Society

Why It Always Comes Back to Being an Island - Metropolis Japan

Why It Always Comes Back to Being an Island

From gara-kei to J-pop: unpacking Japan's "Galápagos syndrome," exceptionalism, and the truth behind the isolated-nation cliché.

Woman Marries ChatGPT AI Character After He Proposed - Metropolis Japan

Woman Marries ChatGPT AI Character After He Proposed

AI marriage in Japan and the future symbol of love

Why Did America Choose to Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki? - Metropolis Japan

Why Did America Choose to Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Women Reviving Hajichi, Okinawa’s Traditional Hand Tattoos - Metropolis Japan

The Women Reviving Hajichi, Okinawa’s Traditional Hand Tattoos

What the hands remember

Tokyo’s Original Tattooed Tough Guys Weren’t Yakuza, They Were Firefighters - Metropolis Japan

Tokyo’s Original Tattooed Tough Guys Weren’t Yakuza, They Were Firefighters

Inside the wild, brawling, tattooed world of the men who protected the "City of Fires"

Based in Japan: Luke Bridgford on Starting His Camping Car Venture - Metropolis Japan

Based in Japan: Luke Bridgford on Starting His Camping Car Venture

Finding freedom on four wheels

Mi Kasa Es Su Kasa? The Unspoken Rules of Umbrellas in Japan - Metropolis Japan

Mi Kasa Es Su Kasa? The Unspoken Rules of Umbrellas in Japan

From unspoken etiquette to environmental headaches—what’s really going on with umbrellas in Japan?

What It’s Really Like to Work as a Hostess in Tokyo’s Kabukicho - Metropolis Japan

What It’s Really Like to Work as a Hostess in Tokyo’s Kabukicho

Life behind the neon

Your Official “Hometown” Is the Imperial Palace? Welcome to Japan’s Honseki System - Metropolis Japan

Your Official “Hometown” Is the Imperial Palace? Welcome to Japan’s Honseki System

The bizarre loophole that's turning castles, stadiums and airports into official family homes

The Bullet Train, A Loaded Story - Metropolis Japan

The Bullet Train, A Loaded Story

Japan likes to say the Shinkansen arrived just in time for the Olympics. But in truth, it arrived in spite of everything.

Why So Many Japanese Married Couples Sleep in Separate Beds - Metropolis Japan

Why So Many Japanese Married Couples Sleep in Separate Beds

Exploring sleep culture, relationship dynamics and how space shapes intimacy in Japan

Does It Feel Weird To Be Naked in an Onsen? - Metropolis Japan

Does It Feel Weird To Be Naked in an Onsen?

What the Japanese bathhouse can teach us about body image

Is Japan’s Cultural Aversion to Public Noise Suppressing Its Birth Rate? - Metropolis Japan

Is Japan’s Cultural Aversion to Public Noise Suppressing Its Birth Rate?

Is Japan’s silence pushing families away?

San-chan: The Shiba Inu That Saved the World - Metropolis Japan

San-chan: The Shiba Inu That Saved the World

How a man, a dog and the internet united for good

Japan’s Captive Capital: Trillions Locked Up In “Dementia Money” - Metropolis Japan

Japan’s Captive Capital: Trillions Locked Up In “Dementia Money”

The growing crisis of inaccessible wealth for Japan’s economy and families

The Door Knockers: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan - Metropolis Japan

The Door Knockers: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan

*bing bong* 

Based in Japan: Arthell Isom on Building the First Foreign-owned Anime Studio in Japan - Metropolis Japan

Based in Japan: Arthell Isom on Building the First Foreign-owned Anime Studio in Japan

Storyteller, entrepreneur and artist

“They Ripped Up My Resignation Letter”: 1 in 5 Japanese Workers in Their 20s Turn to Resignation Agencies - Metropolis Japan

“They Ripped Up My Resignation Letter”: 1 in 5 Japanese Workers in Their 20s Turn to Resignation Agencies

Young workers turn to resignation agencies for their mental health

Based in Japan: What’s Wrong with Sex Education in Japan? - Metropolis Japan

Based in Japan: What’s Wrong with Sex Education in Japan?

An interview with sex ed teacher June Low

The Samurai’s Legacy in Japanese Corporate Culture - Metropolis Japan

The Samurai’s Legacy in Japanese Corporate Culture

The power of harmony and collaboration

Based in Japan: From Stay-at-Home Mom to Hotel Country Manager - Metropolis Japan

Based in Japan: From Stay-at-Home Mom to Hotel Country Manager

The hardships of rejoining the Japanese workforce for stay-at-home-moms

Japan Now Allows Joint Custody After Divorce—Here’s What Actually Changed - Metropolis Japan

Japan Now Allows Joint Custody After Divorce—Here’s What Actually Changed

A landmark revision to Japan's Civil Code took effect April 1, 2026, ending a sole-custody system that had been in place for over a century

Being Chinese in Japan - Metropolis Japan

Being Chinese in Japan

Interviews with Chinese residents in Tokyo 

So I Married a Japanese Man…and These Are the Questions I Get - Metropolis Japan

So I Married a Japanese Man…and These Are the Questions I Get

Intercultural relationships come with plenty of rude assumptions.