Welcome to The Extra, a fortnightly newsletter of complimentary stories — that’s right, free for all to read — curated from The Japan Times archives. Thank you for inviting our stories and perspectives into your inbox. If you’re enjoying this newsletter and haven’t done so already, do consider supporting our work by subscribing or signing up to read more of The Japan Times for free.

We’ve reached 50 issues and to that end, we’re spotlighting stories adjacent to topics that “clicked” with you in the past.