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Toru Hanai / Reuters How Your Name Became Japan’s Biggest Movie in Years
Makoto Shinkai’s animated film, newly released in North America, is a magical and ultimately optimistic coming-of-age story that taps into the country’s unique anxieties.
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Showbox Japanese Demons and Crotch Bombs: The Tense State of Asian Cinema
Movies from South Korean, China, and Japan have become increasingly nationalistic, thanks to ongoing territorial disputes and the 70th anniversary of World War II.
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The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Crying It Out in Japan
Tokyo gets into communal bawling.
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Oleg Sklyanchuk/Flickr Japan's Ministry of Cool
Ahead of hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, the country is ramping up government-sponsored efforts to promote its culture abroad.
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Mori Chack The Rise of Japan's Creepy-Cute Craze
"Gross" characters are proliferating in a country known for kawaii, and now even local governments' mascots are trying to out-weird one another.
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Disney; YTV The Misunderstood History of the Wacky Japanese Game Show
Zany contests have fallen out of style—even as the Western image of "crazy" Japanese TV seems to be ramping back up.
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Lady Gaga's Scandalous Attempt to Rally Fans, J-Pop Style
She's not the first to coax diehards into buying multiple copies of the same song. The practice is standard in Japan, for reasons that increasingly apply in U.S. pop music.
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Think the U.S. Is Having a '90s Nostalgia Craze? Take a Look at Japan
The country's unique social history and its current financial state have inspired a boom in pop-culture throwbacks to the end of the 20th century.
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Gangnam Squabbles: Why Asia's Pop-Music Superpowers Are Trading Disses
As political tensions have heightened between South Korea and Japan, so have tensions between fan bases.
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A Pop Star Shouldn't Shave Her Head in Shame for Having a Boyfriend
What Minami Minegishi's fall from grace says about gender relations in Japan.
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In Japan, Anyone Can Be a Holographic Pop Star
The DIY creator community that sprung up around CGI singer Hatsune Miku could represent the future of pop fandom.
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For Japan's Justin Biebers, No Selena Gomezes Allowed
J-Pop stars aren't allowed to date—but why?
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How J-Pop Stars Gain From the West's Obsession With 'Weird' Japan
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's colorful content get giggled at overseas while resonating in a realer way at home.
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Japan's Latest Pop-Music Craze? Kids
Teens have long had a presence on the country's charts, but the stars have gotten younger lately.
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A Year After the Quake, a Rift in Japan's Musical Landscape
Pop went patriotic, YouTubers penned protest songs, its indie rock got weird.
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Does Korean Pop Actually Have a Shot at Success in the U.S.?
Wonder Girls may have the marketing strategy to succeed in America where other Asian acts have failed.
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America's Favorite Free-Agent Pitcher Plays in Japan ... and May Stay There
MLB fans can't wait for Yu Darvish to sign with their team—but will he ever leave his home country?
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The 48 Japanese Schoolgirls Aiming to Take Over the World
With its playful image, code of conduct, and many spinoff acts, the girl-pop collective AKB48 may be Japan's next great cultural export
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How Korean Pop Conquered Japan
The more modern sound and suggestive imagery of K-Pop is challenging J-Pop on its home turf
