Mt Hiei, the mountain that separates Kyoto from Lake Biwa, has long been regarded as one of Japan’s three holiest places. Enryaku-ji, the temple complex scattered across the mountaintop, was once a ...

I think back to when I was calling for a dead dog. It had only been four months since a close friend’s dog had passed away, and I winced right after I realised my mistake, spilling out a flurry of ...

Remember when Japan was cool? We used to run around with “Mr. Roboto” on our Walkmans, “The Karate Kid” in our Betamaxes and wore T-shirts embossed with the characters for “storm sewer” and ...

Beneath the trappings of a cozy cat book is a visceral, no-holds-barred account of devotion. “Mornings Without Mii,” Mayumi Inaba’s 1999 memoir, translated into English by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is ...