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Your trip to Japan should include these experiences that made the trip truly worthwhile for me.

When planning a trip to Japan, it's easy to overpack your itinerary, so here’s a list of things that I did in Japan that made the flight truly worth it.

First, Arashiyama Monkey Park.

It is a bit of a hike up the mountain but once you’re at the top you’re rewarded with breathtaking views of Kyoto and up-close monkey encounters. They are roaming freely around you making it known that this is not a zoo, it’s their space that you’re visiting.

Next up, L’Escamoteur.

This bar is a hidden gem in Kyoto, tucked away from the main streets, perfect for something more intimate. Their bartenders are also magicians ready to put on a show while they craft excellent drinks. If there is a line, wait in it. You won’t be disappointed with this magical experience full of creative cocktails that will end up being one of the most memorable parts of your night.

Also in Kyoto, Nishiki Market.

It is crowded, loud, and sometimes overwhelming, but you will be able to get anything from fresh seafood to a vintage designer handbag. Nishiki Market is the perfect place to sample a little bit of everything and do shopping damage in just a few hours.

Moving over to Tokyo.

A lot of people say Go-Karting in Shibuya is overrated, but if you book in advance after sunset, you won’t regret it. Make sure you have your international driver’s license because you’ll really be driving in the streets of Shibuya surrounded by neon lights while pedestrians cheer you on. This is definitely one of the more surreal experiences that you won't find anywhere else.

Finally, the Tokyo Skytree.

If you couldn’t book tickets for the Shibuya Sky, the Tokyo Skytree is an exceptional alternative. It may feel like a tourist trap, but the panoramic views of the entire city will prove to be worth it. Make sure to secure tickets for the Tembo Galleria so you get to go up the full 450 meters for one of the most stunning views in Tokyo.

This Week in Asian Sports LSU star Kailin Chio lands a Honda Award nomination while Seiya Suzuki and Kansei Matsuzawa make major moves in the MLB and NFL.

LSU standout Kailin Chio has been named one of four finalists for the Class of 2026 Honda Sport Award for gymnastics, a prestigious honor recognizing the top female athlete in the sport. This nomination follows a sensational run where she was ranked as the No. 1 gymnast in the NCAA for four consecutive weeks in 2026, leading the Tigers this season with 13 perfect scores and an NCAA runner-up finish. These accolades add to her resume as the 2025 national vault champion, solidifying her status as the most dominant force in collegiate gymnastics.

On the baseball diamond, Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki is making up for lost time after a right knee injury suffered during the World Baseball Classic sidelined him for Opening Day. Since returning to the lineup, Suzuki has been on a blistering tear, launching five home runs in his last seven games while elevating his batting average to a sharp .317 through 17 appearances. His quick return to form has been instrumental in keeping the Cubs competitive in the NL Central, proving himself as a vital centerpiece of the team’s offensive engine.

Former University of Hawai’i kicker and Lou Groza Award finalist Kansei Matsuzawa has officially signed with the Las Vegas Raiders as an undrafted free agent.  Matsuzawa enters a favorable situation in Vegas; he is expected to provide serious competition for the starting role against journeyman Matt Gay.  Gay struggled significantly last year, posting a career-low 74% field goal percentage in his seventh season.  “Tokyo Toe” set a Hawaii program single season record with 27 field goals made, making 93% of his attempts. With Matsuzawa’s proven collegiate accuracy, the battle for the Raiders’ kicking duties will be one of the most watched storylines of training camp.

Victor Wembanyama reclaims the Spurs’ legendary status by introducing centuries-old Chinese mental conditioning to the regimen of modern elite athletics.

Integrating Eastern philosophy into modern sports is a growing trend that has bridged the gap between ancient discipline and elite performance.

The newest disciple is Spurs All-Star center Victor Wembanyama, who spent a ten-day stint this past offseason at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China.  After immersing himself in Kung Fu and mental conditioning, “Wemby” returned for a historic third season.

The results were immediate: Wembanyama surged into the MVP conversation and secured the league’s first ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year award.  With Wemby dialed in as the centerpiece, the Spurs finished with a 62-20 record, the second-best in the league.  His playoff debut was equally legendary, dropping 35 points to break Tim Duncan’s franchise record and leading San Antonio to a dominant series win over Portland.

