Who isn’t a fan of elegantly designed Shintō shrines, tidy tea houses, meditative Zen gardens, and Marie Kondo? For decades, the Western world has been obsessed with Japanese minimalism. But Japan isn’t actually as tidy as foreigners perceive it to be. In this delightful Aeon essay, Matt Alt examines and celebrates the unique material culture and aesthetic...

What does “home” mean to you? Where is it? Who is it? For The Common Reader, essayist Jeannette Cooperman writes a series of ruminations on the buildings we live in, the childhood homes we miss, the houses we dream about or cannot afford, the geographic places that are part of our identities long after we’ve left, and even the loved ones we seek as...

This story was funded by our members. Join Longreads and help us to support more writers.In this week’s edition:• Researching climate change from on (very) high • The quasi-models who helped Notre-Dame rise again • How migraines elude our understanding—and our best efforts • Seeking solace beyond the veil • The pros and cons of turning your home...

Pain isn’t weakness leaving the body, as so many gung-ho influencers love to tell you. It’s just pain. And sometimes, that pain has no seeming precursor, no dependable provenance for us to excise at the root. But we still look and we still hope, just as Tan Tuck Ming has his entire life in his search to conquer his all-consuming migraines.Once a migraine...

When Atossa Araxia Abrahamian’s nursery shuts down she sets up a temporary day care in her home. It’s chaos. Abrahaimian holds nothing back as she spirals into desperation, eventually taking up the fight to have her old nursery reopened herself. Day care issues in New York may not seem that significant, but in Abrahmian’s world, it becomes everything....

Has your Kia started up on its own? You might be the victim of a flaw in Kia’s web portal that allows hackers to wrest control of cars away from unsuspecting owners. For Wired, Andy Greenberg reports on a bug that researchers have discovered affects any internet-connected Kia. While the vulnerability doesn’t make it possible to move the vehicle (yet),...