Shibuya’s Impressive Halloween Celebrations

Tokyo—specifically Shibuya—is one big, well-costumed party in a new photo series by Kawasaki-based photographer Ko Sasaki. Over the past decade, Halloween celebrations have been gaining momentum in Japan, and the costumes—ranging from classic to unconventional—are wildly impressive. Visit Afar to see all the corpse brides, witches, aliens and more.

Farewell to NASA’s Kepler Telescope

Kepler—the beloved NASA telescope responsible for discovering 70% of the 3,800 confirmed “alien worlds” to date—officially met its end yesterday. After nearly a decade of exploration, the telescope ran out of fuel and can no longer transmit data or focus on transient objects in space. During its time in flight the Kepler was able to study nearly 150,000 stars simultaneously and could determine exactly which ones …

South Korean Women Destroying Cosmetics in Protest

As part of a movement called “escape the corset,” many South Korean women are destroying their make-up—and sharing the glittery, colorful results on social media. The act is a rebellion against “the strict beauty standards that have become their country’s norm,” but further, the unpaid labor of that beauty. While this is a theme across countless countries, South Korea is the eighth largest cosmetics market in …