https://www.scmp.com/rss/323626/feed Manami Okazaki is a freelance journalist and author. She has written 10 books on Japanese fashion, crafts and culture, and covers Asian popular culture for publications globally. She also profiles photographers and writes about photography culture. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Sensoji, Tokyo’s oldest temple, is a dramatic complex, its large entry gates flanked by two fierce guardians, representing thunder and wind, and a 3.9-metre-tall vermilion lantern – Japan’s largest – hanging down the centre. On the third weekend of May, the usual tourist hordes at Sensoji, in the eastern neighbourhood of Asakusa, are overwhelmed by another source of pandemonium, the Sanja Matsuri. For three days, participants in this traditional festival (“matsuri”) take over Sensoji, the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3304105/tokyos-sanja-matsuri-festival-carnival-bedlam-boozing-and-even-brawling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3304105/tokyos-sanja-matsuri-festival-carnival-bedlam-boozing-and-even-brawling?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Mar 2025 11:00:09 +0000 Wim Wenders’ latest film, Perfect Days, is a languid sketch of a typical Tokyo toilet cleaner’s life. It shows the minutiae of the working-day rituals of its protagonist, Hirayama: wiping toilet bowls with scrupulous attentiveness; driving his van to work; and the inane conversations he has with fellow cleaners. Part of his daily routine sees Hirayama washing off the day’s toils at the local sento bathhouse. Having showered, he slowly sinks into the bath, letting the hot water dissolve the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3279295/what-are-japans-sento-bathhouses-featured-perfect-days-and-how-are-they-different-onsens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3279295/what-are-japans-sento-bathhouses-featured-perfect-days-and-how-are-they-different-onsens?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Sep 2024 23:15:07 +0000 It is 6.30am on a cold winter morning in Hadano, Kanagawa, and though the prefecture is next to western Tokyo, it is a world away. Misty mountains are covered in dense woodlands, agricultural communities grow vegetables and live in traditional wooden houses, and there is hardly a convenience store for kilometres. Also living within these thick forests are boars, deer, monkeys, even bears, all of which normally mind their own business. Recently, however, the number of bear sightings within human... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3252971/how-hunting-trending-japan-young-and-old-dust-ancient-techniques-search-wild-game?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3252971/how-hunting-trending-japan-young-and-old-dust-ancient-techniques-search-wild-game?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2024 03:15:08 +0000 On a crisp winter evening at Tai Po Waterfront Park, musicians are gathering, the auditorium stage is ready, instruments are being set down. It’s like any other pre-performance scene, only this evening, the sun having set, some performers are still wearing sunglasses. And those who are, also speak from behind face masks. The musicians range from amateur to professional, and all initially met over the social media app Telegram, the go-to method of communication during this summer and autumn of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3042608/how-songs-became-powerful-weapons-protesters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3042608/how-songs-became-powerful-weapons-protesters?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Dec 2019 22:00:14 +0000 Cheap, plastic, and just barely functional, the Holga camera is beloved among photography enthusiasts for its ultra-analogue simplicity. Rather than producing crisp, sharp exposures, the Holga creates pictures full of distortion, lens flare, faded colors, and vignettes. They appear, by today’s standards, to be highly flawed. The cameras were so janky that users often cocooned their camera in duct tape or wedged cardboard under the film spool to prevent light from leaking into the box.  But the... https://www.scmp.com/culture/holga-camera-hong-kong-origin-story/article/3040519?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/holga-camera-hong-kong-origin-story/article/3040519?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Dec 2019 13:05:10 +0000 Persistent social unrest, growing financial inequality and choking urban density might not be traits usually associated with longevity, but despite the troubles currently gripping the city, Hong Kong has the highest life expectancy in the world. According to the United Nations Vital Statistics Summary and Life Expectancy at Birth for 2016 – the most recent data available – Hong Kong women live, on average, to 87.3 years of age and men to 81.3, beating such places as Japan and Italy, which are... https://www.scmp.com/society/secret-behind-hongkongers-longevity/article/3035170?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/secret-behind-hongkongers-longevity/article/3035170?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2019 09:17:25 +0000 Persistent social unrest, growing financial inequality and choking urban density might not be traits usually associated with longevity, but despite the troubles currently gripping the city, Hong Kong has the highest life expectancy in the world. According to the United Nations Vital Statistics Summary and Life Expectancy at Birth for 2016 – the most recent data available – Hong Kong women live, on average, to 87.3 years of age and men to 81.3, beating such places as Japan and Italy, which are... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3034349/hong-kong-has-highest-life-expectancy-world-what?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3034349/hong-kong-has-highest-life-expectancy-world-what?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2019 21:00:10 +0000 To the untrained eye, “zines” don’t look like much: pamphlets stapled crudely together, featuring disparate topics and a range of art forms, such as cartoons, illustrations and photography. To collectors, they are pocket-sized works of art, and tools of self-expression. Zines have been experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Museums, universities and institutions across the United States are championing them, and if any proof of their current popularity were needed, the fact that American... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2121084/why-hong-kong-artists-and-activists-are-turning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2121084/why-hong-kong-artists-and-activists-are-turning?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2017 09:15:48 +0000 Holga may not be a brand name as recognisable as Canon and Nikon, nor is it as highly regarded among perfectionists as German brand Leica, but it does have a global cult following and it has influenced the way people think about photography. And surprisingly, it is from Hong Kong. Cheap, plastic, with barely any functions and weighing only 170 grams, the Holga (a phonetic play on the Cantonese word for “very bright”, which sounds like “holgon”) is so bare-bones, users often cocoon it in duct... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2094833/holga-story-cheap-plastic-camera-made-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2094833/holga-story-cheap-plastic-camera-made-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 May 2017 03:00:30 +0000 Elegantly dressed and opulently coiffured, four girls sit around a table eating dainty pastries and sipping tea. They giggle coquettishly in their puffy dresses embellished with lace cuffs, tulle accents and oversized bows. The scene could be from an animated version of 18th-century Versailles but, in fact, we are in the Hit the Road café, in Causeway Bay, and these girls – blond wigs and vivid contact lenses notwith­standing – are most definitely Chinese. Kat Wong, 25, Sammi Wong Kwok-yee, 31,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2048563/kawaii-hong-kong-how-citys-lolitas-live-cute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2048563/kawaii-hong-kong-how-citys-lolitas-live-cute?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Nov 2016 05:00:30 +0000