Wembanyama joins a prestigious lineage of NBA icons who integrated ancient Asian disciplines to sharpen their edge.  The NBA’s second all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was a devoted student of Bruce Lee.  He attributed his 20-season durability to Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and the “be like water” philosophy.  By utilizing martial arts stretching and mindfulness, Kareem maintained the fluid flexibility required for his unstoppable “Skyhook.”

The Buddhist-rooted mindfulness was famously weaponized by Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, who became known in the league as the “Zen Master.”  Jackson integrated such practices into the cultures of the Bulls and Lakers teams that featured Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal.  He practiced “one-breath” collective thinking to manage the egos of these icons and create selfless, unified dynasties.  With a record 11 coaching championships, Jackson proved that while physical talent wins games, Eastern-rooted mental clarity wins titles.

Behind every Filipino nurse is a story of migration, sacrifice, and a healthcare system that fully depends on them.

You’ve probably noticed before that many Filipino Americans go into nursing. When you walk into any hospital in America, there’s a high chance that a Filipino nurse is a part of your care team. It’s a pattern that some people recognize, but never question why.

Filipino presence in nursing is much bigger than most realize. They make up roughly 1% of the population in the United States and about 4% of all registered nurses. If you look at immigrant nurses, Filipinos make up nearly a third of them.

To understand how this happened, we have to go back to 1898. The United States colonized the Philippines after the Spanish-American War and completely rebuilt its education and healthcare systems. Across the Philippines, American-style nursing schools were built and students were taught in English using U.S. medical standards.

For over a century, Filipino nurses were being trained in a way that was compatible with American healthcare and eventually by the 1960s, immigration laws made it easier for skilled workers to come to the U.S. Hospitals quickly recruited Filipino nurses during critical times and they fit in seamlessly due to their training.

In many Filipino households, nursing became a pathway to build financial stability. After nursing proved to support entire generations for decades, it is no longer just encouraged, but rather expected.

From the AIDS crisis to COVID-19, Filipino nurses have been on the frontlines. Even though they make up 4% of all nurses, they accounted for 30% of nurse deaths during the pandemic and this gap shows just how heavily they’re placed in the most demanding, high risk roles.

Filipinos in nursing don't just represent a career choice. It represents a story of migration and a system that depends on it because without Filipino nurses, the American healthcare system would look completely different.

He's a man, just a man, a very very strange man making life frightening for the world.

VERSE 1 What did we do to deserve Don? He is a man, just a very strange man. He is not what I'd call A blessing at all — Yet his face is on everything now.

VERSE 2 What did we do to deserve Don? He is just one, yet he's ev-ery-where, Lord. On the buildings and ties, On the steaks and the fries, And he's shooting his mouth 'round the world.

CHORUS I don't know how to stop him, He was always just… there. In my newsfeed, my nightmares, In my gold-plated air. Should I shout him? Should I flee him? Should I simply despair? He's a man — he's just a man — But he's more than a man, If I trust the man's hair.

VERSE 3 What did we do to deserve Don? He was sent, Lord — but sent here by whom? Did we covet too much? Did we lose touch? Now he's taken the whole living room.

VERSE 4 He has slain ev'ry norm that we worshipped, He has kissed all our allies goodbye. Every blessing we built He has covered in gilt — Lord, we're asking you plainly: Why?

CHORUS 2 I don't know how to love this, Though I've tried — Lord, I've tried. Every value we stood for He has cast aside. Don't you see that I'm frightened? Don't you see that I'm through? He's a man, he's just a man — And we're all in his hand — Lord, what did we do?

BRIDGE (spoken, gravely) We did this. We did all of this. We had warning signs. We had receipts. We had... the first term.

FINAL VERSE (soft, resigned) What did we do to deserve Don? He is here now, and here he will stay. 'Til we find it in us To make all this fuss Mean something — on some future Election Day.

CODA He's a man... He's just a man... (pause) ...isn't he?

Asian Americans actually play video games less frequently than other groups, but their level of investment and digital engagement is unmatched.

The global video game market has long been tethered to Asian ingenuity, dominated by Japanese hardware giants like Nintendo and Sony.  This technological stronghold has fostered a persistent perception that Asian populations possess the highest gaming rates in the world.

This stereotype was notably projected onto Korean American NFL star Kyler Murray; his contract famously included an “independent study” clause that specifically prohibited distracting activities like gaming or browsing the internet. 

