I’m a correspondent covering Japan, and to be honest, it’s only during my sixth year here that a bit of homesickness has begun to set in. I’ve been trying to quash this by exploring local bookstores and galleries.

Here are five mostly Japan-related items I’ve loved seeing, reading and listening to →

My cousin’s 6-year-old daughter showed me the silly and magical universe she created in this game. Her family has a pet axolotl (a kind of salamander), and she had filled part of an ocean in Minecraft with thousands of them. If you have anyone in your life who plays Minecraft, I highly recommend asking for a world tour.

Takanashi’s photographs perfectly capture moments of city life and urban design in Tokyo. One of them, at the National Museum of Modern Art, was taken in 1965 in front of Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple. It depicts a little girl in a white dress and oversize sunglasses, striking the sassiest of poses, while an older woman takes reprieve in a cigarette.

See more from the photographer here.

After writing several articles about Japanese convenience stores, I picked up a book about a woman who has been working at one of them for 18 years. It captures how she cultivates an identity she feels is acceptable to society by becoming one with the routines prescribed to her in a corporate manual.

Jun Seba, known by his stage name Nujabes, is a DJ and artist whose samples span hip-hop, soul and jazz. I’ve been listening to him since high school, but I’ve found his atmospheric music serves as an especially good soundtrack for Tokyo life.

I discovered Enomoto’s paintings in Miami a few years ago, and they keep popping up in galleries in Japan as well. As best as I can describe, Enomoto’s art is what happens when you thrust the beautiful, nature-inspired animation of Studio Ghibli into a dark and chaotic modern age. The result is gruesome and powerful and so good.

See Koichi Enomoto’s art here.

Here are some more favorites:

• What’s in Our Queue? ‘Smiling Friends’ and More
  
• What’s in Our Queue? ‘Industry’ and More