For anyone who grew up in the early to mid-1990s, the exciting world of the arcades was the place to go to see the latest and greatest in gaming.

Get ready, Little Monsters! Lady Gaga is heading back to Japan with her new tour, The Mayhem Ball. The global icon will hit two of the country’s biggest venues in January 2026, promising a spectacle of music, fashion, and full-throttle performance.

I have heard parents ask the question: “Are Japan’s maid cafés appropriate for kids?” The answer to this is yes!

Ask your friends what the national sport of Japan is, and although many of them will give you the right answer (sumo, of course), some might say “it should be baseball.”

Akasaka, located in the center of Tokyo and a short 20-minute walk from Hardy Barracks, is known for being an upscale district.

Occasionally, I like to test my luck and gamble away a few dollars. Since casino gambling is illegal in Japan and pachinko slots seem like they require a little more money to play, I go to the horses.

If you are stationed in the Kanto Plain and looking for a day trip to enjoy a Japanese historical site with your family and friends, I strongly recommend Tomioka Silk Mill in Gunma Prefecture.

Ameyoko in Tokyo’s Ueno district is known as one of the busiest market streets in Japan. “Ameya-yokocho” or “ameyoko” for short (literally, candy shop alley), is a market street filled with not only candy shops, but many other discount shops for food, shoes, clothes, bags, cosmetics and jewelry. The deals here always draw a crowd.

You can trace the footprints of the two most well-known Japanese war heroes at unique Shinto shrines in Tokyo named after the war heroes, Togo Jinga and Nogi Jinja.

We’ve finally headed into rainy season, aka “tsuyu” in Japanese, where not only is it raining a lot, but the heat and humidity might also be making you sweat buckets.