• Measuring the Effects of Partisanship on Pie-Eating
• Finland Bakery Sells Dried Cricket Bread, Insect-Based Food Has Protein Than Wheat Load
• Finland Baker Launches Bread Made from Crushed Crickets
• The Hidden History of Scandinavia’s Love of Cardamom
• Survey Finds That Osaka People Don’t Eat Takoyaki Octopus Balls as Much…
Big Bucks
• Countries with Walmart Vs. Countries with McDonald’s
• The World’s Largest Starbucks Just Opened in Shanghai, and We Have One Word: Wow
• World’s Largest, Most Lavish Starbucks Opens in Shanghai
• The World’s Largest Starbucks Is 30,000 Square Feet and Just Opened in China
• These 5 Giant Companies Control the World’s Bee…
Shore Things
• Evolution Row Ends as Scientists Declare Sponges to Be Sister of All Other Animals
• Stunning Footage of Coral Spawning in the Aquarium at the Australian National Sea Simulator
• Fascinating Oyster Facts
• ‘Not Ashamed’: Dolphin Hunters of Taiji Break Silence over Film the Cove
• A Tidy Little Octopus Tos…
Art Bits
• Why the Lion Is Art’s Most Powerful Symbol
• Hustle Is as Important as Technique to Cash in on Africa’s Art Boom
• Yasunari Kawabata’s Surrealist Window on the World
• Social Media Accounts You Should Follow If You’re a Fan of Freaky Found Art
• While Men Are Failing, ‘Hidden’ Works by Women Are Being Re…
School Boared
• Students in Finland, the World’s Best-Educated Country, React to Japan’s Harsh School Rules
• Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Mascot Finalists Unveiled
• Japanese Elementary Students Will Judge the Official 2020 Tokyo Olympics Mascot
• Watch: Wild Boars Cause Havoc at School in Japan
• Wild Boar Shot Dead after Ra…
Junk Food News
• Naples’ Pizza Twirling Wins Unesco ‘Intangible’ Status
• Hold the Pineapple: Naples Celebrates as Pizza Awarded Special Status by Unesco
• ISS Astronauts Make Pizza in Zero Gravity
• Astronauts Making Pizza in Zero Gravity on Board the International Space Station
• Oreo Just Revealed Its ‘Mystery Flavor…
Words of the Year 2017
• ‘Complicit’ Is the Word of the Year, According to Dictionary.com
• Dictionary.com Chooses ‘Complicit’ as Its Word of the Year
• Word of the Year 2017: Dictionary.com Says ‘Complicit’ Topped ‘Totality’
• Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2017: ‘Feminism’
• Nobody in the UK Has Ever…
Conversation School
• The Secret Life of ‘Um’
• Why Small Talk Is Actually Really Good for You
• The Police Have Discovered Social Media Banter — the Result Is No Joke
• The Languages That Take the Most (and Least) Time to Learn, per the US Foreign Service
• A Map Showing How Much Time It Takes to Learn Foreign Languages: Fro…
Working in Japan
• Stubbornly Resistant to Change, Japan Is Finally Giving in for the Sake of Tourism
• Drone Curbs Overtime in Japan by Blasting Workers with Music
• Japanese Employees Work So Much That Drones Will Soon Intervene
• Japanese Company Prohibits Employees from Smoking on Their Commute to the Office
• I Tried to Take My Child…
Muji International
• Akiko Katayama: Making the Leap from Business to Food in NYC
• How Muji, Japan’s Most Famous Anti-Brand, Plans to Win America
• Muji Is Now Selling $27,000, 98 Square Foot Micro-Home ‘Huts’
• I Rented a Friend in Japan, and It Made Me a Better Friend
• Strangers Fondle Japanese Woman’s Breasts as Part of ‘Fre…
Aging in Japan
• A Generation in Japan Faces a Lonely Death
• A Lonely Death
• Osaka Mayor to End Sister City Status with San Francisco over ‘Comfort Women’ Statue
• Japan’s Osaka to Snap Sister City Link with San Francisco over ‘Comfort Women’ Statue
• One of Japan’s Few Female Shinto Priests Was Killed in a Samurai-Sword Attack. Was…
Thinking Points
• Alan Alda: Relating Through Improvisation
• Nobel Prize Winners Are Put to the Task of Drawing Their Discoveries
• What to Do 30 Days, Hours, and Minutes Before A Brainstorming Session
• How Elon Musk Uses the Scientific Method
• Highly Intelligent Leaders Rated as Less Effectiv…
Who’s Bigger?
