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Katana
Katana of one of Japan’s most famous swordsmen goes on display to help Kumamoto earthquake victims
- Casey Baseel
Jul 30, 2026 - Tweet
The sword of the vice-captain of the Shinsengumi is being called into action once again in a touching story of repaying kindness.
- Japan
- (culture • disaster • Hijikata Toshizo • history • Katana • Kumamoto • kumamoto earthquake • moving • museums • shinsengumi • swords • touching)
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
- Casey Baseel
Jun 3, 2025
Popular program in birthplace of samurai martial art iado forced to retool.
Lunch fit for a samurai lord: Japanese cafes offers castle bento lunches, sells boxes too【Pics】
- Casey Baseel
Apr 7, 2025
Cafe’s location means it knows its customers will be in a samurai mood.
- Japan
- (bento • bento boxes • castles • culture • food • history • Katana • museum • restaurants • swords • tableware)
Don’t miss the swords-on-fire performances and more at Asakusa Samuraive Show this week
- Krista Rogers
Nov 19, 2024
An entertainment show in Tokyo’s center of traditional culture combines the old with the new in a flaming, nonverbal spectacle.
- Japan
- (Asakusa • Asakusa Kagekijo Theater • entertainment • fire • Hanayashiki • Katana • Samuraive • show • swords • Tokyo • traditional)
Buy a Japanese ambulance, pachinko machine or samurai sword at this government auction site
- Oona McGee
Aug 1, 2024
Weird and wonderful treasures you won’t find anywhere else, and at shockingly low prices.
- Japan
- (auctions • cars • cool • government • government auction • Japanese cars • Japanese property • Katana • KSI Government Auction • online auctions • property • samurai sword • second-hand • shopping • unusual • wakizashi • weird)
Fight like a ninja in a samurai town, with sword-fighting experience at Kyoto Toei movie studio park
- Oona McGee
Apr 8, 2024
Learn Japanese katana techniques from movie actors and film your own sword-fight in an Edo setting.
- Japan
- (awesome • cool • Edo • history • Japanese swords • Katana • Kyoto • museums • Ninja • samurai • sword fights • Toei Kyoto Studio Park • tourist sites • travel)
Dojigiri, the millennium-old katana said to have slain a demon, is now on display in Tokyo【Pics】
- Casey Baseel
Mar 14, 2024
One of the Five Swords Under Heaven is now under the roof of this downtown museum.
Samurai Ninja Museum Tokyo With Experience is true to its name, lets you slice with real katana
- Casey Baseel
Jan 15, 2024
Hands-on history in Tokyo’s most historical neighborhood.
- Japan
- (Asakusa • awesome • cool • history • Katana • museums • Ninja • samurai • Samurai Ninja Museum Tokyo With Experience • travel)
Visiting Kunozan Toshogu, the shrine where the first lord of Japan’s last shogunate was buried
- SoraNews24
Jun 7, 2023
The site of Ieyasu’s grave also has an amazing hidden-gem museum that far too many visitors skip.
- Japan
- (beautiful • cool • history • Katana • samurai • shinto • Shizuoka • shogun • shrines • swords • Tokugawa • Tokugawa Ieyasu • Tokugawa shogunate • travel)
Is spending 248,380 yen (US$1,840) on an anime boy doll a wise choice? Our fangirl finds out!
- Casey Baseel
Mar 3, 2023
A big love for Touken Ranbu leads to a big expenditure, but is it money well spent?
- Japan
- (anime • COK • dolls • figures • Katana • manga • otaku • SNJO • swords • Touken Rambu • Touken Ranbu)
Samurai armor and mini katana tableware is here to keep your bottles safe and your food stabbed
- Shannon
Feb 26, 2023
Your drinks will always be protected from now on.
- Japan
- (armor • COK • cool • drinkware • history • interior • Katana • Makuake • Oda Nobunaga • samurai • swords • tableware • Tokugawa Ieyasu • Toyotomi Hideyoshi)
Real-life Rurouni Kenshin katana forged based on sword of series’ most merciless villain【Photos】
- SoraNews24
Feb 21, 2023
Kenshin vs. Shishio museum exhibit displays Sakabato and Mugenjin.
- Japan
- (anime • COK • Katana • manga • Mugenjin • museums • Rurouni Kenshin • Saito Hajime • sakabato • Seki • Shishio Makoto • SNJO • swords)
A Gintama fan’s emotional 19-year journey to buy a proper Lake Toya bokuto wooden katana【Pics】
- Casey Baseel
Jan 11, 2023
What started out feeling like a dumb gag manga became a source of strength as our otaku reporter searched for a purpose in life.
- Japan
- (anime • bokuto • COK • gintama • Hokkaido • Katana • Lake Toya • manga • moving • Seiji Nakazawa • SNJO • touching • travel • wooden katana • wooden sword)
Want to become a swordsmith? Apprenticeship opens in Japan, but the fine print might shock you
- SoraNews24
Aug 2, 2022
Katana-making apprenticeship sparks debate on controversial conditions.
- Japan
- (apprentice • apprenticeships • art • culture • history • Japanese swords • Katana • samurai • swords • swordsmiths • traditional crafts)
An A.I. program designed a katana, then a 15th-generation Japanese swordsmith made it【Photos】
- Casey Baseel
Jun 12, 2022
Modern technology intertwines with 400 years of swordsmithing skills.
