Tokyo Confidential

Among other Americanisms adopted by Okinawa during the post-War administration by US forces—such as an abiding love of A&W restaurants and SPAM—was the requirement to drive on the right, in contrast to the rest of Japan.

With the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic entering into force in 1977, and earlier 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, both requiring member states to have a uniform traffic direction through...

THIS PAST APRIL, FAMILIES ACROSS Okinawa gathered as they do each spring at island cemeteries for a lively graveside party. Family members sat under canopies and on blue tarps, laid out neatly in small courtyards in front of family tombs. Children dashed around the crypts, while the adults laughed and ate elaborate meals prepared for the occasion. Even in famously festive Okinawa, the cheerful sight was striking in a space usually ...

THERE ARE FEW FOREIGN BANDS that whip Japan’s famously stoic audiences into a frenzy the way that English rockers Queen traditionally have. 

Every April 17 is Queen Day there, with a slate of events to celebrate the day that the band first arrived in the country, back in 1975. 

While the global pandemic has changed the celebration of Queen Day, it hasn’t blunted the intensity of Japanese fans’ love of the band.

Sup...

September 2nd – known to history as VJ Day – marks the signing on-board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay of Japan's formal surrender. Under the watchful eye of the 31-star American flag that had accompanied Matthew Perry and his Black Ships into that same bay in 1853, the ceremony was brief and solemn as Allied and Japanese representatives signed the two copies of the instrument of surrender.

Amidst the solemnity of the occas...

Phones left in taxis. Briefcases forgotten under train seats. Dropped wallets, abandoned umbrellas, misplaced purses. Japan’s 126 million residents lose a vast number of personal items every year. But a remarkably high percentage of them are returned to their rightful owners. 

This week we explore the factors driving Japan’s efficient lost-and-found system, and its uncanny ability to reunite owners with lost property....

Walking through Tokyo's labyrinthine Shinjuku Station can be a challenge for even seasoned commuters. Hundreds of exits, countless corridors and the constant crush of passengers in the world's busiest train station are not for the faint of heart.

Yet one can frequently spot school children no older than five or six years old — sometimes alone, other times in small groups — lining up among suit-clad men and women to take th...

Apologies for the delay in this week's episode! A last minute re-record was needed
to add in some information newly reported this week in Japanese media.

For two decades, it was the lament of inexperienced visitors to Japan: Where are all the trash cans? It’s a cruel trick, in a way: In a country with innumerable vending machines, there’s often nowhere to put one’s wrappers or empty bottles.

Public w...

IN THE WANING MONTHS OF World War II, as the likelihood of a land invasion of the Japanese home islands loomed, the United States’ Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA) instituted a new psychological warfare unit under the command of Colonel Dana Johnston.

That Mt. Fuji would then become a physical target of Allied psy-ops is not surprising. As detailed in a declassified 1945 memo from Col. Johnston ...

It takes more than physical engineering for Japan's rail stations to carry out the smooth transport of some 13 billion passenger trips each year. 

Rail station design is a master class in "Nudge Theory" at work, perhaps most notably through the use of strategically placed blue LED light panels along station platforms. 

What might look like a bug zapper is actually a clever means of substantiall...

Take a train in any Japanese city and it is impossible to miss: rail employees in crisp uniforms pointing smartly at an array of buttons, knobs and dials. 

It is "shisa kanko" - pointing-and-calling - an industrial safety technique that, despite its odd appearance, is known to reduce workplace errors by up to 85%.

Join us as we investigate this fascinating practice and speak with industrial safety e...

Tokyo Confidential is a weekly podcast examining the lesser-seen history, culture and trains of the world's most interesting city.

Based on articles in the New York Times, CityLab, Globe and Mail, Atlas Obscura and other publications, each episode features original research as well as interviews with subject matter experts.

Meet our team in this introductory episode, and get a feel for what Tokyo Confide...