• These Are All the Places That Europeans Actually Discovered
• Australia Compared to the Continental United States
• The Size of Japan Compared with New Zealand
• Japan, How Big It Is in Reality?
• The Size of the Middle East Compared to the United States
• How Big Greenland Actually Is
Around Japan 8
• Raze, Rebuild, Repeat: Why Japan Knocks down Its Houses after 30 Years
• Bold as Brass: Trombonists Take over Last Train, Earn Twitter Fans and Critics
• Japan Anger over South Korea’s Shrimp Surprise for Donald Trump
• Japanese Company Tries to Create Motivational Poster, Accidentally Creates Demotivati…
Around Japan 7
• Watch Black in Tokyo, a Short Documentary about Living in Japan as a Black Person
• Takayama-Laos Connection (Google Translate)
• Miss Laos 2011 Louknum Posts ‘Japan’ Via Social Media
• Yaoi Fans Rejoice as Shinto Shrine Seemingly Opens Part-Time Positions for Male Shrine Maidens
• Only 36% of Toilets in Pu…
Unspeakable Horrors of Japan’s Rail System
• New York’s Holiday Nostalgia Trains
• Japanese Rail Company Apologises after Train Departs 20 Seconds Early
• Japanese Rail Company Apologises after Train Leaves 20 Seconds Early
• Tokyo Train Company’s Apology for 20-Second-Early Departure Is One of the Best Things about Japa…
Poignant Memoir Moves from Afar
• Why a 19th Century American Slave Memoir Is Becoming a Bestseller in Japan’s Bookstores
• A 19th-Century American Slave Memoir Is a Huge Hit in Japan
• ‘This Is Surreal’: Descendants of Slaves and Slaveowners Meet on US Plantation
• Networking Group Invites White People to ‘Come Meet a Black Person’
Slip into the Library
• Salting Roads Saves Lives, But Also Takes a Major Environmental Toll
• A Hilarious Japanese Game Show Featuring Contestants Struggling to Climb Slippery Stairs
• Slippery Stairs Is the Japanese Game Show the World Never Knew It Needed
• The Stairs in a Viral Sensation Public Library in Ch…
Refugee Rescuers
• Man Who Spent Retirement Repairing Norfolk Milestones Hidden from Nazis Wins Prize
• A Cycling Legend’s Secret War Mission: Saving Italy’s Jews
• 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Schindler’s List
• His Brother’s Keeper: ‘Chinese Schindler’ Defied His Government to Rescue More Than 3,000 Austrian Jews
• Latin America’s Schindl…
Viewing Pleasure
• The Art of the Japanese Teapot: Watch a Master Craftsman at Work, from the Beginning until the Startling End
• New Book on Practical Geometry for Designers, Builders and History Lovers: ‘From Truths to Tools’
• Why Do We Get So Much Pleasure from Symmetry?
