1. The all-party meeting chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh saw the Centre brief political leaders on the evolving West Asia situation, with a focus on energy security, diplomacy and the safety ...
Business-formal tradition melts away in modern-temperature Tokyo.For a very long time, the baseline attitude in Japan has been that if you’re working in an office, you should be wearing formal business attire. However, while people in Japan may place great value on traditions, climate change, by its very nature, is unconcerned with conforming to the status quo. With Japan Meteorological Agency data showing the country has experienced its hottest summer on record for three years in a row, the Tok
Seventh Heaven becomes Lemon’s Heaven.Final Fantasy VII is an adventure on a grand scale, taking players into ancient temples, mysterious caverns, and high-tech military facilities. One of its most memorable locations, though, is the bar Seventh Heaven.Run by protagonist Cloud’s childhood friend (and best Final Fantasy VII female cast member) Tifa, Seventh Heaven serves as not only a gathering place for the local community, but also as the base of operations for resistance group Avalanche. As de
Priest enlightened himself of the burdens incurred when paying for insurance.I think most of us view Buddhist priests as centered people who aren’t swayed by the materialistic temptations that cause some to commit crime. But much like snowflakes, all Buddhist priests are unique creations of their own karma, and there are even some who end up going on a nationwide spending spree with someone else’s health insurance card.Buddhist priest Terukazu Hirokaga was arrested after he was caught impersonat
An even more convenient way to get ice cream. Whenever someone from overseas raves about Japanese convenience stores, they’re usually talking about the big three – 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson.▼ However, there’s another well-known chain that’s often overlooked: Ministop.Despite being well-known, Ministop reported a net loss of 5.6 billion yen (US$35 million) for the fiscal year ending February 2026, its third consecutive year in the red. The news has sparked concern among longtime fans
When you support these cool grandparents, you’ll get a lot in return too.There are plenty of green tea stores vying for your attention in Japan, but right now there’s one that deserves to go straight to the top of your must-visit list, and it’s called G-Cha & Ba-Cha.This humorous-sounding name, which is a lot of fun to say, is a play on the words for “tea” (“ocha” or “cha“), and grandpa (“jiichan“) and grandma (“baachan&
You don’t look a day over 30 lives.On this very day in 1986, a piece of code was accidentally left in the Famicom (NES) version of Konami’s Gradius that allowed anyone to completely juice up their spaceship by pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, then A on the controller. And so began the legendary “Konami Code”, which really caught on in the West as a way to get 30 lives in Contra.And in celebration of the cheat code’s 40th anniversary, Konami has opened a commemorative web
There was more than one famous Masako at this year’s Spring Garden Party.Every year in spring, the imperial family of Japan hosts a Spring Garden Party on the grounds of the Akasaka Estate, an elegantly maintained green space in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. Our invitation must have gotten lost in the mail, so unfortunately we weren’t among the guests in attendance to hobnob with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on April 17.However, in addition to the wife of Japan’s reigning monarch, there was anothe
Many people with dreams are poised to save understaffed kitchens, but they’re currently stuck behind a bureaucratic velvet rope.Two facets of Japanese culture that are world-renowned are its incredible service and its culinary scene, but there is an ever-growing issue that the industry is facing in that there are fewer and fewer people behind the counters to actually offer it. A critical shortage of staff is putting a strain on many of the areas within the industry, from local eateries to meal s
Final Fantasy XIV VR experience will give you the chance to prove you’re the kweh-kist Chocobo jockey around.Fukushima recently unveiled a travel promotion in conjunction with Final Fantasy, inviting travelers to visit the prefecture and search for the video game franchise’s iconic avian character. However, as fans know, Chocobos aren’t just Final Fantasy’s mascot, they’re the series mounts too, and so now comes word of a chance to ride Chocobos.This offer is coming to us from Tyffon, a maker of
