Japan scrapped every regulation requiring the use of floppy disks for administrative purposes this week, catching up with the times 13 years after the country’s producers manufactured their last units. The floppy disk, invented in the 1970s, was once a ubiquitous part of computing. Other forms of memory like flash drives and internet cloud storage…
A joint venture set up in 2019 by two top Japanese and South Korean companies was hailed as a beacon of cooperation amid strained diplomatic relations. Executives from South Korea’s Naver and Japan’s SoftBank Group said they would jointly own the operator of Line, a South Korean-developed messaging app popularized in Japan. They gave the…
In January, the travel and fashion influencer Devin Halbal decided to take a trip to Kurashiki, a city in the Okayama Prefecture of Japan. Ms. Halbal, a Queens-born 26-year-old who goes by the username “Hal Baddie” on TikTok, had spent four years traveling around Europe with an extra-long selfie stick and a dream, sharing videos…
There were cherry blossoms. There were silk and glass butterflies. There were toasts. There was an entree inspired by a California roll and a performance by Paul Simon. But before that, there was the photo op, and the fashion. On Wednesday evening, as the Bidens hosted Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and his wife,…
In late 2021, Mark from San Diego and his wife were flying home on British Airways premium economy from Split, Croatia, via London and Dallas, but missed a connection. They were rebooked in economy on Virgin Atlantic and tried for two years to get reimbursed when finally, in December 2023, they were told they had…
Japan’s public transportation is known for its punctuality, efficiency and high-quality service, which means train travel is a great way to see the countryside and to experience Japanese culture — even if you’re squeezed into Tokyo’s crowded Yamanote line at rush hour or experiencing the popular high-speed Shinkansen bullet train. But many savvy visitors crisscross…
AS THE FOUNDER of the streetwear brands A Bathing Ape and Human Made and the artistic director of the French luxury brand Kenzo, the designer and record producer Nigo has, over 30 years, asserted himself as one of the most revered aesthetic talents in Japan. So, last decade, when he decided to erect a concrete…
