There’s a quiet garden in Tokyo filled with tiny statues that are tributes to children who died before their time. It is touching, sweet, and heartwarming, yet heartbreaking.

I always thought Halloween was dreamed up by the candy manufacturers collaborating with the American Dental Association (just kidding, I love going to the dentist). But I was wrong, of course.

I was struck recently by an odd sight (at least for an American) when I was riding the subway in Tokyo. We were on the escalator, going up from a station to the street level. Ahead of us was a small boy…

There's one feature of Japanese culture that most tourists don't rave about but should. Japan has the best toilets in the world. Bar none.

There’s a series on Netflix called Midnight Diner (Shin'ya Shokudō in Japanese). Kind of like Seinfeld, it’s a show about nothing (because not much happens), except, down deep, it’s about human relationships.

You’ve seen them everywhere, especially in Asian restaurants: small statues, which portray a cat sitting up and beckoning with its front paw.