Sake may have waned in popularity in Japan, but the demand for rice wine is rapidly growing elsewhere in the world. The Sake 2020 Project, formed in anticipation of the Tokyo Olympics, is leading the effort to ‘create a better environment to promote sake to foreign customers’.

Blessing ceremonies? Power stones? Cultivating one’skienergy? Gen Yers in Japan aren't just embracing these things – a growing number are spending on them, too. Amid economic turmoil and rampant Americanisation, young Japan is turning to religion for both their personal and national identities.

When the daughter of a Japanese mother and African American father entered the 2015 Miss Universe contest, she knew the controversy she would face if she won. Now, representing Japan in her freshly-won crown, Ariana Miyamoto is challenging Japan's racial stereotypes.

Mascots have long been used to front brands in Japan, but Gudetama – a lazy anthropomorphic egg – is a far cry from the cutesy characters typically seen. It now appears on around 1,700 items, boasting its own Twitter feed and pop-up cafés, but how has it won the hearts of people nationwide?