With her novel Higanbana ga Saku Shima 彼岸花が咲く島 (“Island Where the Autumn Equinox Flowers Bloom”), Li Kotomi is the first person since 2008 whose first…

This June, I decided it is time to escape a little from the busy Tokyo and headed to Kamakura, one of my favorite places in…

Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石 is one of Japan’s most famous novelists, and the only one to grace a banknote. He is credited with pioneering the synthesis…

In recent years, Japan has experienced a bit of a boom in popularizing the culture, or at least the aesthetic appeal, of its historical swords….

Unless you’re at a museum, getting ahold of ancient literary texts is virtually impossible — especially if they’re 300 years old. But thanks to the…