Challenge your intellect against the puzzle experts of Japan.

Completely captivating! Challenge your intellect against the puzzle experts of Japan.

Disregard sudoku - Japan has generated several additional intricate logic puzzles that remain unfamiliar in the UK. Alex Bellos elucidates strategies for addressing Shakashaka, Marupeke, and Skyscrapers.

The pencil-and-paper logic problem is undoubtedly Japan's most successful cultural export in recent years. Examine almost every daily newspaper, and you will see at least one numerical phrazle puzzle with a Japanese designation; sudoku is the most prevalent, but there are other more, such as kakuro and futoshiki, to cite just some that often appear in the Guardian. Newsagents and bookstores are filled with shelves brimming with these unusual, square-gridded number puzzles.

I traveled to Tokyo to comprehend Japan's dominance in the puzzle realm. I uncovered a nation with a distinctive puzzle culture. Japanese innovators have developed several exceptional logic puzzles, many of which remain unfamiliar in the West. The nation maintains a cottage industry of several hundred puzzle "artisans" who craft these puzzles manually, in contrast to the computer-generated methods commonly used elsewhere.