Growing up in Nara, Japan, one food that was a constant in my home was tofu. It's truly been a lifelong staple. When I was a baby, once I could eat solids, my mom commonly prepared two dishes for me — ...

Would you live in a so-called “ghost village” if you only had to pay $500 for a house? Here in the United States, you can barely even get a studio apartment for that price. So why are these akiya ...

NOSHIRO, Japan — The only outward sign of conflict here is the red flags of protest, but this small logging city on Japan’s remote northern coast is seething. A proliferation of national chain stores ...

Researchers in Japan found that rural tourism has played a vital role in territorial development in Japan, and a super-ageing rural community has greatly improved their quality of life as as tourists ...

Local authorities are offering people the chance to buy a house in Japan for as little as $500. In some cases, they’re even giving the houses away for free. The only catch? You have to be willing to ...

An untold story is emerging in the mountains, farmlands, and forests of Japan. On March 11, 2011, disaster struck the island country: first in the form of one of the largest earthquakes to hit the ...

Wendy’s is known for square hamburger patties and spicy chicken sandwiches, but in Japan, it’s planning to at pasta to its repertoire. The chain’s Japanese franchising company on Wednesday announced ...

Endemol Shine Group has acquired the format rights for hit Japanese cookery show “The Rolling Kitchen” from Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation. It will represent the title outside Japan and launch the ...

Blog posts represent the views of CFR fellows and staff and not those of CFR, which takes no institutional positions. This blog post is part of a series entitled Is Japan in Decline?, in which leading ...

It’s only a few weeks away from the opening of the 2025 World Expo in the Kansai region of Japan, and in the spirit of that, we’re seeing a bit of an uptick in Osaka-centric goings on. A variety of ...

I recently watched Only Yesterday at the Cornell Cinema (highly recommend it!) and the show really got me thinking about the role of rural settings in Japanese popular culture. Note that I didn’t just ...