Manga Café Overnight: Sleeping in a Net Café Like a Local
On any given night in Tokyo, tens of thousands of people are sleeping in manga cafés (漫画喫茶 /…
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Manga Cafés vs Comic Bars: Two Ways to Experience Manga Culture in Tokyo
Japanese manga — the country's sequential art tradition encompassing everything from children's magazine serializations to literary graphic novels…
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Mindful Travel in Japan: How to Slow Down, Notice & Actually Experience It
There is a version of Japan travel that is extremely common and leaves visitors feeling simultaneously that they…
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Japanese Horse Racing: How to Spend a Day at Tokyo Racecourse
Tokyo Racecourse (東京競馬場) — the largest and most prestigious of Japan Racing Association's (JRA) 10 facilities, located in…
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Karaoke in Japan for Beginners: Box Karaoke Culture Explained
International visitors to Japan often arrive with preconceptions about karaoke formed by their home-country experience — a microphone…
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Koya-san: Sleeping Among the Dead at Japan’s Most Sacred Mountain
There is a specific quality that only a few places in Japan possess — a depth of accumulated…
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Japan’s Power Spots (パワースポット): Spiritual Energy Points Locals Visit
There is a category of place in Japan that doesn't appear in most English-language travel guides but features…
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Japan’s Retro Game Centers (ゲームセンター): The Last Arcades and Where to Find Them
Japan's game centers (ゲームセンター / gēsen) — public arcades — have survived the global collapse of arcade culture…
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Japan’s Wellness Retreats: Onsen, Yoga & Silence in the Mountains
The Western wellness industry has spent the last decade discovering what Japan has known for centuries: that the…
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Japanese Capsule Toys (Gachapon): A Guide to the Vending Machines Taking Over the World
Gachapon (ガチャポン) — Japan's capsule toy vending machines — are among the most purely enjoyable small cultural experiences…
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