Kana Tiles
Gomoku
Sudoku
Nonograms
Seasonal culture
What Is Momijigari?
Japan's autumn-leaf outings, when the color moves south, and why October is only the beginning.
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Meet Kocho and Dakki in a growing stream of fast, funny stories about the Japan you know (or don't).
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This season
October stories
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Material culture
The Deer Beneath The Maple
Why deer and autumn leaves share October's most recognizable Hanafuda card.
Hanafuda
October's Hanafuda Cards
Maple, deer, blue ribbon and the two chaff cards of Hanafuda's tenth month.
Deeper calendar language
The twelve months of Hanafuda
Explore the 48 cards, their seasonal plants and the rules of Koi-Koi.
The 48-card calendar
The Hanafuda year
Each suit has four cards. The plant names the month; the card classes shape how Koi-Koi is played.
January
Pine 松
February
Plum blossom 梅
March
Cherry blossom 桜
April
Wisteria 藤
May
Iris 菖蒲
June
Peony 牡丹
July
Bush clover 萩
August
Susuki grass 芒
September
Chrysanthemum 菊
October
Maple 紅葉
November
Willow 柳
December
Paulownia 桐
A closer look.
Nine ways into Japan
Buddha Density
Where the
Buddhas are.
2,742 nationally designated sculpture records. Explore the concentrations around Japan’s old capitals.
Explore the map
Japan Castle Atlas
Japan’s castles
and ruins.
Explore original keeps, reconstructed castles and ruins at 200 sites selected by the Japan Castle Foundation.
Enter the atlasAkiya Atlas
The houses
left behind.
Compare housing vacancy, aging and population change across Japan.
See the pattern
Onsen Atlas
Japan runs
hot.
Japan counts almost 28,000 hot-spring sources. A tenth of them are in one city, some of them are not hot, and most of the water is pumped. What the national hot-spring table shows, and how to use it to choose a bath.
Explore the atlas
Shrine Atlas
Beyond the
famous gates.
Japan has more Shinto shrines than Buddhist temples, and most of them are nowhere near Kyoto. The national count follows old villages, a Meiji-era campaign that closed tens of thousands of shrines, and places where the survey does not reach.
Explore the atlas
Earthquake Atlas
An archipelago
in motion.
Ten years of larger earthquakes in and around Japan, from Kumamoto to Noto to the sea off Aomori. Where they began, how deep they were, and how Japan changed the way it warns people about the next one.
Explore the atlas
Vending Machine Atlas
A drink on
the way there.
Japan still has one vending machine for every 48 people. In 2026 the companies that run them started pulling back. How the machines fit into the day, who keeps them stocked, and why the network is shrinking.
Read the story
Japan’s Toilet Technology
How Japan
rebuilt the toilet.
More Japanese households now have a washing toilet seat than a car. The idea came from America, the engineering from Japan, and the rest of the world is still catching up. How it happened, and what the buttons do.
Read the story
Fifty Years of Japanese Pop
Fifty years
of Japanese pop.
From city pop and television idols to dance floors, Vocaloid and anime hits: how Japanese pop changed over fifty years, and a map of where its stars were born. Tokyo leads, but Kyushu and Hokkaido punch well above their size.
Read the story