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…
meiji era
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
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:…
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Why Are More Japanese Girls Calling Themselves “Boku”?
How do you refer to yourself in Japanese? For most women, it’s some variant of "watashi." But for many young girls, the…
INSIDER
[Insider] Japan’s First Female PM Doesn’t Want an Empress
Takaichi Sanae has signaled she opposes changing the law to allow for an empress to rise again. And the Japanese Diet seems…
INSIDER
[Insider] In Japan, When Does a Fight Become a Duel?
A Tokyo man is facing an additional five years in jail after prosecutors charged him under a 136-year-old law.
TRAVEL
Edo-Tokyo Museum Finally Set to Reopen in March 2026
One of Tokyo's most beloved and culturally significant museums is finally set to reopen to the public on March 31st.
CULTURE
What’s Japan Doing for Christmas? Here’s Why Many Say…Nothing
It's beginning to look a lot less like Christmas in Japan. Here's why many say this year they'll be tuning out of…
POLITICS
Sanseitō’s “New” Constitution Would Bring Back Japan’s Imperial Era
The popular far-right group's proposed Constitution would restore the Imperial Japan of World War II and eliminate individual liberties.