Flagship features
Explore Japan through maps of sculpture, castles, vacant homes, hot springs, shrines and earthquakes, alongside stories about vending machines, toilets and Japanese pop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The houses left behind
Housing vacancies, population aging and demographic change across Japan.
Where Japan's Buddhas Are
Official sculpture counts by prefecture, with guides to selected Buddhist sites and pilgrimage routes.
Two Hundred Castles, Ruins and Fortified Landscapes
200 Foundation-selected castle sites, with 13 detailed guides. It is not a claim that Japan contains only 200 castle sites or that the numbered list is a ranking.