• Don’t Look at My Nipples
• The Faces on Every U.S. Bil…
Democracy in Peril
• Climate Policy Can Help Avert Modern Liberalism’s ‘Doom Loop’
• The Doom Loop of Modern Liberalism
• Democracy Is Like Fun: You Can’t Set Your Mind to Having It
• The Death of Liberalism in Japan
• We Have to Rethink What “Educated” Means in a Post-Truth World
• A Philosopher Ponders the…
Pacific Gravity
• The Most Popular World Leaders
• Asians Talk about Expectations for Trump’s Visit
• Abe and Trump to Rekindle Friendship, But Not All See Rapport as Positive for Japan, Survey Says
• South Korea Can’t Resist Shading Japan at Its Dinner for Trump
• The All-Female Police For…
Banter & Boulder
• Why ‘Bushman Banter’ Was Crucial to Hunter-Gatherers’ Evolutionary Success
• Why It’s Human Nature to Ignore Our Instincts
• Jimmy Chin on the Deeper Meaning of Climbing
• Japanese Gardens: The Enigmatic Art of Raked Gravel and Rocks Does Not Give up Its Secrets Lightly
• Don’t Convert Africa…
Around Japan 6
• Abandoned Land in Japan Will Be the Size of Austria by 2040
• Mount Fuji Has Become So Congested with Tourists That It Has Reached Breaking Point
• How Japanese High-Speed Trains Handle Earthquakes
• The Greatest Earthquake Zones on Earth
• What Do Volcano Warning Signs Really Tell Us?
Merkel Tops Power List
• How Long and How Often Do Japanese Women Bathe? Survey Investigates
• Japanese Women List Reasons They Wish Their Husbands Would Die in New Husband Death Note Book
• The Top 10 Traits of “Domestic” Women in Japan, According to Japanese Men
• 5 Powerful Reasons to Be a Woman in Japa…
Harrassment Claims Spread
• Sexual Harassment Allegations Hit the Restaurant Business
• When Will the ‘Harvey Effect’ Reach Academia?
• Confronting Sexual Harassment in Science
• ‘It’s Hurting Everyone’: The Truth about Sexual Misconduct in the Art World
• 2,000 Women Are Speaking out Against Rampant Sexual Harassment in the Art Worl…
Butterball, Bath, & Beyond
• Japan’s “Leftover Bathwater Drink” Wants You to Imagine Beautiful Nude Women as You Sip It
• KFC Cooks Up Fried Chicken Bath Salts in Japan
• You Can Now Smell Like Fried Chicken Thanks to This KFC Drumstick Bath Bomb
• This Ice Cream Is Flavored Like Thanksgiving Dinner Foods
• Thanksgiving-Inspired Ice…
Meals on Wheels, Wings, & Instagram
• A Japanese Convenience Store Used Drones to Deliver Fried Chicken to Fukushima
• Drone Delivers Food to Japan Town Hit by Nuclear Disaster
• How to Buy Milk at the Store in Japan, Even If You Don’t Read or Speak Any Japanese
• Meals on Wheels ‘Should Dish Out Keep-Fit Tips’ to Stave Off Infirmit…
Around Japan 5
• The Secret Lives of Japanese Families: 8 Unusual Household Rules Revealed
• Japanese Artist Reveals the Truth Behind All Those Happy Photos on Social Media
• Japanese Artist Illustrates the Right and Wrong Ways to Carry an Umbrella on Public Transport
• Why Do Japanese People Wear Medical Masks in Public?
• A Japanes Teenager is S…
Robot Roundup 1
• Should Children Form Emotional Bonds with Robots?
• Saudi Arabia Bestows Citizenship on a Robot Named Sophia
• Saudi Arabia’s Robot Love Is Getting Weird
• Ford Built a Robot Butt to Test the Seats in Its Cars
• This Robot Snake Means You No Harm, Really
• Do Russian-Backed Bots …
Sugar, Cream, Or Sake?
• Caffe Latte with Sake: The Newest Way to Relax in Kyoto
• Trendy Coffee Shops Are Now Adding Oat Milk to Your Brew
• Crushing an Egg into Your Coffee Sounds Disgusting — But It Makes an Amazing-Tasting Drink
• What’s the Price of Coffee in Japan? Twitter User Investigates
• Starbucks Is Bringing an Italian Bakery Chain to th…
Treedom
• From Tennessee to Japan, Here Are 9 Otherworldly Forest Bathing Destinations
• A Biologist Believes That Trees Speak a Language We Can Learn
• The Wisdom of Trees: Walt Whitman on What Our Silent Friends Teach Us about Being Rather Than Seeming
• When You Think of Freedom, Remember the Charter of the Forest, Not the Ma…
Around Japan 4
• Gifu’s Yanagiya — Is This the Best Restaurant on the Planet?
