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Unusual Hinamatsuri festival doll designs
It’s almost time for the traditional festival of the Hinamatsuri, also known as Doll’s Day or Girls’ Day. This is when ornamental dolls representing the emperor and empress from the Heian period are...
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Bidocoro lacquerware toilet brings traditional Japanese crafts into the lavatory
Japan is famous for its toilets. Japan is also famous for its crafts. So why not combine the two? Well, someone did. Japanese toilets are somewhat renowned for their technology ingenuity, from the...
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Hatsune Miku guides travelers around Japan’s regional food delights
Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has recruited the virtual idol Hatsune Miku to promote Japanese food around the country. Perhaps only in Japan would you get a...
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First look at artwork by Yayoi Kusama at Ginza Six complex, opening spring 2017
The new retail and commercial complex Ginza Six was announced last autumn, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and featuring shops, offices, a rooftop garden and Noh theater. The center of the complex, which...
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Seiso Shiro T-shirt conceals nipples once and for all
In Tokyo, white button-down shirts are about as ubiquitous as the poorly concealed nipples underneath, and, according to a 2013 survey, most folks do not welcome the sight. One might suggest simply...
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VR Zone Shinjuku brings virtual reality gaming to Kabukicho from summer 2017
The latest virtual reality gaming venue to open in Tokyo is VR Zone Shinjuku. It is set to open at the former Shinjuku Tokyo Milano site in summer 2017. Kabukicho’s Tokyo Milano closed in December 2014...
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Japan’s Premium Friday campaign gets tepid response from workers in Tokyo
Despite all the media fanfare and money spent on advertising the campaign, the jury is still out on whether Premium Friday was a success or flop. The campaign launched by METI (the Ministry of Economy,...
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Yahoo creates powerful billboard in Ginza to mark sixth anniversary of Tohoku...
It is almost time for the anniversary of Japan’s greatest postwar natural disaster, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck northeast Japan on March 11th, 2011. The tsunami caused unprecedented...
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Kaonashi No-Face Piggy Bank is a delight for money-hording Spirited Away fans
Studio Ghibli fans will jump up and joy when they see this Kaonashi No-Face Piggy Bank. Featuring the iconic character from the 2001 anime Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki, the Kaonashi No-Face Piggy...
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Music group Perfume to release actual perfume
Since their 2005 debut, music group Perfume has been steadily pumping out the hits with songs including “Linear Motor Girl” and “Polyrhythm.” Now twelve years later, members Nocchi, A-chan and...
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9 Hours opens new designer capsule hotel in North Shinjuku
The popular chain of designer capsule hotels 9 Hours will open a new branch and its first ever in Tokyo. The hotel opens on March 22nd in north Shinjuku’s Okubo area, just two minutes’ walk from JR...
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Häagen-Dazs & Lounge opens pop-up ice cream cocktail lounge in Tokyo
The American ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs will open a new high-end “ice cream lounge” in one of the most chic areas of Tokyo serving cocktail-style desserts. To promote the release of the Häagen-Dazs...
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Sony Global Education KOOV creative programming kits for children now available
In March 2016, Sony Global Education unveiled KOOV, a brilliant coding kit for young programmers. Building 21st-century skills, block by block. Play, Code. Create. That’s the concept behind these sets...
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No opposable thumbs needed with Motorize Smart PET Bottle
Kudos to Japanese electronics company Nidec for conceiving the Motorize Smart PET Bottle, perhaps mankind’s most unnecessary invention since the shoe umbrella. What is it? It’s a phone-activated device...
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Nescafe Harajuku hosts sleeping cafe for tired Tokyoites to rest
In need of a rest? Get some shut-eye in the heart of Tokyo and on a luxury bed by France Bed at the Nescafe Harajuku cafe space from March 16th until March 26th. Part Nestle coffee showroom and part...
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60-year-old grandma does funky rice dance in Tokyo
How cool is this grandma? Cool enough to do a perfectly choreographed “kome dance” (rice dance) with two other female performers (approximately 40 years younger) in kimono. If you eat plenty of rice,...
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Travel Japan through the eyes of artists and architects with new JNTO guide
The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) spotlights art and design-related attractions in a new travel guide 99+1 JAPAN: Traveling through Art, Design, and Architecture and an accompanying...
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Kumamotone is Kumamon mascot Otamatone tadpole-shaped musical instrument
A few years ago Maywa Denki released a toy that would go on to storm the world and win a major award. It was the Otamatone, a curious tadpole-shaped electronic synthesizer that you played by moving...
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Acure Pass vending machine app lets you order in bulk, accrue points and gift...
127 million people live in Japan. 5.5 million vending machines live there too. That’s about one for every 23 people, and it hasn’t been until recently that they’ve started to communicate with one...
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Thanko’s Smaneck is hanging phone holder for keeping hands free while filming
Everyone’s favorite creators of chindogu (strange and “useless” gadgets) have done it again: made something we didn’t even realize we needed. Thanko’s latest arrival is the Smaneck Smartphone...
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