- Japan
- (A.I. • awesome • COK • cool • Katana • swords • swordsmiths • technology)
You can get a custom-made katana and a tax discount by donating to this Kyoto city【Photos】
- Casey Baseel
May 29, 2022
Newly forged young swordsmiths open up their own forge in Kyotango.
- Japan
- (awesome • cool • furusato nozei • Japanese swords • Katana • Kyoto • swords)
Famous Japanese sword becomes tiny sweets knife in order to slice into matcha pound cake
- Dale Roll
Feb 24, 2022
Celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Ashikaga City in Tochigi with these fun commemorative goods.
- Japan
- (Ashikaga City • cool • green tea • Horikawa Kunihiro • Katana • matcha • sweets • swords • Tochigi • Yamanbagiri Kunihiro)
Authentic Japanese sword letter openers available through crowdfunding
- Master Blaster
Jan 31, 2022
Live by the sword, open mail by the sword.
- Japan
- (Bizen Osafune • cool • crowdfunding • Hitofuri • Japanese swords • Katana • letter opener • stationery • swords • swordsmith)
Japanese bag maker creates demon-slaying bag based on five-year-old’s sketch
- Shannon
Nov 19, 2021
No more demons are getting past this kid.
- Japan
- (bag • clever • cool • demon • fashion • kabuto • Katana • moving • samurai • touching • Tsuchiya Bag Co.)
Cosplay-friendly interior design — Japanese cosplayer shows off crazy apartment entryway
- Casey Baseel
Nov 6, 2021
Most Japanese apartment entryways are filled with shoes, but this one is filled with something else.
- Japan
- (awesome • cool • cosplay • cosplayers • crazy • funny • Katana • swords • Touken Ranbu)
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Recent Posts
- Tokyo to build new crematoriums to meet surging demand
- Pachinko parlor operator arrested for not obscuring the act of gambling well enough
- Continuing cyberattacks hit Japanese arcade hard [Photos]
- Starbucks Japan reveals this year’s lucky bag, but you’ll have to act fast to get one
- Princess Mononoke was going to look totally different, new Studio Ghibli artbook shows
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MOST POPULAR
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Today
Beautiful Ghibli diorama kits lets you build anime characters’ homes inside yours [Photos]
Liquid croissant coffee is coming to Japanese stores this month
Continuing cyberattacks hit Japanese arcade hard [Photos]
Pachinko parlor operator arrested for not obscuring the act of gambling well enough
Japan ends tax-free shopping system for foreign tourists, new refund request system now in effect
Starbucks Japan reveals this year’s lucky bag, but you’ll have to act fast to get one
Princess Mononoke was going to look totally different, new Studio Ghibli artbook shows
First-ever cafe on Tokyo Imperial Palace Garden grounds is now open
Godzilla becomes a Japanese randoseru backpack, as do two of his greatest rivals [Photos]
Japan’s free stock image site of muscular men doing whimsical and mundane things reveals rankings
Weekly
- Japan ends tax-free shopping system for foreign tourists, new refund request system now in effect
Japan’s TeamLab digital art group is opening a permanent museum in America- Beautiful Ghibli diorama kits lets you build anime characters’ homes inside yours [Photos]
Life-size Monster Hunter dragon statues to be built at Japanese shopping mall
Modern exosuits are opening up ancient Japanese castle climbs to everyone
Evangelion announces collaboration with Hard Rock Cafe
Studio Ghibli homeware brand’s faux oil lamp brings light, smiles, and Kiki’s Jiji to your home
Cold Stone is closing its final branch in all of east Japan, but it’s going down singing
Starbucks Japan unveils new Christmas goods for 2026, with exclusive holiday surprises
Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan
Monthly
Pokémon Company announces first-ever permanent Pokémon store to open outside Asia- Japan ends tax-free shopping system for foreign tourists, new refund request system now in effect
- Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan
- Japan’s TeamLab digital art group is opening a permanent museum in America
What’s it like to stay in a Japanese container hotel?- Beautiful Ghibli diorama kits lets you build anime characters’ homes inside yours [Photos]
Chainsaw robots helping keep trains running safely in east Japan [Video]
New Studio Ghibli anime gets extended run at the only cinema in Japan where it’s being shown
Tokyo train station will play Godzilla theme song as new departure melody
Osaka’s famous Glico Running Man will be removed and replaced with a new-look sign
Yearly
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
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RECOMMENDED STORIES
Starbucks Japan reveals this year’s lucky bag, but you’ll have to act fast to get one
Princess Mononoke was going to look totally different, new Studio Ghibli artbook shows
First-ever cafe on Tokyo Imperial Palace Garden grounds is now open
Godzilla becomes a Japanese randoseru backpack, as do two of his greatest rivals [Photos]
Japan’s free stock image site of muscular men doing whimsical and mundane things reveals rankings
This is Japan’s best cycling course, but is it fun for bicycling beginners too?
Mr. Sato searches for the mysterious new wall of fortune in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases now Tokyo Reserve Roastery Christmas drinkware collection [Photos]
Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan
Thief mails 460 million-yen watch back to Tokyo store he stole it from, says “I’m sorry”
Japanese government announces criteria for creating backup capital of Japan
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s remake can be played with an actual ocarina [Video]
Starbucks Japan unveils new Christmas goods for 2026, with exclusive holiday surprises
This hot spring near Osaka’s Kansai Airport resolves the pick-two-out-of-three bathhouse dilemma
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