When Haruki Murakami walked the long distance between his childhood home outside Kobe and the city center, he found a city changed by the great Kobe earthquake, and the constant spector of violence.
Japan
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Travel
Where Your Stuff Goes When You Lose It in Tokyo
If you lost your umbrella in Tokyo, don’t worry. It’s probably among the thousands stored inside the Metropolitan Police Department’s six-story lost and found center.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
Little Sunfish: The Robot That Could
How the best robot, “Little Sunfish,” helped Japanese scientists understand the scope of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
As Innocuous as Plant No. 1
William Vollman enters the radioactive red zone to visit the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Posted inQuotes
Elderly Japanese Women Are Turning to Crime to Find Companionship in Prison
For some elderly women in Japan, prison offers companionship and a life free from worry.
Posted inEditor's Pick
She Broke Japan’s Silence on Rape
Shiori Ito reported her rape to the police, who were prepared to arrest her alleged assailant, a journalist named Noriyuki Yamaguchi, after conducting a two-month investigation. Then prosecutors suddenly dropped the case.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Quotes
A Lonely Death: The Extreme Isolation of Japan’s Elderly
Many members of Japan’s rapidly aging population live isolated, solitary lives in massive apartment communities filled with people.
Posted inArts & Culture, Story, Uncategorized
The Ghosts of the Tsunami
The 2011 earthquake and tsunami killed thousands in Japan. Those left behind were haunted by the dead, and some were possessed by them.
Posted inQuotes, Science & Nature
The Dream of a Perfect Android
Hiroshi Ishiguro has spent his career creating robots. But does he know enough about humans to make them lifelike?
Posted inNonfiction
On Identity, Miyazaki, and Japanese Bathhouses
On belonging — and not belonging — in two worlds at once.