culture

Enoshima’s magical night lantern festival is back this summer with spectacular views

An island transforms into a wonderland of digital art, musical sea shells, and 1,000 glowing lanterns.

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Studio Ghibli mini towels add anime flair to a Japanese cultural tradition

Beloved Ghibli characters want to hold your hand and welcome you into the Japanese world of mini towels.

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“Alcohol is the best medicine” removed from Japanese government website

A few beers a day keeps the doctor away, because you forgot your appointment.

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Japan opens shrine for plush toys in Kyoto, offering memorial rites and a resting place for remains

A heartwarming way to say thank you to the plush toys you have loved, and who have loved you in return. 

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Japanese soccer fans show excellent manners as World Cup opens[Pics, video]

Chants and headbands aren’t the only tradition supporters of Japan’s sports teams bring with them when attending events overseas.

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What’s up with the Ghibli Park photo and video ban?

Theme park prohibition strangely opens the door to a new kind of creative freedom. 

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Gundam teams up with 300-year-old daruma maker for wood-carved anime mecha figures[Photos]

It’s a Gun-daruma!

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Japanese temple burns to the ground, fire burning inside for 1,200 years unharmed

Sacred fire saved from non-sacred fire on Miyajima.

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Now you can carry the unnerving terror and beauty of Noh masks with you with new pouches from Japan

Practical and horrifying!

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Shinto shrine will bless your bike helmet and give you a sacred bike helmet stamp

Pray to get ahead or to keep your head.

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Temple with 600-year-old tree near busy Tokyo station is like a tranquil pocket dimension

Who’d have guessed there was a centuries-old snack shop too just a quick stroll away from one of downtown’s busiest rail hubs?

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Japanese-style afternoon tea in this Japanese manor house outside downtown Tokyo is something special

The atmosphere is as elegant as the cuisine at this amazing restaurant.

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Japanese manhole lid raises eyebrows with fertility god symbol that looks like… well, you know

Festival of the Steel Phallus deity gets a steel lid in a rural city. 

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Famous koi ponds overwhelmed with tourists throwing thousands of coins in them

Koi and coins don’t mix.

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Japanese politicians working to promote plastic model culture as a cultural asset

Govpla?

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Is this Japan’s most extreme cherry blossom viewing? Leap, cycle and climb through 2,500 sakura

Why sit on a tarp when you can zoom through flowers on a 100-meter slide or risk falling into the trees from 370 meters in the air?

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Live-action One Piece’s Luffy teaches Sesame Street’s Elmo a Japanese word for friendship[Video]

Aspiring pirate kings share hugs with each other and a bit of Japanese culture with the world.

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Japan has only one airport named after a samurai, so let’s check out Kochi Ryoma【Photos】

Local legend Sakamoto Ryoma was all about modernizing Japan.

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Act of Japanese kindness touches one man’s heart, provides hope for elevator etiquette

The fate of the first to board has long been a problem in Japan, but this could be the solution. 

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Ghost in the Sheel goes traditional with Japanese porcelain Tachikoma robots, only 50 to be made

Perfect with your other ornaments or as a stand-alone complex.

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