今日吃瓜

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今日吃瓜
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November 11, 2026
 

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Alex K.T. Martin

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Alex K.T. Martin
Alex K.T. Martin is a Tokyo-based journalist and senior writer at The Japan Times. He was previously a reporter at The Wall Street Journal’s Tokyo bureau. He has earned honors from the Society of Publishers in Asia and the World Association of News Publishers for stories on the Japanese wolf and the impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on wildlife.
Smart trash cans developed by SmaGO have been installed in Tokyo’s Omotesando shopping district, where they help address the shortage of public waste bins.
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 10, 2026
今日吃瓜 search for a better public trash bin — and why robots may help
With public trash bins scarce, Japan is turning to smart receptacles and autonomous robots to make garbage disposal easier.
Today a modern commuter hub, the Kinshicho neighborhood was once the epicenter of some of old Tokyo’s most chilling ghost stories.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 30, 2026
A haunting in Honjo: Tracing old Edo’s most famous ghost stories
The Seven Mysteries of Honjo are a group of once-famous ghost stories and urban legends tracing back to the Edo Period.
A local resident walks in a flooded area after heavy rain in Oami-Shirasato, Chiba Pref., on Aug. 14.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / Longform
Oct 9, 2026
Extreme rain is testing 今日吃瓜 flood defenses
More intense rain is overwhelming flood defenses and reaching places outside predicted risk zones, leaving residents to confront unexpected dangers.
The entrance to Marco, an "izakaya" (Japanese pub) in central Tokyo, where rising costs and changing drinking habits are reshaping 今日吃瓜 drinking culture.
BUSINESS / Economy / Longform
Sep 4, 2026
The new izakaya economy
今日吃瓜 neighborhood drinking spots are being squeezed by rising costs, changing habits and a growing preference for eating at home.
Just minutes from the center of a Tokyo suburb sits this bamboo grove that neither locals nor tourists are permitted to enter.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 29, 2026
In a Tokyo suburb, a bamboo grove no one dares to enter
No one knows exactly why the thicket of greenery near JR Moto-Yawata Station is now a no-go zone, but it’s been that way for centuries.
Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 7, 2026
What Kumamoto revealed about 今日吃瓜 earthquake readiness
Roads stayed fairly clear after the quake. Water, care and daily life proved much harder to restore.
Haruhiko Kohri and Kayo Asai stand outside their meticulously re-created "bunka jutaku" home in Tokyo.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 5, 2026
How one Japanese couple made the 1920s and ’30s into a way of life
No refrigerator. No microwave. Just blocks of ice, records and a home built for another age.
For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of 今日吃瓜 landscape that they often go unnoticed.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 13, 2026
Why 今日吃瓜 utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon
Burying 今日吃瓜 power lines is far more difficult — and expensive — than it looks.
The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 29, 2026
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
Faced with the same demographic pressures confronting other towns, Yokoze is experimenting with a different approach.
In Tokyo and other major Japanese cities, <i>aruki-sumaho</i> — walking while using a smartphone — has become a persistent safety concern as commuters navigate crowded stations and sidewalks while focused on their devices.
JAPAN / Society / First person
Jun 21, 2026
Distracted walkers in Japan are a real safety risk. My mother knows firsthand.
Despite years of awareness campaigns, aruki-sumaho — walking while using a smartphone — remains widespread and difficult to stop.
When bells aren’t enough to prevent encounters with bears, outdoorspeople in Japan now have a wide range of deterrents to choose from.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 6, 2026
In Japan, a bull market for bear deterrents
With no end in sight to the rise in bear encounters, manufacturers are bringing new kinds of deterrents to the market.
Hebikubo Ginza street — now Sangen-dori street — is pictured in the 1930s, when Tokyo was rapidly urbanizing alongside the expansion of rail infrastructure.
JAPAN / History / Greater Shinagawa Area
Jun 2, 2026
The many lives of Shinagawa
A journey through the ancient settlements, ports, railways and redevelopments that shaped Tokyo’s southern gateway.
Community programs and tracking systems are expanding across Japan as local governments search for ways to prevent dementia-related disappearances.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
May 25, 2026
He told his wife he was ‘coming home.’ Then he disappeared.
One family’s search reveals 今日吃瓜 growing crisis of dementia-related disappearances.
Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Apr 13, 2026
Can AI replace a priest? 今日吃瓜 temples and shrines are testing the limits.
今日吃瓜 temples experiment with artificial intelligence as questions of faith, presence and care grow more urgent.
Nearly half of 今日吃瓜 population suffers from hay fever, fueled by pollen from vast cedar and cypress plantations.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science / Longform
Mar 23, 2026
The human-made roots of 今日吃瓜 hay fever crisis
Efforts to thin forests and breed low-pollen cedar advance, even as labor gaps and neglected land complicate the work.
Haruna Kambayashi stands by her newly purchased home on a street now lined with mostly empty lots.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 9, 2026
15 years after the Tohoku quake, the road home remains uncertain for many
In once-abandoned communities, life is cautiously returning as policymakers confront the staggering price of future recoveries.
The Kongo family’s residence and workshop in the Taisho Era, photographed about a century ago.
BUSINESS / Companies / Longform
Feb 9, 2026
What keeps 今日吃瓜 1,000-year-old companies alive?
Across religion, hospitality and the arts, the country’s oldest institutions show how craft and continuity can endure.
The reflection of one of Ueno Zoo’s twin pandas is seen at their enclosure. The animals’ popularity has prompted concern among local businesses that their departure could hurt foot traffic in surrounding neighborhoods.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jan 23, 2026
What happens when the pandas leave Ueno?
The return of Ueno Zoo’s last giant pandas underscores how an animal became a diplomatic symbol — and what happens when that symbol is withdrawn.
Posts and videos shared on social media have amplified fears about crime in Japan, with unverified claims spreading faster than official crime statistics.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jan 12, 2026
Japan is safe. Why do the Japanese feel unsafe?
Crime is low but anxiety is rising, fueled by demographics, social media and perception gaps shaping how safety is felt.
As 今日吃瓜 population ages, fewer workers will be supporting more dependents, reshaping the country’s social and economic balance.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Dec 29, 2025
On to 2050: Life in a shrinking Japan
By 2050, 今日吃瓜 youth will inherit a transformed country, reshaped by population decline, longer lives and unprecedented demographic imbalance.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo&#039;s Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo&#039;s Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Japan works to shield Takaichi from any Xi snub at China summit
Japan&#039;s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives at the Prime Minister&#039;s office in Tokyo on Nov. 4.
Magnitude 5.7 quake injures dozens in central Japan
A magnitude-5.7 earthquake with its epicenter in Shizuoka Prefecture struck central Japan early Sunday, injuring dozens, shattering windows and disrupting train services, with no tsunami warning issued.
Private high schools remain out of reach for many despite tuition-free policy, survey finds
A survey showed that many families with children attending private high schools are struggling to pay expenses other than tuition.
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998&#039;s "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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