• Kaki: The Miracle Japanese Persimmon
• Japanese Women Rank the Otaku Obsessions They Can Most Forgive in a Partner
• City Hands Manhole Covers to Lottery-Picked Buyers
• Translation Debate: How Do You Say “Oh My God!” in Japanes…
Books to School
• Jimbocho: Spending a Day in Tokyo’s Book District
• Drawn and Quarterly’s Incredible Montreal Book Store
• A Love Letter Fell out of an Old Paris Guidebook — and Set a Filmmaker on an Obsessive Quest
• New Zealand Library Cracks Case of the Missing Books
• New Zealand Library Solves Mystery of Missing Book…
Fear & Clothing
• 72% of Americans Fear a Major War in the Next Four Years
• America’s Top Fears 2017 – Chapman University Survey of American Fears
• ‘Nowhere to Hide’: North Korean Missiles Spur Anxiety in Japan Fishing Town
• China’s President Just Laid out a Worrying Vision for the World
• Jackie Chan Goes Undercover on the Internet and Respon…
Around Japan 3
• Which Japanese Anime Character Should Be Prime Minister of Japan?
• Stuff That Happens in Morning Rush Hour Trains in Japan
• Post-War Common Sense That Is Inconceivable Now
• Foreigners Misreading Japanese Kanji of “Two Men One Woman” Is Too Pure for Japanese Internet
• Letter from First-Grade …
Cheese Tea & Garlic Coffee
• ‘Happy Chemical’ Discovered in Beer?
• Bubbly Ballistics: How Temperature Affects Champagne’s Signature Pop
• Colombians Have for Years Grown Amazing Coffee. Finally, They’re Drinking It
• I Put Peanuts in Coke to See What the Fuss Is About
• How Do You Use a Jar of Peanut Butter…
Flying Business
• When Chuck Yeager Tweeted Details About His Historic, Sound Barrier-Breaking Flight
• The Flying Martha Ornithopter, a Winged Mechanical Toy That Soars with the Power of a Rubber Band
• No More Flying with Reindeer: Unique Alaska Planes to Retire
• A Japanese Airline Wants to Make Crying Babies on Planes a Thing of the Pas…
Long Live Nature
• Why Forests and Rivers Are the Most Potent Health Tonic around
• The Philosophical Appreciation of Rocks in China & Japan: A Short Introduction to an Ancient Tradition
• How the Japanese Practice of Forest Bathing Helps Candice Kumai Stay Grounded
• Ikigai Is the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
• The Latest Longevity H…
Tree Knowledge
• Ancient Tree That Tore Itself Apart Only to Regrow ‘Most Complicated’ Ever Found
• The Life of Johnny Appleseed
• Alarm as Study Reveals World’s Tropical Forests Are Huge Carbon Emission Source
• Tropical Forests Used to Protect Us from Climate Change. Now, Scientists Say, They’re Making It Worse
• Forest Loss Means Tropics…
Unanticipated Arrivals
• Tons of Living Animals Have Floated from Japan to Oregon on Plastic Junk
• Coastal Creatures Are Crossing Oceans Floating on Makeshift Rafts of Plastic Debris, Warn Scientists
• Sea Critters Hitchhiked Across the Pacific on Tsunami Debris
• Debris from 2011 Tsunami Carried Invasive Species to North Americ…
Connect the Dots
• Visually Speaking: 14 Podcasts That Draw out the History of Art
• Discover 3 Incredible Cave Art Sites in Europe
• 15 Things You Should Know about Jacques-Louis David’s ‘Death of Socrates’
• 15 Things You Should Know about Jacques-Louis David’s ‘Napoleon Crossing the Alps’
• Experts Believe Leonardo DaVinci Drew Nude Mona Lis…
Museum Musings
• The Guggenheim Caves to Threats — and Squashes Free Expression
• Selfies in Art Museums
• The Rise of the Made-For-Instagram Museum
• Welcome to the Age of the “Insta-View”: Instagram Interviews Become Popular in Japan
• Man Proposes to His Girlfriend With an Illustration of Him P…
Coffee Quickies
• Starbucks Closes Online Store to Focus on In-Person Experience
• Things You Might Not Know about Denny’s
• Tim Hortons Does Unthinkable, Creates Buffalo Sauce-Flavored Latte
• Start off Your Day with a Hot Cup of Buffalo Wing Coffee
• Is Egg Coffee the New Bulletproof-Style Caffeine Fix?
