Famous in Japan

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Keigo Higashino in Tokyo (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP via Getty Images) / Japan OUT With over 100 titles to his name, Keigo Higashino was one of Japan's top mystery authors. Despite the volume of works, being an author wasn't what he first set out to do in life. Born in Osaka City in 1958, Higashino wasn't fond of reading as a child. In an interview discussing the 1970s setting of his novel Tokio, he was asked what kind of reading he did during th

By Gavin Marr, Intern Summer 2026 Photo of Shuetsu Sato at Shinjuku Station in front of two of his signs: Satou, Hidenori [佐藤英典]. "新宿駅の「ガムテープ案内表示」を作りだした佐藤修悦さんインタビュー ！『修悦体』はこうして生まれた" RocketNews24, September 13, 2016. https://rocketnews24.com/2016/09/13/798848/ Whether encountered through broad-stroke research before a trip or experienced firsthand in the herd-like nature of Tokyo rush hour, navigating Shinjuku Station is, to put it lightly, a daunting task. Its labyrinthine na

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Kobayashi, Kiyochika. Lady Sei Shōnagon, 1897, Triptych; color woodblock prints, embossing. Written around the same time as The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book is often considered its companion that details court life during the Heian Era (794 to 1185 CE). While the former is a work of fiction that one is to make inferences about the time it was written, the latter was written almost like a diary and gives a firsthand viewpoint of its author, Sei

By Isabel Hurwitz, Intern Spring 2026 “The Son Also Roses” from King of the Hill - Season Seven, Episode Six –“This one’s pretty.” –“Not according to the book.” –“But I like that mine’s a little off-center, it’s got wabi-sabi.” Is natural imperfection beautiful? For some time now, an audio clip from the animated series King of the Hill has been taking over platforms like TikTok, mentioning wabi-sabi as a part of an argument about beauty. The audio became so popular that it sp

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Lafcadio Hearn in 1889 Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, who went by Lafcadio, was born in 1850 on the Greek island of Lefkada, his namesake. The second of three sons, his Irish father Charles Bush Hearn was a surgeon in the British army and his Grecian/Maltese mother was Rosa Antonia Cassimati. At the age of 6 he was brought to Ireland and his parents eventually divorced and his father remarried. Hearn and his brother were sent to live with separate rela