Kumiko emerged in the Asuka era between about 600 and 700 C.E. and eschews nails in favor of perfectly cut pieces that notch ...

Looking for the soul of modern Japan on an ancient road once traveled by poets ... a brass bell was hung with an alarming sign: “Ring Hard Against Bears.” Only a few hours earlier, I had ...

High up in the Japanese Alps, the only sounds I hear are birdsong and water gurgling through the channel beside the path. But when travellers first walked this ancient route, it would have been a ...