Category: ME-SPIRATION
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Western Tama as a Living Journey: A Local Newspaper Capturing Daily Life
In August 2025, Me Time in Tama marked its first anniversary. The platform was created to share with the world the stories of people whose remarkable endeavors illuminate life in the Tama region. Meeting these individuals has revealed to us just how vast and deeply humane the people of this region truly is. Beyond the beauty of…
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Taishū Engeki in Tachikawa: Where Tradition Meets Fandom
There’s only one theater in the Tama area dedicated entirely to taishū engeki: Keyaki-za in Tachikawa. Inside, applause and soft sighs of admiration fill the air. Founded in 2015, it’s become a rare haven for this traditional art. Satomi Nakahara, who took over operations from her father Seiichirō in 2019, now runs the place. She…
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Dear Tachikawa: A Love Letter in Bronze
“I guess my lifelong theme is really this: the human condition,” says Masayoshi Akagawa, known to many as Akagawa BONZE. “Everything that makes us human—I’ve always believed it can be captured in a single bronze figure. That’s why I spent my youth immersed in theater and butoh, a form of avant-garde dance theater that emerged…
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Made in Tachikawa: Defining a Future for Paper
This spring, a new and unique type of cultural space opened inside Showa Commemorative National Park in Tachikawa: T-STORE. Operated under the Tachikawa Tourism & Convention Bureau, the project is produced by Fukunaga Print Co., a long-established print-processing factory that’s been rethinking what paper can do—and be. “We want Tachikawa to be a launchpad for new ideas,”…
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The Book of Joy From Kunitachi
On the shelves at Hareru-sha—a small independent publishing house based in Kunitachi—you’ll find a collection of well-known and beloved children’s books. They are discreetly displayed but are not for sale—just reminders of the founders’ inspirations. Hareru-sha isn’t a book shop, but a place shaped by stories. These displayed books first sparked something inside of the…
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Perfect Days in Okutama
Okutama is a popular hiking spot for visitors from Tokyo’s 23 wards. In this town the group OPT (Okutama Pika-Pika Toilet), carries out its unique mission. This game-changing group, founded in 2017 under the leadership of Tomoyuki Oi, is dedicated to transform the long-standing perception of public toilets as unsanitary and uninviting. Instead, Tomoyuki envisions spaces…
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Yaho: Drink, Connect, and Bring Your Story to Life
Chisato Sakane, the owner of Snack Suichu in Yaho, has carved out a uniquely unconventional career path. A graduate of an elite university in Tokyo, she took over a long-established Japanese snack bar, making bold and unconventional life choices, challenging societal norms and trusting her entrepreneurial instincts. All while being a wife, mother of a child, and entrepreneur, she transformed her snack bar…
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Dining as Dialogue: Creating Community Through Food in Tachikawa
In 2015, Masashi Kijima launched the “Tachikawa Tabearuki-tai” (“Foodie Explorers”), a vibrant community that shares tips about great eateries in Tachikawa and organizes meetups. Today, the group boasts over 7,500 members, who bond over their favorite restaurants, discover hidden gems around the city, and enjoy a rich and fulfilling urban life. The area around Tachikawa Station and…
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Between Tama and the 23 Wards: A Creative Journey
Hiroshi Nobue, a literary writer and producer of the globally recognized novelist Haruki Murakami’s radio show, Murakami RADIO on TOKYO FM, shares his reflections on how the outskirts of Tokyo—areas like Tama—provide fertile ground for literature, philosophy, and the roots of creativity. TOKYO FM is a leading Japanese radio station and the flagship of the Japan FM Network…
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Cross-Culture Chronicles: A Korean’s Life in Kunitachi
The city of Kunitachi, celebrated as a vibrant college town, has long attracted renowned writers and artists. It’s also home to unique bars, restaurants, record stores, and boutiques, where the small business owners’ creativity shines. Within this vibrant community, the Park Hyejung Korean Language Class has emerged as a welcoming space for cross-cultural exchange, bridging Japan and…
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Steeping in Time: Japanese Tea in Tachikawa
Riding a large motorcycle, wearing Timberland yellow boots and jeans, Kayoko Ikeya visits tea farmers in Sayama, Saitama, and Shizuoka—both regions famous for Japanese tea production. She is the third-generation owner of Sayamaen, a long-established tea store in Tachikawa, who certainly defies the image most people have of those involved in Japanese tea. She has…
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The Female Gaze: Tachikawa and the U.S. Military Base in the 60s
At the end of November 2023, Tachikawa, a photography book capturing the late 1960s in Tachikawa, Fussa, and other areas known for their U.S. military bases, was published. The photos were taken by members of the photography club at Otsuma Women’s University and Junior College, who graduated in 1969. The afterword states: “In 1967, the…