Getting lost in Japan’s tech wonderlands Let’s set the scene. It’s the third day of a long weekend – that blissful stage where you’ve lost all sense of time and start to believe you might never have to work again. My wife and I had just purchased a shiny new washing machine at our local tech wonderland, also known as the electronics store – where reason goes in with you, but somehow never makes it back out. All that was left was to pay. Simple, right? A quick beep of the cred

Japan’s home gadgets and cultural obsessions One of the things I’ve always loved about Japan – apart from the polite people, super-efficient trains, and vending machines that sell everything short of life insurance – are the gigantic electronics stores. These are not just shops. They are cathedrals of consumer technology, temples where you can lose yourself for hours among the latest gadgets, futuristic household appliances, and mysterious contraptions you didn’t even know ex

Japan’s tech quirks and nostalgic surprises Last week I made the bold decision that our loyal, 8-year-old car had earned its pension. Time for a shiny new replacement, I thought. A monumental decision, to be sure... at least for me. My dearest wife was considerably less enthused. While she made a contribution to the choice of colour, the rest was left to me as the sole driver: the heroic expedition to the Mazda dealership, the epic quest for the perfect chariot, and the gladi