There are bars, and then there are bars that make you feel like you’ve stumbled into someone’s very good secret. Kompakt Record Bar Tokyo, which opened its doors on May 15 in Setagaya’s quiet Ikejiri neighborhood, is firmly the latter. Learn more here.
Other highlights from the web:
The beloved Hello Kitty shinkansen — which spent eight incredibly kawaii years on the tracks — has been completely dismantled after its final run.
A deep dive into hojojutsu, an ancient Japanese martial art focused on restraining prisoners with rope. The knot patterns weren’t merely functional — they told you all about the arrestee’s social status, gender, the severity of their crime and more.
Kenjiro Tsuda — the iconic voice actor behind beloved characters like Kento Nanami (Jujutsu Kaisen) and Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!) — has filed a landmark lawsuit against TikTok. This is believed to be Japan’s very first legal battle against the unauthorized use of a celebrity’s voice cloned by generative AI.
— Callie Beusman, Editorial Director
Tokyo’s music bar scene has always had depth, but the newly opened Kompakt Record Bar brings a fresh concept from Seoul. The original space is a Seoul institution: a vinyl-only music bar that built its reputation as a cultural hub where music, fashion and community collide.
This Tokyo outpost — its first location outside Korea — carries that same DNA. From the moment I walked in on opening night, it was clear: This place already belongs to the city.
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Other highlights:
JAPAN LIFE
The adorable pink train has been fully scrapped, just nine days after its final run.
HISTORY
Techniques stemming directly from hojojutsu eventually found their way into erotic arts like shibari and kinbaku.
NEWS
The case centers on an influx of videos that use AI-generated clones of his voice without consent.
Travel in Japan:
From a remote hilltop museum to a converted sake warehouse, a guide to experiencing the artist's work across the country.
The Higashi Chaya District is the largest of Kanazawa’s three historical geisha districts — and geisha still entertain there today.
Visitors travel by a series of six unique transport modes, including cable cars, highland buses, a ropeway and electric buses that run through mountain tunnels.