tools
These adorable illustrations of Totoros with various veggies and acorns will transform your kitchen into its cutest form yet.
Fans of Love Live! Sunshine!! will no doubt want to get their hands on a pair of Love Live! nippers.
Growing up in the 90s, I was raised with the notion that ninja were teenage turtles, silent assassins or similar to the characters in Naruto. As much as we’d like to believe these were the reality, according to an interesting article from Listverse, the ninja that actually roamed the streets and castles as spies and assassins were humans who didn’t always dress in black (apparently they wore dark blue), and they didn’t regularly use the famous weapons we know so well.
So, if they weren’t using shuriken and long swords all of the time, what did they use? Researchers have been investigating the ancient style for decades and have uncovered some pretty amazing and ingenious items that you would never even dream of. There are probably thousands of ninja tools and techniques out there, but we’ll just focus on the few that Listverse brought into the open.
Sometimes, people are subconsciously bound by their cultural habits and traditions, and fail to see beyond the appearance of things. To the Japanese, a bamboo makisu (sushi mat) is used to make sushi, but in the hands of someone outside of Japan, the traditional culinary item is transformed into something completely unrelated to food. If you’re looking to add some Japanese element into your daily life, read on for the simple DIY instructions to make your own sushi mat brush organizer!
As we’ve said before, Japanese isn’t actually as hard to learn as it’s often made out to be. Unlike English, for example, Japanese follows its own grammatical rules far more rigidly, pronunciation is easy because there is only one variant of each vowel sound to choose from (none of this tomayto/tomahto business), and it’s possible to create entire, perfectly meaningful and valid sentences without uttering a single pronoun or bothering to conjugate a verb.
Nevertheless, the language will not magically seep into you through a desire to speak it alone — you still need to encounter and study it as often as possible. With that in mind, we’d like to present to you the six and a half resources that no dedicated student of the Japanese language should ever be without. Oh, and the good news is some of them are completely free.








Even at twice regular Daiso price, this handy item is still great for summer travel in Japan
Ghibli’s No Face continues to demonstrate his generous character growth by dispensing soy sauce
Japanese convenience store shows us how to dress for the rainy season
Tokyo’s Pokémon Cafe reopens this month with brand-new sweets and Pikachu show
Osaka is hosting a “hentai” event, but it’s probably not what you think
A Japanese toast sandwich remix: The toasted rice rice ball[SoraKitchen]
Uniqlo reveals third round of massive 100-year-anniversary manga T-shirts for Jump’s Shueisha
Japanese high school closes its cafeteria, replaces it with a 7-Eleven convenience store
Lawson opens a new mini supermarket, and the lucky bags can essentially stock your kitchen
Starbucks Japan unveils new Frappuccino showcasing “mottainai” culture
New official Ghibli anime food cookbook will teach you how to make Ponyo’s ramen and more
Kyoto public junior high school becomes first in Japan with a hoodie school uniform
What’s up with the Ghibli Park photo and video ban?
What’s it like to join Tokyo’s walking-and-talking-with-strangers club for a day?
Krispy Kreme releases a new Doughwich… at only one store in Japan
Tokyo’s life-size Gundam anime mecha statue will be removed this summer
Ichiraku Ramen-inspired ramen sets from Naruto anime pay homage to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura
Kanji ice cream becomes a sell-out hit in Japan
Japan now has gyoza doughnuts, and they taste like no other doughnut we’ve tried before
Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L Minimart
Japan’s real-world Pokémon hot spring’s first photos are here![Photos]
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Japan’s 5.3 million beautiful Hitachi Nemophila flowers are now in full bloom[Photos]
Pokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration events
A Japanese toast sandwich remix: The toasted rice rice ball[SoraKitchen]
Uniqlo reveals third round of massive 100-year-anniversary manga T-shirts for Jump’s Shueisha
Japanese high school closes its cafeteria, replaces it with a 7-Eleven convenience store
Lawson opens a new mini supermarket, and the lucky bags can essentially stock your kitchen
Starbucks Japan unveils new Frappuccino showcasing “mottainai” culture
Japan Railways partners with Overwatch, heroes hit the Shinkansen for bullet train collaboration
With hot sweaty Shibuya summer on the way, free sodium tablets to be given out in downtown Tokyo
American college student missing in Kyoto, last seen by family one week ago
Japan Post’s mail carriers are getting some cool upgrades, but packages might be a little late
Japanese rice cooker recipe gives us a tasty new way to enjoy vegetables and wieners
What’s it like to join Tokyo’s walking-and-talking-with-strangers club for a day?
Studio Ghibli adds new range of neckties to its anime merchandise store in Japan
Starbucks Japan has a mesh bag so cute it’s a sell-out hit
Video of man spraying liquid on conveyor belt sushi leads to arrest in Japan