Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government adopted at a cabinet meeting Friday a draft fiscal 2026 budget featuring ...

New Year’s Eve in Japan is known as Ōmisoka. Misoka is derived from the word meaning “thirtieth,” and since each month of the former lunar calendar ended on the thirtieth day, the term came to mean ...

Although Christmas creates a lot of excitement in Japan, only around 1% of the population identifies as Christian. Most people enjoy it as a largely secular celebration. In many countries, Christmas ...

Prized as the epitome of urban cool in the Edo period and outlawed as backward during the Meiji era, tattooing has had a checkered history in Japan. Cultural anthropologist Yamamoto Yoshimi provides a ...

Despite an overall decrease in the number of suicides in Japan, the rise in such deaths among minors aged 19 and younger is cause for concern. According to the white paper on suicide prevention ...

Japanese family crests known as kamon were first used by the aristocracy over a thousand years ago, but over time they were adopted by samurai, merchants, and many others. Today, there are thought to ...

Asakusa has been a popular spot to visit since the Edo period (1603–1868). In modern times, it sees more than 30 million visitors a year from all over Japan and the world, and before the COVID-19 ...

The current furor over the Unification Church, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is nothing new. The organization has been dogged by controversy since its ...

At Niigata’s annual Koi Show, held in November, visitors mill about, gazing at the various colorful carp swimming in large, blue viewing tanks. The term ornamental fish typically brings to mind exotic ...

Japan’s defense spending has been on the rise since Prime Minister Abe Shinzō returned to power in December 2012, but as yet has not exceeded the unspoken limit of 1% of GDP. Japan’s defense-related ...

There is a scene in a 1977 instalment of the Torakku yarō (Truck Guys) series where the main character is buried in sand up to his neck as a cure for the effects of eating fugu blowfish. The ...

In the Edo period (1603–1868), the Tōkaidō was one of Japan’s Five Highways radiating from the capital of Edo (now Tokyo) and was a major artery connecting the city with Kyoto. The route, named for ...