Want to take your next Japan trip to the next level? TIME Magazine just announced its 100 great places to visit around the world - and four spots in Japan made the list. Check out their picks, as well as some of our past Japan travel recs, in our latest.
Legislators in Japan want to crack down on host clubs. Their latest proposal would forbid hosts from using romantic entanglements to entice customers into spending money. It would also prevent them from pressuring customers or trying to lure them into sex work.
The first verdict is in over the vicious murder of a 17-year-old girl in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, with a then-19-year-old attacker being sentenced to 23 years in prison. The victim’s family, however, said the sentence feels “light” for the crime.
https://unseen-japan.com/konishi-yuka-verdict-asahikawa-murder/
It’s a crime to be poor in Hokkaido, it seems. A 33-year-old man in the city of Asahikawa is under arrest. His grave sin? Asking for money.
https://unseen-japan.com/hokkaido-asahikawa-combini-panhandling-arrest/
22yo Sato Airi, a livestreamer who went by Mogami Ai, was brutally murdered on March 11th in Shinjuku City's Takadanobaba. So why are so many people on Japanese social media expressing sympathy for her murderer? (Spoiler alert: it's misogyny.)
A Meiji-era law requires Japanese couples to choose a single last name. As legislators in Japan debate repealing it, a new poll shows that a majority of women wish they had had the choice to keep their maiden names when getting married.
https://unseen-japan.com/poll-separate-spousal-surnames-women-support/
A man dared a hostess in Tokyo to a drinking game. She died several hours later. The story demonstrates how obscenely wealthy men use their power to take advantage of economically disadvantaged women for nothing but the sake of their own amusement.
Ito Shiori’s film about her sexual assault, Black Box Diaries, didn’t win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The journalist and first-time director, however, say she’s not fazed and is focused on a larger goal: getting her Oscar-nominated film to screen in her own country.
https://unseen-japan.com/ito-shiori-black-box-diaries-japan-release/
Japanese light novel titles used to be a handful of words - or even a single word. Now, it's not uncommon to see titles topping almost 100 kanji and kana characters. When did people start writing such ridiculously long ranobe titles? And - more elusively - why?
Even as costs rise, many ramen shops in Japan are afraid to transcend the so-called “1,000 yen wall” (around USD $6.70) or fear of driving away customers. So some have found a workaround: keep serving noodles …and only noodles.
Japan’s relationship with coffee is relatively shallow, dating back in earnest only about 150 years. But that hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the country’s most popular beverages. Here’s the history behind how it happened and how coffee in Japan has evolved.
https://unseen-japan.com/coffee-in-japan-a-short-tasty-history/
Hong Kong media has reported that police have arrested a member of a Japanese boy band on charges of sexual assault. In a fast and appropriate (but also somewhat weird) response, the group’s management company says it’s already dropped him from the team.
That escalated quickly. Yesterday, we wrote about how Japan's MHLW posted a widely-mocked video urging young people, "don’t OD (overdose) – SD (相談; soudan, talk to someone) instead." Today, the gov deleted its X post and also removed the web page hosting the commercial.
https://unseen-japan.com/anti-overdose-campaign-sheep-japan/
Traveling to Tokyo? Need a break from your kids? Traveling with young ones can be stressful and exhausting - which is why a new service in Yurakucho, ANO NE Kids Club, is giving children a chance to play in a kid-friendly two-floor space while their parents see the sights.
The only son of Japan’s Crown Prince Fumihito – and the second in line to the throne after his father – held his first press conference recently. But another tidbit’s come out about the young prince that’s sure to endear him to geeks around the world.
When is a Japanese combini not a combini? When it's a port store. Here's what's up with those "fake"-looking Lawson and Family Mart stores you might see around the Tokyo Bay area. (Long story short: They're a good thing.)
Foreigners aren’t the only ones with issues renting housing in Japan. One survey found 60.4% of disadvantaged people as such – including the elderly, single mothers, LGBTQ couples, and disabled people – said they’ve encountered discrimination in the housing process.
A new ad from Japan's government meant to curb a rising trend in overdoses among the country's young instead led to harsh criticism online, with some saying the cringe 30-second spot featuring animated sheep just gives people advice they've already tried.
https://unseen-japan.com/anti-overdose-campaign-sheep-japan/
To celebrate International Women's Day, Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru posted a picture from an LDP leadership meeting showing a room full of old men. Social media users have bashed the post, saying Japan's once-powerful ruling party is male, frail, and out of touch.
Language evolves quickly. Japanese is no exception, with a slew of words that were commonplace just a half-century ago falling by the wayside. Here are a slew of words you may hear or see in print but you'll rarely hear fall from a young Japanese person's lips.
