Japan's Minpaku Gold Rush Meets the Law
Japan has nine million empty homes — and welcomed a record forty-three million tourists last year. In an empty factory locker room on the first day of new safety rules, Haru and Sakura unpack how vaca...
16 Jun 6min
Japan's $1 Ice Bar vs Inflation
Why does a humble red-bean ice bar keep breaking records while everything else gets pricier? In this episode of Narrative Japan, Haru and Sakura settle in at a closing-time izakaya counter to unpack t...
11 Jun 5min
Streaming Won, But Japan Fills Cinemas
Streaming was supposed to kill the movie theater. In Japan, it didn't. In this episode of Narrative Japan, Haru and Sakura meet inside a decommissioned solar power plant — where old panels are being t...
9 Jun 5min
Men vs. Parasols: Japan's Last Taboo
Japan's parasol market is being quietly rewritten — and the story goes far beyond sunscreen. In summer 2025, 44% of Tokyo men used a parasol for the first time, driven not by vanity but by necessity: ...
4 Jun 4min
Japan's 10M Dancers Started With One Law
In 2012, Japan mandated dance for every middle school student. Fourteen years later, that single policy decision has created a nation of ten million street dancers, a sold-out professional dance leagu...
2 Jun 5min
AI Reads Your Heart at Japan's Stadiums
What does it feel like to watch a game in Japan in 2026? More than you might expect. AI now measures audience emotion in real time — timing brand messages to the exact moment your heart rate peaks. Re...
28 Mai 7min
Japan's Silent Trash Crisis — Fires, Staff Shortages, and the AI Revolution in Waste Management
Japan's waste management system is in quiet crisis: aging incinerators, a nationwide sanitation worker shortage, and roughly 8,500 fires a year triggered by lithium-ion batteries lurking in everyday g...
25 Mai 5min
Gray Is the New Gold — Inside Japan's Booming Hair Color Revolution
Japan has the world's most rapidly aging major economy — and that gray hair is turning into serious business. In this episode, Sakura and Professor Haru meet in a beauty school practice room and unpac...
21 Mai 5min
