Sexagenary cycle ganzhi: five elements, twelve animals
The sexagenary cycle ganzhi pairs ten heavenly stems with twelve earthly branches over sixty years. Oracle-bone origins, elements, animals, and time as return.
Read
Japan
Arts12 min
The Colors of Asia's Temples: Vermilion, Gold, and the Five Elements
Vermilion torii, imperial gold, the five elements: a journey through the color symbolism that clothes the temples of Japan and China.
Read
China
Business & Tech13 min
Alipay, WeChat Pay: How China Abolished Cash
QR-code duopoly, technological leapfrogging, the red-envelope war and the digital yuan: the mobile payment rail that erased cash in China.
Contemporary and traditional Japan. Language, animation, cinema, food, arts, society.
Japan
Food14 min
Wagashi: Japan's Traditional Confectionery, Explained
History, ingredients and types of wagashi, Japan's tea confections. Nerikiri, yokan, daifuku, dorayaki: a complete, sensory guide to Japanese sweets.
Read
Japan
Food13 min
Japanese Tea: Sencha, Gyokuro, Hojicha, Genmaicha
Japanese tea is not just matcha: sencha, gyokuro, hojicha, genmaicha. Origins, terroirs, brewing temperatures and the vocabulary to understand it all.
Read
Japan
Society10 min
Konbini: why Japan's convenience stores are legendary
56,000 konbini nationwide, open around the clock, official disaster shelters: inside the Japanese convenience store that became a national institution.
South Korea and the peninsula. Language, cinema, series, music, food, society.
Korea
Food14 min
Kimchi Varieties: Korea's Edible Atlas
There is not one kimchi but nearly two hundred. Cabbage, radish, cucumber, scallion: the detailed guide to the great kimchi families, region by region.
Read
Korea
Society11 min
Aegyo: The Korean Art of Performed Cuteness
Baby voice, finger heart, buing buing: aegyo is a Korean relational language. Origins, repertoire, the gender debate, and its Asian cousins decoded.
Read
Korea
Society11 min
Palli-palli: The Culture of "Hurry, Hurry" That Keeps Korea Running
Bullet delivery, the world's fastest internet, the Miracle on the Han River: inside palli-palli, the national reflex that built Korea and sometimes broke it.
