Masako Miki’s furry sculptures await you in a near-dark environment at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.

Japanese calligraphy, or shodo, is an ancient art that marries beauty with precision. From writing beautiful characters to ...

Updated by Christy Mathew on October 4, 2024: Naruto is a beloved series that clearly draws inspiration from classic Japanese traditions, and Masashi Kishimoto put a lot into tying his characters ...

And Japanese character popularity shows no sign of slowing: Netflix has secured exclusive rights to new episodes of Pokémon, while Hello Kitty is moving toward her Hollywood debut.

The written Japanese and Chinese languages are composed not of individual letters but of ideographs or pictographs, which represent an idea or thing. Some characters consist of more than 30 strokes.

Unlike the 1980s miniseries version, the new adaptation of Shogun features fully-formed Japanese characters. NPR's Scott Detrow talks with the creators, Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks.