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Things to do: Go to Akihabara and enjoy some maid cafe madness. Here is my top 5

Things to do: Go to Akihabara and enjoy some maid cafe madness. Here is my top 5

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese customs, Must see, News, Things to do |

Maid cafés may seem like a fad from 2006 but they’re here to stay. We present you with a guide to the maid experience. Maid cafés have become so embedded in Japanese media and fetish culture that it is hard to imagine a Tokyo without them. There are now about 217 maid cafes in Japan, but the good news is that increased competition is making them much, much crazier. (For those needing background, there’s more on the history of maid cafes here) Here is a guide to the best...

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5 Tokyo bars for train nerds (yes, they exist)

5 Tokyo bars for train nerds (yes, they exist)

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese customs, Must see, News, Things to do, Where to drink |

You thought your grandfather was a train buff? Sorry to break the news to you, but ol’ gramps would have been a mere caboose in the train of railway geeks inJapan, where hard-core train aficionados are referred to by the somewhat affectionate term “densha otaku,” or train nerds. They’re famous for feats like memorizing phonebook-size timetables and visiting every single one of the country’s almost 10,000 stations. When they aren’t trying to increase their encyclopedic...

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Things to do: Only in Japan; Visit an Art Aquarium

Things to do: Only in Japan; Visit an Art Aquarium

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese customs, Japanese technology, News, Things to do |

Of all the bizarre art niches out there, “goldfish aquarium art” must rank fairly high. Yet the artist Hidetomo Kimura has built an entire career as an “art aquarist,” and his weird and wonderful live installations are now on display again at an exhibition, “Edo — the coolness of goldfish“ (link in Japanese), at the Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall, in Tokyo. First held in 2011 to mark the centenary of the Nihonbashi Bridge, where the hall is located, the unusual exhibit proved so...

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Must see: ‘Uncool’ Cool Japan Video Goes Viral

Must see: ‘Uncool’ Cool Japan Video Goes Viral

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Must see, News |

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has never been known as a particularly hip place — even though it’s in charge of the government’s “Cool Japan” push to promote trendy industries like anime, fashion, and Japanese cuisine overseas. But a home-made Cool Japan video shot by two ministry officials and uploaded to YouTube last month has attracted so much criticism that it’s gone viral, prompting Japan’s online community to ask: Can something be so uncool that it’s...

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Things to do: Hotel Okura Tokyo charity art exhibit (Aug. 7 to Sept. 1)

Things to do: Hotel Okura Tokyo charity art exhibit (Aug. 7 to Sept. 1)

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in News, Things to do |

Hotel Okura Tokyo charity art exhibit. From Aug. 7 to Sept. 1, the Hotel Okura Tokyo will hold a charity art exhibition, “The Great Masters of Japanand France with Monet, Utrillo and Saeki,” at the hotel’s Ascot Hall on the second basement level of the South Wing. The exhibition will be hosted by the Corporate Cultural Exchange Committee to show masterpieces that are owned by companies, organizations and individuals and so cannot ordinarily be viewed. This year, the hotel...

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Where to eat: Where to get the best (chocolate) ice cream in Tokyo

Where to eat: Where to get the best (chocolate) ice cream in Tokyo

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in News, Where to eat |

Chocolate gelato at its most intense.  Who eats chocolate in summer? Very few people who I know. It’s not just that chocolate bars melt in seconds: The taste can seem too heavy and the texture too cloying. It simply doesn’t seem to suit Japan’s muggy heat. But there’s one exception to that rule I’ll gladly and frequently make — when the chocolate comes in gelato form. Obviously, ice cream of any stripe hits the spot at this time of year. But chocolate is always my go-to...

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Check out the largest photo of Tokyo ever taken. It’s zoomable!

Check out the largest photo of Tokyo ever taken. It’s zoomable!

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese technology, Must see, News, Stories about Japan |

The largest photo ever taken of Tokyo is zoomable, and it is glorious It took photographer Jeffrey Martin two days of shooting and four months of editing to create the interactive panorama you’re about to experience. At 600,000 pixels wide, it would measure 50 meters by 100 meters if printed at photographic resolution. And yes, it is every bit as awesome as it sounds. Go ahead. Try it. Zoom in on anything you want, like that guy off in the distance taking a photo from his...

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