• Top 10 Japanese School Lu…
A Little Real America
• “Why Does Each State ~?” Google Search Autocomplete Maps
• What US States Want: Google Autocomplete, 2014
• By the Numbers: How Americans Spend (More of) Their Money
• How Americans Watch TV
• This Is What Dinnertime Really Looks Like Around the US
• The Food Each State Hates th…
A Needle and a Haystack
• Japanese Rice Paddy Art
• Gorgeously Detailed Artistic Masterpieces Grown out of Rice Paddies in Inakadate, Japan
• Giant Straw Animals Invade Japanese Fields after Rice Harvest
• Incredible Animal Sculptures Made out of Rice Straw for the 2017 Wara Art Festival in Northern Japan
• Wara Art Festival 2017 Tim…
Ishiguro Wins Nobel
• Kazuo Ishiguro: Nobel Prize Winner and a Novelist for All Times
• Ishiguro’s Nobel Prize Win Is Another Year of Disappointment for Haruki Murakami Fans
• Japanese Roots of Nobel Winner Kazuo Ishiguro Celebrated
• Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘There Is a Slightly Chilly Aspect to Writing Fictio…
Just Say No to Overwork
• The Desire for Pregnant Japanese Women to Stay Thin Has Far-Reaching Effects on Their Babies’ Kidneys
• This 31-Year-Old Japanese Journalist Died Holding a Phone after Working 159 Hours of Overtime in a Month
• ‘I’m Physically and Mentally Shattered’: TV Reporter Worked Herself to Death
• Japanese Firm Fined Token…
Brief History
• Tokyo Is Preparing for Floods ‘Beyond Anything We’ve Seen’
• Twins of the Apocalypse: What Hiroshima and the Climate Threat Have in Common
• Q&A: Why Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Is Calling an Election
• Shinzo Abe’s Electoral Rival Yuriko Koike Is Vowing to Take down One of Japan’s Greatest Evils — Hay Feve…
Down the Drain
• Why You Should Never Flush Dental Floss Down the Toilet
• Why Is Someone Clogging Swiss Toilets with Tens of Thousands of Euros in Cash?
