Jay Allen, Author at Unseen Japan

A man stands with legs apart, seen from below, against a busy neon-lit Tokyo street of shops and billboards.

Urine Nation: Japan’s 150-Years-Long War Against Peeing in Public

During Japan's Edo Era, peeing in the street wasn't a crime, but a contribution to the economy. Here's how Meiji Japan, anxious…

Kaneko Fumiko in kimono superimposed on a black-and-white photo of a city devastated by the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake

History

Kaneko Fumiko: The Japanese Anarchist Who Died Young Defying the Emperor

The state never even recorded her birth. A century after the Japanese anarchist Kaneko Fumiko died in prison at 23, condemned for…

Insider

Japan Discovered MSG. Why Do Even Some Japanese Call It “Poison”?

MSG has been pilloried for decades in the United States. But Japan's "additive-free" movement has also labeled glutamate's most prominent supporter a…

Illustration of a red rescue helicopter flying over snow-capped Mt. Fuji under a cloud-dotted blue sky

Travel

Japan May Charge for Mt. Fuji Rescues. But Tourists Aren’t the Real Problem

Shizuoka Prefecture considers the measure as more inbound tourists than ever find themselves in distress during the off-season. But are inbound travelers…

A FIFA World Cup soccer ball and a Japanese flag on grass, beside a woman holding a stack of folded laundry.

Women

Japanese Professor: Men Who Pick Up World Cup Trash Should “Do It at Home,” Too

FIFA praised Japanese fans for cleaning the World Cup stadium. A Chubu University professor's viral reply, however, asked why Japanese men can't…

South Korean and Japanese flags side by side, with speech bubbles reading hangul and kanji

Japanese Language

Kanji Forever? Why Japan Still Uses Chinese Characters, But Korea Mostly Doesn’t

Japan spent a century trying to abolish kanji, from an 1866 petition to the shogun to a postwar novelist who wanted Japan…

Fukuda Yua superimposed over the Auckland skyline beside a New Zealand flag and a pointing-hand graphic.

Insider

New Zealand Deported a Japanese Porn Star. Is Japan’s Porn Law to Blame?

Japanese adult video actress Fukuda Yua says she was turned away at the New Zealand border. While she may have simply been…

Illuminated Lupin bar sign above a dark wooden door with brick trim in a dim Ginza alley at night

Culture

Bar Lupin: Drink Where Japan’s Modern Literary Masters Hung Out

In a Ginza basement, Bar Lupin has poured drinks since 1928 for Dazai Osamu, Ango, and other Japanese literary greats.