On this episode of Ichimon Japan we talk about the history of pillows in Japan and an absurd belief regarding the sleeping Topics Discussed About the history of pillows in Japan About early pillows in Japanese history About the evolution of pillows in Japan About pillows during the Edo Period About hakomakura (box pillows) About the oldest pillow in Japan X …

On this episode of Japan Station, I talk about what it was like getting a massage by a maid in Akihabara. Topics Discussed About Akihabara Maid Reflexology Felicie About what it was like getting massaged by a maid in Akihabara About how much it costs to get a massage by a maid in Akihabara About getting a foot massage by a …

Dempagumi.inc won’t let the coronavirus pandemic stop them! On April 15, the idol group Dempagumi.inc released a brand new music video inspired directly by the COVID-19 pandemic and produced completely remotely. The new music video is for a song titled “Nanto! Sekai Kōinin Hikikomori (なんと！世界公認 引きこもり), which in English could be translated to something along the lines of “The world …

On This Episode of Japan Station On this episode of the Japan Station podcast, we’re talking about “otaku,” the history of the anime “holy land” of Akihabara, and a whole lot more. About Dr. Patrick W. Galbraith Dr. Patrick W. Galbraith is a lecturer at Senshu University in Tokyo. He is one of the world’s leading expert on the topic …

Caveman chic meets 1990s Tokyo street style. In the 1990s there was a peculiar fashion trend in Japan that resulted in many Japanese girls bleaching their hair, putting on bright colored clothing, and, perhaps most notably, using tanning beds and/or make up to turn their faces and general skin color about as dark as it could get. These girls came …

Choo choo. Thanks to its abundance of trains, Japan has no shortage of what have come to be known as densha otaku. These “train nerds” absolutely love trains and are always coming up with new and interesting ways to share this love with the rest of the world.  Take the case of a YouTube user going by the name of …

Your phone is ringing. Go to an anime song or idol concert in Japan and you will almost certainly see a bunch of guys frantically waving lightsticks around, cheering and jumping around, all while working up a mean sweat. This is called otagei (sometimes written wotagei) and it is one of the many ways otaku (hardcore fans of anime, manga, …