Archive - Tokyo Calling

Foreign Faces, Familiar Fears

Immigration, Race, and the 2025 Upper-House Election

2 hrs ago •

Bookends: The collapse of Japan’s bookstore culture

Japan faces a bookstore crisis as these vital cultural hubs rapidly disappear from towns nationwide.

Jul 5 •

June 2025

Incineration plants, sacrificial pork, and ominous-looking public toilets

Walking Shibuya to Ebisu (4)

Jun 28 •

"Reading" the Yamanote Line through maps

Jun 21 •

Engines of rebellion: Bōsōzoku and the global language of youth subculture

How biker subcultures from Tokyo to Marseille reveal the global struggle over identity, conformity, and freedom

Jun 19 •

A fever dream of architectural possibilities

Walking Shibuya to Ebisu 3

Jun 16 •

Election posters (1)

Dear readers, a couple of weeks ago, when I shared my first Yamanote Line photo diary, I promised to dedicate a future story to the ever-present…

Jun 14 •

An "empty seat" on a crowded train: Revisited

Jun 8 •

You drive me crazy

Not every Japanese has good train-riding manners

Jun 5 •

Ride like a local

Mastering train etiquette in Japan

Jun 4 •

May 2025

Tokyo architecture: cinematic references

Dear readers, I hope you like cinema because this post will feature several examples of how Tokyo has been portrayed in film.

May 30 •

The lost church

Walking Shibuya to Ebisu (2)

May 26 •

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