Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

For @nytimes I wrote about a couple's hunt for akiya: With their sights set on an income-generating investment they could also live in, two Californians set out to buy a traditional home in the city of Atami www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Exclusive: Have scientists found Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA? | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

"Expressions of unbridled power don't come blunter than abducting a sitting president from his capital in the dead of night," Nick Paton Walsh writes | Analysis https://cnn.it/3MVy0Po

Taito Ward has reached a court-sanctioned agreement with the 32 shops in Denboin St. They will leave by the end of July 2026, paying some rent for the remaining period but avoiding any backpayments for illegal occupation. www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/202...

Asahi article on some postwar advertising campaigns has some good photos. In 1950, the "Moshi Moshi Carnival" in Shimbashi, promoted rotary phones, which had started to become more available. www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ...

Don’t fall for AI-generated bear videos, experts warn Japan A spate of real attacks has prompted a flood of fake online content, including a café where people and bears sip lattes together, that is confusing viewers www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

I wrote about panda diplomacy for @thetimes Insult China? Then say sayonara to your pandas China has gifted more than 30 pandas to Japan since 1972. Now, for the first time in five decades, Japan will have none as relations sour and the bears are returned www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Toto says cumulative sales of the Washlet have surpassed 70 million. Launched in 1980, it took 18 years to sell 10 million Washlets. Overseas sales started kicking in from around 2010, and US demand has driven recent growth. www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/2025...

For @nytimes I wrote about Japan's 'Sound Princess' toilet noise-canceling tech entering men's rooms www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/r...

A new but nostalgic TV ad for Nikaido shochu -- this is rural Japan youtu.be/31TMkivdqQQ?...

Indonesia’s Jakarta now the world’s largest city, #Tokyo falls to third: UN aje.io/5qaqxh via @AJEnglish

Maki-e fountain pen #fountainpens #matsuzawa

"There are still people in the United States who don't know about American history," George Takei tells @fccjapan.bsky.social of his WWII internment, with Japanese translations of his books #StarTrek

Outage at Cloudflare Disrupts Parts of the Internet including X www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/b...

The Penny Dies at 232: A brilliant eulogy by Victor Mather www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...

Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom @fccjapan.bsky.social www.japantimes.co.jp/community/20...

Weekly Playboy says Niseko is flooded with cannabis and ecstasy, with foreigners willing to buy at multiples of prices elsewehere. Local police are largely ineffective. wpb.shueisha.co.jp/news/society...

North Korea has conducted a ballistic missile launch toward the sea off its east coast, says South Korea's military in a text message to reporters. No further details yet.

The Mainichi has an English article on the incident yesterday morning, when a bear broke into a high school gym in Yamagata, had a bit of a frolic, then left. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Takaichi says boosting Japan-U.S. alliance ‘top priority’ in first call with Trump www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10...

Couldn't recall why I'd saved this picture, Image search reminds me it's a photograph taken by Tokugawa Yoshinobu (the last Tokugawa shogun) of his cat, Han. It is perhaps Japan's oldest pet cat photo.

Love this. If I weren’t a journalist, I’d give it a try… www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/int...

Could your next pinot noir come from Japan’s snowiest region? Whisky distilling has long been a success in Hokkaido, the most northerly of Japan’s main islands, but its wines may also soon reach the highest standards www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Twitter user tarutora17 posted this clip from Sunday of Tōru Hashimoto saying he wants more foreigners in Japan, as being surrounded on the island by only Japanese makes him uncomfortable. You can probably guess not everyone cares for that view. news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/0f2...

Retracing Basho’s steps at the mountain temple of Yamadera in Yamagata, I was surprised to come across this postbox for the monks. Every weekday, in rain or shine, a Japan Post mail carrier has to climb 1,000 stairs to reach this box for the 11 am collection.

Yomiuri has a piece on why the Tama region is part of Tokyo, how it used to be part of Kanagawa, and the local movement calling for a separate Tama prefecture. There's actually good English material on this topic. www.yomiuri.co.jp/pluralphoto/...

The Mainichi has an English version of last week's article asking whether a culture of tipping will take hold in Japan. The answer proferred is "Probably not". mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Super Typhoon #Ragasa: A video circulating online shows floodwaters appearing to storm the lobby of the Fullerton Ocean Park Hong Kong Hotel. Full coverage: hongkongfp.com/typhoon-raga...

Fourteen Years After Japan’s Nuclear Disaster, People With Cancer Seek Answers www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/w...

Incredible NYT story: How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...

Rather disturbing that JAL has a watchlist of pilots who drink a lot

NewsGuard - Despite a year of technical advancements in the AI industry, generative AI tools fail at a nearly doubled rate when it comes to one of the most basic tasks: distinguishing facts from falsehoods. www.newsguardtech.com/ai-monitor/a...

Someone's asleep @Reuters PUTIN TELLS NORTH KOREA'S KIM: YOUR SOLDIERS FIGHTED BRAVELY

Sumida ward is offering luxury tourist plans. ¥900,000 per head for the sumo, ryotei & geisha. ¥1mln for sumo practice and a river cruise with geisha. ¥2.4mln would have got you a private cruise to watch last month's Sumida River Fireworks with geisha. www.roots-michi.jp/en

Just remarkable. Putin and Kim flanking Xi walking into the parade in a highly coordinated entrance ceremony, looking chummy and chit-chatty.

Fond farewell: now Japanese taxi firms will visit a grave for you. An ageing population and declining spirituality means fewer people are visiting the burial places of their ancestors, instead hiring drivers to tend them thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Trump, With Tariffs and Threats, Tries to Strong-Arm Nations to Retreat on Climate Goals www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/c...

Here are 10 historical/retro train stations in Japan that deserve to be seen for their own sake, as chosen by a panel of reviewers. trib.al/ImeJEWB

This year's Asagaya Tanabata Festival featured a papier mache Donald Trump.

I spoke with Hong Kong director Elizabeth Lo about her new documentary on a Chinese woman who works as a "mistress dispeller". Sounds like the wakaresaseya (relationship breakers) of Japan but with interesting differences www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Apologetic bows all round. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

North #Korea dismantles propaganda speakers as border tension eases: The move comes as Seoul put in place measures to reduce confrontation with its northern neighbour after the election of a new liberal president www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

A 75 year old collapsed while climbing Mt. Fuji, and later passed away. Headline says 山梨県側での死者は今シーズン初 (First death of the the climbing season on the Yamanashi side). www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/202...

At Yokohama cemetery, son pays tribute to Australian father lost in WWII https://trib.al/Ji4a2f7

Kirkus has given a Starred Review to my new book Blank Space: A Cultural History of the 21st Century, out on November 18: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

This year's poster for the Shibuya Bon Odori. That's Hachiko on the taiko. shibuyadogenzaka.com?p=6827

How Japan’s sarin gas death cult lives on as guru’s son takes charge: Shoko Asahara’s brutality shocked the world when 14 people were killed in a terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway. Thirty years later, his influence remains strong www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Chinese student allegedly used rice-sized earphone to cheat on TOEIC English test in Japan www.thetimes.com/article/f854...

Canada's Couche-Tard withdraws bid for 7-Eleven parent Seven & i. Circle K operator blames lack of 'constructive engagement' from Japanese group asia.nikkei.com/Business/Bus...