However, research from the Entertainment Software Association reveals a different reality: both Hispanic and Black Americans actually play video games at higher percentages than Asian Americans.

While Asian Americans may under-index in overall participation, those who do play are deeply invested.  They are 14% more likely to own a gaming console and typically possess a wider array of gaming accessories.  Additionally, a staggering 40% of Asian American gamers spend more than five hours a week watching gaming video content on platforms like Twitch and YouTube.

This intense engagement translates directly to the professional and digital arenas.  The community is represented by global icons ranging from South Korea’s renowned League of Legends champion, Faker, to Filipino American creator Valkyrae, a leading figure with 14 million followers across platforms.

Ultimately, these trends reveal a community that refuses to be defined by a single narrative, trading rigid expectations for a more self-directed reality inclusive of personal passion and digital mastery.

From early failures to global success, Nobu Matsuhisa played a huge role in elevating Japanese cuisine into a fine dining experience.

There are hundreds of luxury restaurant names all around the world, but only a few have become iconic in the fine dining industry. Before Nobu became one of those names, its founder went through years of setbacks.

Nobu Matsuhisa was born in Saitama, Japan and was raised with his two older brothers by a single mother after his father died in a traffic collision when he was just eight years old. Nobu’s family traveled the world for nearly a decade and when he graduated from high school, he began working as a dishwasher at Matsue Sushi in Shinjuku.

This is where Nobu spent years training to be a sushi master and in his early 20s, one of his regulars invited him to help open a Japanese restaurant in Peru. Nobu’s career took him to Lima, where he and his partner opened another Matsue in 1973. While in Peru, Nobu discovered ingredients that were completely different from what he would find in Japan, prompting him to incorporate Peruvian ingredients into his Japanese dishes.

Unfortunately, Matsue closed after three years and Nobu tried opening another restaurant in Argentina, which ultimately failed, forcing him to relocate to Alaska. Nobu opened a restaurant on his own in Anchorage, but it was burned down in an electrical fire just two weeks after the grand opening.

In 1977, Nobu moved to Los Angeles, worked at Japanese restaurants “Mitsuwa” and “Oshou”, and a decade later, opened his own called Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills. Nobu found success in LA as Japanese cuisine was beginning to attract attention, especially from Hollywood celebrities. Robert De Niro was one of Matsuhisa’s regulars and he convinced Nobu to expand the concept to New York.

Nobu partnered with De Niro and film producer Meir Teper to open the very first Nobu in New York City, which quickly gained international recognition. Dinner at Nobu elevated Japanese cuisine by combining fine dining with cultural fusion and innovation.

Today Nobu Matsuhisa oversees nearly 60 Nobu restaurants and 14 Matsuhisa locations across five continents. The brand also includes over 20 Nobu Hotels further cementing its place in the hospitality industry. Nobu himself primarily operates out of Los Angeles, where his empire began. And from those beginnings, he created a legacy that redefined how the world experiences Japanese cuisine.

Landing a big AI job isn't quite the life-changing boon one might assume amid the boom hype.

(Verse 1)

They gave me stock and promises in a language wrapped in gold,

(Chorus)

(Verse 2)

My buddies from the old days say I sold my soul for code,

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)

But then I see Etta’s face and hear my mama’s hopeful sigh,

(Chorus)

(Bridge)

(Verse 4)

(Final Chorus)

The Kobalt Labs founders leverage LLMs to transform manual regulatory reviews into instant automated insights.

Kalyani Ramadurgam and Ashi Agrawal are the founders of Kobalt Labs, an AI-powered compliance platform navigating the high-stakes regulatory landscape of fintech.

The New York-based startup has secured $12.7 million in funding to expand its third-party risk management and automation technology.  Founded in 2023, Kobalt Labs leverages large language models to automate the tedious manual review processes that often stall financial innovation, including SOC 2 and security report analysis, regulatory gap mapping, and UDAAP marketing reviews.

Kobalt’s platform serves as an “automated compliance officer,” allowing teams at institutions like Chime and Bilt to identify security gaps and regulatory requirements instantly. 

