A huge sinkhole forming in front of your convenience store usually wouldn’t be good for business. But a 7-Eleven that survived a sinkhole in Fukuoka City in 2016 has become a symbol of good luck, leading superstitious Japanese students to visit in their droves.

Purikura photo booths have been fostering a sharing culture among Japanese youth since the mid-1990s – so how has app-based platform MixChannel brought this phenomenon into the digital era? And what role does video and photo sharing play in shaping identity during adolescence?

Chocolate is many people's guilty pleasure – some people are even forking out eight times as much money for a quality bar of cocoa compared to a regular one. And just as the bean-to-bar movement is well underway in the US, Japanese chocoholics are spending big on artisan treats.

Blessing ceremonies? Power stones? Cultivating one’s ki energy? 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.