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The revolution will be... illustrated?
What a terrorist incident from 1970's Japan tells us about American politics today
Chinpokomon Diplomacy
In a post-rule of law world, Japan bets on fantasies to see it through
Why didn’t Japan invent generative AI?
Today's "AI arms race" is a sequel. The first played out between the US and Japan. And it isn't over yet.
Japan is not ready for the culture wars
The next four years may be tough for Japanese content in the American marketplace.
The most influential manga in Japan isn’t Japanese
Without Popeye, manga, anime, and video games wouldn’t exist as we know them.
An alleged assassin's Japanese fantasies
The suspect's time in Japan reveals many things about his worldview.
Clash of the Titans
Understanding the Sony-Kadokawa merger
Anime is the Champagne of Japan
Ersatz "anime" abounds. It's time to make "Japanese Anime" a protected designation.
Manga and MAGA
What is the role of Japanese pop culture in the post-liberal era?
Anime's money problem
Anime is blowing up. It's also facing an existential crisis.
Baby, it's hot outside
Japan's never-ending summer continues
Marie Kondon't
Nobody curates clutter like the Japanese. I wrote about it depth for Aeon magazine.
When pop culture meets culture war
Dragon Quest III HD-2D and the pitfalls of producing content in a polarized world
Otaku in Chief
How will Shigeru Ishiba becoming Prime Minister impact Japan’s pop culture?
American Shogun
Does Hollywood finally "get" Japan? Where will Season 2 of Shogun take us? And should we really be idolizing a warlord?
The kids are all right
The world’s falling apart. Can fandom save us?
Anime & NYC
I'll be presenting, talking, and book-signing this week in New York City!
Tokyo disco inferno
The responses to the Juliana's Tokyo lookback were fierce!
Gal Den of Earthly Delights
Juliana’s Tokyo closed 30 years ago this month, but in some ways, the party goes on
I've launched a YouTube Channel
Check out the first of a new series of video supplements to my essays!
Japan, the "most AI friendly country in the world"
The country's leaders are gung ho for AI. But will it kill the golden goose of its content industry?
Goobers, Godzilla, and Governors
Tokyo’s quest to find a new leader grinds to a conclusion
Trolling Tokyo
Making sense of the wildest Governor's race in city history
The United States of Japan
Japan didn't set out to be a pop-culture superpower. It just played out that way.
Age ain't nothing but a number
How is a "hyper-aged" country like Japan also a leader in youth culture?
“Japan Comfort” in a doggy Doge world
The history of modern life is the Internet, the history of the Internet is memes, the history of memes is Japan -- and a certain Shiba Inu symbolizes…
“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the translators”
Politics, AI and the "last-mile problem" of getting Japanese content to audiences abroad
On the Origin of Emojis
A new discovery reveals a forgotten chapter in the history of our digital lifestyles
Looking back at Ghost in the Shell
Memories from an internship at the company that brought it to America
The “Dark Matter” of Japan’s Fantasy-Industrial Complex
The secret to being loved by everybody: taking political stances discernible to nobody
Sayonara to a Techno-pop Pioneer
A farewell to Ryuichi Sakamoto, architect of sonic futures.
Joe Versus Video Games
The day America declared war on Japan’s biggest game companies
What can karaoke teach us about AI?
Karaoke's disruption of the music world presaged AI's disruption of creative fields today.
Anime's Woodstock
Forty-three years ago today, cartoons morphed from entertainment into lifestyle.
AI and Japan as a Safe Space
OpenAI is American. Why is their latest product announcement so Japanese?
Boys vs Girls
There’s an emerging gender divide everywhere but Japan. Why?
To boldly go where no toy has gone before
JAXA's landing of a Transformer on the moon signals a new frontier for soft power: space.
If Algorithms are the Enemy, is Anime the Antidote?
How an auteur-driven artform illustrates a way out of digital dystopia
2023: The Year Japan's Sun Rose Again
Read to the end for a holiday bonus!
“Hoarder Hygge” is the Anti-Zen
Sorry, KonMari fans: Japan’s most charming spaces are its least tidy
Umami is MSG
The long and winding road of a fantasy-delivery device for our palates
“Godzilla Minus One” Doesn't Quite Add Up
Takashi Yamazaki delivers an exquisitely rendered postwar Japan. But does his re-envisioning of history go too far?
Halloween Special: the Yokai Guy
Manga master Shigeru Mizuki breathed new life into the undead
Halloween Spooks Shibuya
A neighborhood’s love-hate for the holiday boils over
An interview with Alfred Birnbaum
Translator of Haruki Murakami’s "A Wild Sheep Chase," and many others
Murakami didn’t, but a Norwegian would
What we talk about when we talk about Haruki Murakami’s elusive Nobel Prize
Osamu Tezuka's "Com"
A revolution in storytelling that played out against an actual revolution.
Japan's Moonshot
Japan has long reached out to the world through its toys. Now it’s sending them to the stars.