Archeological evidence, historical texts and oral traditions trace the story of Shimane Prefecture so far that eventually, one exits the realm of concrete records and enters the world of myths. This ...

On July 5, 2019, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO announced the official registration of the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan on its World Heritage list. It is the first ...

Tucked away in the northwest corner of the Ueno grounds of the Tokyo National Museum stands the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, a modern structure with straight lines of glass and steel, fronted by a ...

Japan offers a spectacular fusion of ancient traditions, modern sophistication, and breathtaking coastal beauty. From cruising the tranquil Seto Inland Sea and exploring Okinawa's turquoise waters to ...

NARA -- A German-born Buddhism scholar-turned monk has passed an ancient exam that can only be taken once in a lifetime at a World Heritage temple in this western Japan city to become a fully-ordained ...

Every religion or collection of national myths requires a great deal of editing. Some texts are selected as “official,” others are discarded. A by-product of this is the world of apocrypha, mysterious ...

Kyūshū is the closest of Japan’s four main islands to the Asian mainland. Fukuoka, its largest city, is as near to Seoul as it is to Osaka (500 km)—and much closer to either than it is to Tokyo, ...

HE FOUND THE OLDEST THING IN JAPAN EVERY SINGLE TIME. THEN SOMEONE LEFT A CAMERA RUNNING. Every workplace has that one person whose luck stops making sense after a while. The colleague who always ...

Japan formed its first centralized government during the Nara period (710–94) and adopted a legal system called ritsuryo, under which food items were paid as taxes. Now researchers have found ...