While Japan is typically seen as a temperate island country known for sweaty summers and chill winters, its large geographical range belies this stereotype. As you travel up north along the island of Hokkaido and surrounding territories, you’ll see how cold Japan can become in places. There are even a few places where permafrost develops,…

The famous unmissable mecha robot is certainly one of the most unique and fitting symbols for the futuristic image of Tokyo. Anime lovers’ hearts swell at the sight of the 19.7-meter-tall Gundam Unicorn in Odaiba, Tokyo, but it also wows visitors who are not knowledgeable about the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. The impressive statue lights…

Origami has been assimilated in the Oxford dictionary since time immemorial, and it has also become a global buzzword. It is defined as the Japanese art of folding papers into various shapes and sizes. However, the elegance of origami goes further that being a mere ornament for the Tanabata Festival. Today, many modern structural designs…

In English, we have the phrase “there’s always room for dessert.” In Japanese, there’s a word for the room – “betsubara”. Betsubara is made up of a combination of the kanji for “separate” (別, “betsu”) and “stomach” (腹, “hara”, or “bara” with dakuten in this case), so it literally means “separate stomach”. It’s the place…

Just when everyone thought that salads were a healthier option because of its low level of fat content and cholesterol in comparison to meat. However, little did everyone know that eating raw vegetables can be just as detrimental, if not more. The vegetables in these salads are eaten raw, which means that the possibility of…

As you may know, the universe is made up of matter. One kind of matter’s existence is only hypothetical, it is known as ‘dark matter’ and cannot be seen or identified by using a telescope. However, there’s one exception to this: one kind of dark matter has been identified, the ‘neutrino’. Neutrinos are abundant, yet…

Situated in Matsunoyama, Nigata of Japan is a large museum called Echigo-Matsunoyama Museum of Natural Science which appears as if it is in ruins every year due to harsh weather conditions. It was designed by Takaharu Tezuka, an architect who wanted to create the concept of this ‘ruins’ appearance. The museum centers around education and…