Episode 7 – Kyushu & Okinawa: Volcanoes, Empires, Sanctuaries, and Island Identity Historical Perspective Kyushu – Japan’s Gateway to the World Kyushu Kyushu is one of Japan’s oldest... [ Check out more ]
The Chūgoku region covers the entire western tip of Honshu. Web Japan describes it as mountainous, with many small basins and coastal plains, and notes that the Seto... [ Check out more ]
Hiroshi Abe, evolving from model to actor, exemplifies Japan’s cultural shift towards realism, earning respect through disciplined performances and steady legacy.
Shikoku: Pilgrimage Island, Folklore Heartland, & Japan’s Rural Soul Kochi Shikoku — composed of Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi — is Japan’s fourth-largest island and historically the least... [ Check out more ]
Historical perspective At the end of the 2000s, Japanese television entered a decisive phase. High-concept dramas began merging entertainment with intellectual inquiry, reflecting a society once again questioning... [ Check out more ]
Before the 2000s, Japanese dramas rarely focused on divorce, a subject burdened by deep social stigma and quiet suffering, especially for women. As Japan entered an era of... [ Check out more ]
In 2025, Netflix Japan showcased impactful films like 'Demon City: Oni-Goroshi', 'Bullet Train Explosion', and 'Godzilla Minus One', redefining genre cinema through cultural depth.
Kansai: Merchants, Ports, and Sacred Mountains (Osaka, Kobe, Wakayama) Source: Japanguide The Kansai / Kinki region is the cradle of much of what we now call “traditional Japanese... [ Check out more ]
Japan’s logistics industry has long been celebrated as the most precise and efficient in the world. Since the 1970s, parcel delivery companies—Yamato, Sagawa, Japan Post—have shaped a society... [ Check out more ]
In Japan’s long musical lineage—from Showa ballads to Heisei idols—the Reiwa era needed a new voice. A voice free from industry formulas, free from idol polish, and rooted... [ Check out more ]
Japan’s film industry evolved along two structurally different paths.Animation became a box-office infrastructure from the late 1990s onward, while live-action cinema peaked earlier and now thrives through franchises,... [ Check out more ]