The startup’s rapid execution and innovative technology earned Ramadurgam and Agrawal a spot on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Both founders of Indian descent share a deep technical pedigree. Ramadurgam, who serves as the company’s CEO, was a software engineer for Zenysis Technologies for two years before turning to entrepreneurship.  She also developed financial security products at Apple designed to safeguard Apple Pay transactions.  Agrawal, Kobalt’s CTO, was a software engineer at the fintech giant Affirm for four years.  Both founders are 2019 computer science graduates of Stanford University.  Ramadurgam also holds a CS master’s with a concentration in AI.

Their shared technical foundation and passion for transforming legacy infrastructure ultimately led them to join the Summer 2023 cohort of Y Combinator to scale their vision.

In this classic Indian folk tale, a king renowned for his unflinching honesty passes every test thrown at him by the gods.

Alright, my little laddoos, scoot closer—yes, under the blanket properly, not halfway in and halfway out like a confused caterpillar. Good. Tonight I’ll tell you about a king who told the truth all the time. And I mean all the time. Not even a teeny-tiny fib. Not even, “I didn’t eat the last ladoo.” Hmm? Yes, I’m watching.

Once upon a time, there lived a king named Raja Harishchandra. Now this king had a reputation that spread far and wide—people said, “If Harishchandra speaks, you can trust it more than sunrise.” Imagine that! Even your grandmother cannot promise sunrise, but this man could promise truth.

Well, news of this reached the great sage Vishwamitra. Ah, sages… very wise, but also a little mischievous when it comes to testing people. Vishwamitra thought, “Let me see if this king is truly as honest as they say.”

So one day, the sage appeared in the royal court—poof!—just like that. The king welcomed him with full respect, offered him a seat, refreshments, all the royal treatment. And then the sage said, very calmly, “O King, you once promised to give me anything I ask. I have come to claim it.”

Now listen carefully, because this is where most people would start sweating and looking for excuses. But not Harishchandra. He stood tall and said, “Of course, respected sage. Whatever you wish is yours.”

And what did Vishwamitra ask for? Not a gold coin, not a necklace—no, no. He said, “I want your entire kingdom.”

Everything.

The palace, the elephants, the jewels, the fancy carpets… even the royal kitchen with all its sweets. Gone!

And what did Harishchandra do? Did he argue? Did he say, “Maybe half?” Did he call his lawyer? No. He bowed his head and said, “It is yours.”

Just like that—king one moment, ordinary man the next.

So off he went, with his queen and their young son, wearing simple clothes, leaving behind all that glitter and comfort. And just when you think, “Okay, that’s enough testing,” the sage says, “Ah, but you still owe me a fee for the ritual.”

Hai re! As if losing everything wasn’t enough!

So what could the king do? A promise is a promise. To pay the fee, he sold everything he had left—including himself, his queen, and even his little boy—to different masters. Yes, beta, life can be that hard sometimes.

Now Harishchandra found work in a cremation ground. Not a palace, not a garden—a cremation ground. His duty was to collect a fee from anyone who came to perform last rites. Day and night, rain or shine, he stood there, doing his duty, never once bending the rules, never once telling a lie.

And then came the hardest moment of all.

One day, his wife came walking toward that very cremation ground. She looked tired, heartbroken, carrying their little son in her arms. The boy had died.

Ah… even your grandmother feels a lump in her throat telling this part.

There stood Harishchandra—no longer a king, just a guard doing his duty. He recognized his wife. Of course he did. But he also knew his responsibility.

With tears in his eyes, he said, “You must pay the fee.”

Can you imagine? His own family… and still he would not break his word, would not break the rules.

That, my little ones, is what true honesty looks like. Not easy. Not comfortable. But unshakable.

And just when everything seemed completely lost—like when you think the sweet jar is empty but, surprise, there’s one hidden at the back—suddenly the heavens opened.

The gods themselves appeared in a burst of light. And there stood Vishwamitra, smiling.

“It was all a test,” he said. “And you, Harishchandra, have passed. You never abandoned the truth—not even when it cost you everything.”

With that, the boy was brought back to life, the family was reunited, and Harishchandra was given back his kingdom, brighter and grander than before.

Ahh… a happy ending, just the way your grandmother likes it.

So remember this, my sweethearts: telling the truth is not always easy. Sometimes it feels like the hardest thing in the whole world. But if you hold on to it—really hold on—then no matter how dark things get, the light will find its way back to you.