instagram fodder in Tsunokoi’s (つの恋 / “horned love”) vibrant, unicorn-shaped cones for soft-serve ice cream (known as “soft cream” in Japanese). While that store seems to have faded into a sparkling sunset of rainbows and sugarplums, the unicorn cones are making a special comeback at an iconic department store in Shibuya, Tokyo’s hub of youth culture, for one month only. The Imada Kitchen sh ..read more

Welcome to We Topia, or should we say “Wee Topia”. On the north side of Tokyo’s Ikebukuro Station, you’ll find an underground passageway connecting east and west that was first constructed in 1925 under the name Zoshigaya Tunnel. In 1986, this dark and eerie concrete corridor was transformed into a brightly lit, inviting space after artists helped to overhaul it, and it was given the nickname “We Road“. ▼ Once a tunnel that many preferred to avoid, this is now a safe and attractive passageway. Today, the renovated thoroughfare still works its calm-inducing magic over pedestrians, but now the ..read more

New line of products has us looking forward to rainy days. In between the cool days of spring and the sweltering heat of summer, Japan experiences a rainy season, where the sun disappears for days on end, and gloomy grey skies put a dampener on our mood as we take refuge indoors. This year, though, Studio Ghibli is here to raise our spirits with a series of rainy day goods that’ll definitely put smiles on our faces. Consisting of puzzles that glisten in the light and folding umbrellas to protect us outdoors, there are a total of eight new products to choose from, starting with… ▼ …the Art Cry ..read more

You can’t put a price on love, but Japan does put a price on how much you should give a newlywed couple. Japan doesn’t have wedding gift registries. That’s because the expectation is that when guests come to celebrate the newlywed couple, they’ll give cash instead of, say, a toaster or coffeemaker. On the one hand, this saves you the trouble of having to go shopping if you get invited to a wedding. However, the rules of etiquette are pretty clear on how much you’re supposed to give: 30,000 yen (roughly US$200). That might not seem too steep for a close friend or relative, but 30,000 is t ..read more

A tip-off from a local opens the door to a wonderful way to feed our desire for Japanese food. If you love sushi as much as you love ramen, there’s a culinary heaven waiting for you at Sushi Ramen Tsurikin in Yokohama. Located a short 30-minute train ride from central Tokyo, this restaurant is loved by locals, one of whom tipped us off to it by sending our Japanese-language team a recommendation that read: “The ramen at Tsurikin, a niboshi ramen restaurant near Yokohama Station, also serves sushi. The ramen itself is also quite unique, but they serve nigiri sushi and seafood bowls too, eithe ..read more