American casual aesthetic, thoughtful Japanese design.With the weather heating up, it’s time to start switching our wardrobes for lighter clothes, and if you find that your T-shirt collection needs a spruce up, Studio Ghibli has exactly what you’re looking for.Produced by the studio’s cool GBL brand, which boasts an “American casual” aesthetic for hip fashion-savvy individuals, the 2026 Spring Summer GBL Basic T-Shirt range contains 12 different designs. Despite the
Walk the streets of Kyoto like a modern geisha with this exclusive four-piece collection. Converse are widely known for being better quality in Japan, due to the fact that the brand is independently managed here by Japanese company Itochu rather than Nike. Now, there’s even more reason to pick up a pair of Converse kicks in Japan, thanks to a new collaboration with Kyoto Ippuya, a fabric workshop located at the foot of Kiyomizudera in Kyoto.▼ The range is being promoted by a maiko, an appr
McWhoNow? I’ll take the 40 mil.Burger King has been on quite the tear in Japan recently. Their explosive post-pandemic expansion saw them grow from 77 locations to 352, with a target of 600 by 2028. These ambitions caught the attention of Goldman Sachs, who purchased the Japanese chain for 78.5 billion yen (US$493M), and provided them with even more financial backing to grow rapidly.Burger King is certainly holding up their end of the deal by launching quite possibly the most aggressive expansio
Skip the guilt of camping at a coffee shop and work for hours at this staffless oasis.While cafes are fantastic places to call in on your day off for a light meal while you’re doing your errands, many people also like to use them as a “remote office” or study location, often spending many hours sitting at a table. Ordinarily this doesn’t pose much of a problem, but in the larger cities, with a lot more foot traffic, the sense of guilt of occupying a table for so long can get a little too m
The apology may have taken longer than the delay.Enough has been said about the extreme punctuality of trains in Japan that it’s become as famous a cultural feature as sushi or decorative manhole lids. It’s so much a part of life here that people rely on its precise, to-the-minute accuracy, and even a slight deviation can throw someone’s itinerary completely off.That is why JR East’s Aomori division had to issue a public apology for a three-minute delay due to a conductor not waking
The results of this taste test are truly baffling. If you’re walking around town with a hankering for burgers and a big appetite to fill, Burger King is usually one of the top options. Not only does this chain serve good-sized burgers but it also offers limited-time all-you-can-eat specials, and now there’s a new way to get more burger for your yen, with a customisation called “All Heavy”.This upsize option, which lets you request extra lettuce, onions, pickles, ketchup,
Japanese convenience store chain serves up two green tea drinks for a limited time.7-Eleven struck gold when it launched an exclusive line of smoothies at its stores around Japan in 2023. The freshly made drinks quickly became a hit with local customers and those visiting from overseas, spawning new flavours like Acai, Banana, and even Sweet Potato.Amongst all these flavours, however, there was one that was particularly popular, but it was a blink-and-you’ll miss it release. Only available
Sip your coffee to the backdrop of a magnificent, panoramic view next to this Starbucks in Toyama Prefecture.Starbucks Japan will often go to great lengths in designing its branches to blend in with the local atmosphere. We’ve previously visited one such branch that is often said to be the most beautiful Starbucks in the world, which also underwent renovations not quite six years ago. That location is the one within Toyama City’sFugan Unga Kansui Koen, called Kansui Park by the local
Anime will premier this summer and is the first made specifically for the Nagoya-area theme park.If you’re planning a trip to Ghibli Park, the Studio Ghibli anime theme park near Nagoya, before you reserve your tickets you’ll want to check the schedule of the park’s Cinema Orion. Located within the Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse section of the park, Cinema Orion shows short anime films produced by Studio Ghibli that can only be seen at Ghibli Park or Tokyo’s Ghibli Museum.Right now, for example, Boro
Summer in Japan keeps getting hotter and forces linguistic evolution.As we get into the back half of spring, it’s time to start getting ready for summer, doing things like taking your linen shirts out of storage, hitting the gym to get your beach body ready, and creating new vocabulary words for when the weather is really, really, really hot.OK that last one might not be on most of our to-do lists, but it was something the Japan Meteorological Agency, part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure