Curse You, Tokugawa: Osaka Watches Its Station Get Filled In
Hankyu Umeda is filling in the gaps between its platforms, and Osaka is treating it as a breach of a 400-year-old truce.
There's a Real Chance Part of Your Body Has Never Been Washed
Showering is pure routine, and routines have blind spots.
An American Friend Spotted a ¥74,800 Denim Daruma in Ginza and Bought It on the Spot
He said Super cool and reached for his wallet. Everyone else stayed behind to argue about the price.
The Kitten Who Wandered Into a Police Academy Is Now a Superintendent
Thirteen years after turning up at the gate, Officer Tama has climbed four ranks — and her personnel file holds up better than you'd expect.
The Second Grader Wanted to Know Which Park You Went To in the Middle of the Night
Asked whether they had ever gone out at night, a parent said yes, and got a follow-up question from a world where the only place to go is the playground.
A Textbook Told Her That Suki Desu Is Actually Pronounced Skides, and She Is a Native Speaker
Japanese quietly deletes vowels that everyone is certain they are saying, and almost nobody who speaks it has noticed.
She Asked a TV Show to Let Her Smell Insects She'd Never Met
A 42-year-old with a bug-smell fetish, a professional insect hunter, and tasting notes nobody saw coming.
The Roadside Officer Who Turns Out to Be a Vending Machine
A driver photographed the machine that makes them ease off the accelerator every single time.
A 6-Year-Old Got a Calpis and Decided to Savor It — With Three Straws Joined End to End
He said he wanted the drink to last longer, so he engineered a solution. His mother has thoughts about boys.
A Brazilian Checked the Ingredients on a Japanese Sweet and Found Rice and Beans
A one-line joke in Portuguese audits the entire Japanese confectionery tradition, and nobody can produce a counterexample.
She Married Him for His Assets. The Asset Was a Cat.
The deciding factor on her first visit to his apartment was not the man, but the way his cat was sleeping.
All Summer They Were Up at 5:30 No Matter What. On the First Morning of Term, Nothing Could Move Them
Forty days of being begged to sleep in, ignored daily. Then school starts and the same children become immovable.
A Foreign Otaku Was Told Japan Sorts People Into SHADOW and SUNSHINE, and Instantly Knew Which One He Was
Two pieces of ordinary Japanese slang get translated literally into English and come out sounding like character classes.
The Carpet That Never Stops Producing Cat Hair
A Nara man's living room carpet seems to generate an endless supply of cat fur, so a (cat-allergic) detective and a small army of friends launch an all-out lint-roller offensive.
She Told Her Husband Microfiber Towels Make Faucets Shine. Four Days Later He Was a Yokai.
A small household tip goes in, and a spirit that roams the house at night polishing things comes out.
Helsinki Bookstores Are Stacked With Books On How To Live Like The Japanese
A photo from a Finnish bookshop catches two countries quietly envying each other.
Autumn Begins When the Steamed Buns Come Back
One person apologized for keeping a fat person's almanac. Everyone else immediately produced their own.
He Took Out His Throat Medicine in a US Newsroom and the Room Panicked
Powdered medicine is unremarkable in Japan. Scooped out of a tin in an American office, it read as something else entirely.
A Stranger Watched Her Eat at the Buffet, Then Left a Letter on a Paper Napkin
She said she used to eat well too, before her health gave out. The vouchers were ones she wouldn't be using.
A Third-Grader Bought a 198-Yen Okra Seedling. His Dad Is the Only Customer.
The seedling cost him his own allowance. Dad buys the harvest back at three pods for 100 yen, deliberately above market rate.
