Japan

The problem with westerners seeking oriental enlightenment

27 January 2024 9:00 am

Those chasing after blissful satori never seem interested in the people who actually live in Asia. They want to float in higher spheres

Why are the Japanese so obsessed with the cute?

6 January 2024 9:00 am

Some see it as a way of appearing harmless after the second world war – but an infantile delight in frolicking animals dates back to at least the 12th century

What Jesus taught us

16 December 2023 9:00 am

Remember, remember

7 October 2023 9:00 am

The world that blossoms in this haunting novel about the importance of memory is in the aesthetic vein known as ‘mono no aware’, or ‘the pathos of things’

Arresting visual spectacle and superb fight scenes: Netflix’s One Piece reviewed

30 September 2023 9:00 am

What would you say is the most successful comic-book series in history? If you’re thinking Tintin you’re not even close.…

The extraordinary – and haunting – life of Lafcadio Hearn

16 September 2023 9:00 am

The author’s Japanese ghost stories brought him fame and fortune – but his own life was even stranger than fiction

The ‘historic’ national dishes which turn out to be artful PR exercises

19 August 2023 9:00 am

Japan’s ramen ‘tradition’ was created in 1958 to use up surplus imported flour, while Pizza Margherita’s specious royal connection helped boost Naples’s tourist trade

The wonder of the marine world is in serious danger

8 July 2023 9:00 am

The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna has the misfortune to taste so good that it has been hunted for millennia, and stocks are now dangerously depleted

Spooky, classy dystopian sci-fi: Apple TV+’s Silo reviewed

27 May 2023 9:00 am

Back once more to our favourite unhappy place: the dystopian future. And yet again it seems that the authorities have…

Letter from Taiwan

20 May 2023 9:00 am

Deeply moving but bleak: Plan 75 reviewed

13 May 2023 9:00 am

Plan 75 is a dystopian Japanese drama about a government-sponsored euthanasia programme introduced to address Japan’s ageing society. Aged 75…

Another grim reminder of Japan’s violent politics

16 April 2023 3:20 am

Has Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida just survived an assassination attempt? Kishida was evacuated from the site of a stump speech in the fishing…

Is Japan doomed?

27 January 2023 6:00 pm

Japan is heading for trouble, the country’s prime minster Fumio Kishida has suggested. ‘Our country is on the brink of…

Why did North Korea fire a missile over Japan?

5 October 2022 1:09 am

It was a new dawn, a new day, and a new North Korean missile test. The land of the morning…

The anger behind Shinzo Abe's state funeral

26 September 2022 11:34 pm

Tokyo While not quite on the scale of Her Majesty’s service, Tuesday’s state funeral of Japan’s longest serving PM Shinzo…

My lunch with the Queen

17 September 2022 9:00 am

None of this would have happened had I accepted my neighbour’s invitation to dine with a Swiss billionaire banker, or…

Japan's cult of safetyism

29 August 2022 8:19 pm

The Japanese government has launched an initiative to encourage young people to drink more alcohol. Yes, really. The national tax…

Japan’s nuclear renaissance

25 August 2022 7:55 pm

Japan is reversing its avowedly anti-nuclear stance, restarting idled plants and looking to develop a new generation of reactors, announced Prime Minister…

Baby bust: China’s looming demographic disaster

6 August 2022 9:00 am

The demographic crisis might stall its rise

Portrait of the week: Mo Farah’s secret, hot weather warnings and hot competition for the Tory leadership

16 July 2022 9:00 am

Home The Conservatives began the process of finding a new leader, which involves balloting MPs and then sending two names…

In Japan, being a token westerner is big business

5 March 2022 9:00 am

How to make money as a token westerner in Japan

Could Covid finally end the tradition of Japan’s dreaded 'bonenkai' parties?

30 December 2021 6:00 pm

John Updike described America as a ‘vast conspiracy to make you happy’. Japan, a wonderful place to live in many…

Is climate change scepticism growing in Japan?

10 November 2021 7:15 pm

Fumio Kishida, the newly-installed Japanese prime minister, could have been forgiven for giving COP26 a miss. The opening ceremony in…

The enduring power of Japan’s doomsday cults

6 November 2021 9:00 am

The enduring power of Japan’s doomsday groups

Portrait of the week: Fishing friction, Greta’s singalong and terror in Tokyo

6 November 2021 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told delegates to the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework…