Who were the Monets of Japan? The Impressionist Movement your Art History Class Forgot

What happens when a samurai puts down his sword, and picks up a paintbrush? In 1868, feudal Japan was steamrolled by a new decade known as the Meiji Restoration. Western influences flooded every crevice of the country’s social fabric, but arguably the most fascinating battle between “old” and “new” Japan took place on canvas. Suddenly,…

An Intimate Look Inside a 1950s Tokyo Bath House

Caution, this post will make you feel like a bit of a Peeping Tom. We’re about to take a rather voyeuristic tour of a Japanese bath house in the year 1951, with LIFE photographer Michael Rougier. It was the year Japan’s post-war occupation by the allied countries would come to an end but the bath…

Japan’s Favourite Museum Is Dedicated to the Cup Noodle

If (noodle) Heaven is a place on Earth, we’re pretty certain it’d be at the CupNoodles Museum in Yokohama, Japan. Since opening its doors in 2011, the museum has become a veritable mecca for lovers of the instant noodles. CupNoodles, for those left scratching their heads, are the simple snack that have saved many a…

An Ode to the Man Who Dressed Ziggy Stardust

Every once in a while, pop culture gives us a duo whose legacies feel almost magnetically intertwined. David Bowie and the Japanese designer Kasai Yamamoto created some of the most iconic, gender-bending stage outfits the world had ever seen. Yet, for being such a fashionable and cultural force on East and Western stages, Yamamoto is…

The Art of Stuffing People into a Subway Train

Thank God it’s Friday. Because if you were on your Monday morning commute in Tokyo right now, the day probably wouldn’t be getting off to the greatest start. I had never before seen this practice of “stuffing” people into subway cars. I also had no idea subway staff are hired to do just that… [youtube…

Inside Tokyo’s Decaying 1970s Capsule Tower

The Nagakin Capsule Tower is one of the most important buildings in postwar architectural history in Japan, once praised as the ‘future of housing’, a rare remaining example of the Japanese Metabolism movement and the world’s first examples of capsule architecture built for permanent and practical use. It’s also a miracle it’s still standing after 40…

An Insider Peep into Tokyo’s Secretive Red Light District: Then & Now

Watanabe Katsumi was the king of treading lightly. As a drifting photographer, his lens was a stealthy observer of Tokyo’s red light district, snapping hundreds of photos of its drag queens, gangsters, prostitutes, and other fringe society members in the 1960s and 70s. Few dared enter the underbelly of the city like him and the…

The Tokyo Subculture of 1950s Rockabilly Gangs

They say rock’n’roll never dies, but there’s one slick-back haired subculture in a corner of Tokyo, Japan that’s making damn well sure of it. Suited up in full-leather gear and greased with obscene amounts of hair gel, the Tokyo Rockabilly Club has been gathering every Sunday in the city’s famous Yoyogi Park near Meiji-Jingumae station…

Tokyo Is Having Way More Fun Than Us at Fashion

In Tokyo, there are no rules when it comes to street fashion. Current trends have little or no influence and you certainly don’t have to work in the fashion industry to throw down some serious looks. I stumbled upon the Tokyo Fashion Tumblr today, which has been faithfully documenting Japanese street style since 2010. From Lolita…

Tokyo’s Forgotten Botanical Gardens look like Jurassic Park

This photograph above has been floating around on my To-Find-Out-What-The-Heck-This-Place-is List for a while. It’s one of those semi-viral images that doesn’t have any accurate information attached; not the photographer’s name nor the exact location it was taken (trust me, I reverse-searched this image for the owner until the end of Google– no luck). But…