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01Weird & Wonderful
Kissaten: Japan's Disappearing Retro Coffee Shops
Japan is opening specialty cafes at a steady clip while losing its old-school kissaten at a rate that makes the sento decline look gentle. Here's the actual scale of it.
2 min
奇習
Weird & Wonderful
The delightfully strange side of Japan that no guidebook bothers to explain.
7 articles
02Weird & Wonderful
The Japanese Toilet, Fully Explained (Every Button)
Heated seats, bidets, sound masking, and a control panel with more buttons than a microwave. What every button does, and why Japan went this far.
3 min
03Weird & Wonderful
Love Hotels, Actually Explained
Themed rooms, hourly rates, and a check-in you complete without seeing another human. A straight explanation of what love hotels are, how they work, and why they exist.
3 min
04Weird & Wonderful
Why Japanese Homes Are Freezing in Winter
A country that builds bullet trains and heated toilet seats also builds houses with no central heating and almost no insulation. The reasons go back 700 years.
3 min
05Weird & Wonderful
Gachapon: Japan's Capsule Toy Obsession, Explained
A ¥300 plastic capsule containing a tiny, perfectly made object you did not choose. Why Japan's capsule toy market has tripled in a decade, and how to play it.
3 min
06Weird & Wonderful
Japan Is Bigger Than You Think (Blame the Map)
Squeezed on a world map between Russia, China, and the Pacific, Japan looks tiny. It isn't. Here is how large the country actually is, and why the map has been lying to you.
3 min
07Weird & Wonderful
Why Japan Has a Vending Machine for Almost Everything
Hot coffee, fresh eggs, umbrellas, neckties. Japan has more vending machines per person than almost anywhere on Earth — and the reasons say a lot about the country.
3 min