history Archives - Unseen Japan

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

[Insider] 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…

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.

Oversized tamagoyaki nigiri wrapped in nori, held up in front of the JR Shinjuku Station sign

FOOD

I Ate Edo-style Sushi for Less than $10 at a Japanese Train Station

Want to eat sushi like they ate it during the time of the shogun? A shop in Shinjuku Station is offering this…

Woman being dressed in a kimono as someone ties her obi from behind

TRAVEL

Kimono Rental Shops in Japan: What’s Real, What’s Fake, & How Not to Get Swindled

Learn about the different types of kimono styles and how to tell serious, traditional shops apart from the TikTok trends.

Gravestones in a grassy cemetery engraved with deleted Japanese slang words including 花金, 写メ, and アッシー君

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

The “Dead” Slang Words a Japanese Dictionary Officially Killed

In English, words are rarely deleted from dictionaries. So why in 2021 did a Japanese dictionary publisher give 1,100 words the boot?

Old picture of Suzuki Masa alongside a modern nurse

HISTORY

Suzuki Masa: The Samurai’s Daughter Who Helped Found Modern Japanese Nursing

NHK's 2026 morning drama Kaze, Kaoru modeled one of its heroines on a woman most people in Japan have never heard of:…

Utamaro ukiyo-e of kimono-clad women gathered in a two-story Fukagawa teahouse with snow falling outside

HISTORY

Kikuya: The Cast-Out Dancer Who Invented the Geisha

The Tatsumi Geisha were the first female geisha of Japan. And they owe their existence to a woman driven out of her…

Sumida Fireworks in Tokyo set against the backdrop of Skytree

TRAVEL

Hanabi Taikai: A Traveler’s Guide to Japan’s Summer Fireworks Festivals

Japanese summer is impossible to imagine without hanabi taikai, the riverbank fireworks displays that pack millions onto seawalls every July and August.…