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The Year of No Money in Tokyo

The Year of No Money in Tokyo

Any foreigner who’s been in Japan for a while can tell you that there’s a lot of ups and downs to living life out here.…

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The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook

The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook

No matter how long you've been studying the language, no matter how many words you've memorized, it seems you never stop wondering, "How do I…

Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan

Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan

"Just Enough" is a book of stories and sketches, depictions of vanished ways of life told from the point of view of a contemporary observer.…

'Zoo' includes whodunits, science fiction and horror

'Zoo' includes whodunits, science fiction and horror

Hirotaka Adachi was just 17 years old when he had his first story published. “Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse” was the grisly tale of a…

Sayonara, Mr Fatty!

Sayonara, Mr Fatty!

TOKYO — Anime producer, author and "otaku" expert Toshio Okada hit the big time when he published "Itsumademo Debu to Omouna yo" (Don’t Think You’ll Be Fat…

Shibuya 109 English Guidebook

Shibuya 109 English Guidebook

TOKYO — Despite its reputation as Tokyo’s leading youth-fashion hub, the 109 shopping complex in Shibuya can be a forbidding place for foreigners. Wall-to-wall teenyboppers and floor…

The Manga Cookbook

The Manga Cookbook

TOKYO — Japanese food and manga must be two of the country’s most successful exports, but they’re not the most obvious of bedfellows. However, an unorthodox cookbook…

Reporter's look at yakuza gets personal

Reporter's look at yakuza gets personal

TOKYO — A journalist is supposed to observe and report his story, not become part of it. But by the time Jake Adelstein found himself face to…

Book looks at 24 years of Noriko Sakai's life

Book looks at 24 years of Noriko Sakai's life

Noriko Sakai, 38, the singer and actress who goes on trial on Oct 26 for possession of drugs and stimulant use, is the subject of…

Photo album of Ainu people living in Tokyo published

TOKYO — A record of the daily lives of Ainu people living in the Tokyo metropolitan area has been published as a photo collection. Around 160 photos…