• Scientists Find Gold Worth $2 Million in Swiss Sewage
• No More Platform No 2s: Train Toilets to Stop Emptying on to Tracks
• The Ghosts of Japanese School Toilet…
Man Conquers World
• How the QWERTY Pattern Became the Industry Standard for Typewriters and Computer Keyboards
• How QWERTY Conquered Keyboards
• How Pinball Machines Are Made
• People Bingo Is a Great Ice Breaker for Adults
• Have Wife Will Carry: Couples Vie in Wife-Carrying Contes…
Have a Nice Trip
• Why Photos of the Eiffel Tower at Night Are Illegal
• Six Things You Might Not Know Are Actually Illegal to Do While Driving
• Seemingly Harmless Things That Can Get You Banned from Disney World
• Disney Has a Secret Code Name for Rude Visitors
• Disneyland Characters Finally Speak to Park-Goer…
Dateline Japan 1
• Japanese Men Reveal the Halloween Costumes They Most Want to See on Women
• New Smartphone App Helps Lonely Women in Japan Make Female Friends, Forbids Date Requests
• Lists of What Gives Japanese Women a Good or Bad First Impression of Men Are Confusingly Similar
• Japanese Women Reveal the…
Aging, Aji, & Cafe Culture
• Japanese Portable Alarm to Keep Laptops Safe When Working from a Cafe Smashes Crowdfunding Goal
• Modern Laundromat-Cafe in Japan Helps Customers Pass the Time
• Clothes Washing and Ironing in Japan
• Japanese People List Their Top Ten Fish, and Tuna Isn’t Number On…
Living Language
• ‘Alt-Right,’ ‘Troll’ and ‘Dog Whistle’ Among New Entries Added to Merriam-Webster Dictionary
• ‘Froyo,’ ‘Troll,’ and ‘Sriracha’ Added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
• Merriam-Webster Isn’t Trolling You, It’s Just Redefining What That Means
• Languages with a Synthetic Pluperfect Tense (Or… (Linguistic Map…
Playa Ukulele, Anyone?
• Emergency Playa Ukuleles
• Bonkers Human Centipede Race Against a Bull Looks Ridiculously High Risk
• Hide-And-Seek World Championship
• Hobby Horsing Around
• Want a Fun Party Game? Now ‘That’s a Question!’
• 27 Adorably Strange Birthday Party Themes Kids Have Chosen
• The Lost Origins of …
Around Japan 2
• Video: Why Homelessness in Japan Is Different Than in North America
• Homeless in Japan, Part 2: Who They Are
• Japan Is No Place for Single Mothers
• Japanese Survey Picks “Slightly Plump” as the Cutest Body Type for Women
• No, Japan Doesn’t Have a Special Phrase for Mansplainin…
War Stories
• ‘I May Have to Disobey My Government’: Lessons from ‘Japan’s Schindler’
• During WW II Two Americans Escaped the Japanese by Sailing 3,000 Miles in a Wooden Fishing Boat
• The Location of Internment Camps Had Profound, Long-Lasting Effects on Japanese-Americans Assigned to Them
• Macarthur’s Japan — This Br…
Artificial Ingredients
• The Amazing Ways Coca Cola Uses Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to Drive Success
• Orchestra Conductors Watch Out – Here’s a Robot Who Can Do the Job
• Robot Conductor Leads Beautiful Live Orchestra Performance
• Japanese Robot Dog Sniffs Your Feet and Faints If They’re Smell…
Around Town 1
• Driverless Shuttles Could Help Seniors Get around in Rural Japan
• Where Does ‘Taking Back Control’ Leave Our Shopping Streets? In Cloud Cuckoo Land
• One Italian City’s Ingenious Plan to Combat Xenophobia with Design
• Vending Machine Startup Hopes to Put Bodegas out of Business
Around Japan 1
• Tokyo Is Now Home to a Karaoke-Themed Ferris Wheel
• Japanese Woman Punches Boyfriend, Charms Internet Following His Terrible Restaurant Manners
• Tour of a Japanese Convenience Store
• Japanese Companies Poke Fun at Their Own Products in Hilariously Self-Deprecating Advertisement…
Who’s Happiest?
• The Happiest States in America
• And the Happiest State in America Is …
• This Is the State You Need to Move to If You Wanna Be Happy, Research Says
• Why Denmark Is the World’s Happiest Country
• A Lykke Life: The Six Pillars of Happiness That Are Found Across the Globe
• The Little Book of Lykke: The …
Hidden Treasures 1
• Boston University Students Discover 1915 Time Capsule Hidden in Storage
• English School Caretaker Discovers Medieval Coin Hoard Buried in Playground
• New Zealander Finds Photos in Antique Japanese Sewing Box, Requests Internet’s Help Tracing Them
• Garage Sale Jewelry Turns out to Be Worth $30,000