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November 23, 2024
 

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Chris Burgess

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Chris Burgess
Chris Burgess teaches Japanese and Australian Studies at Tsuda College, Tokyo. He has published widely on multiculturalism, globalization, migration and identity in contemporary Japan. He is also an avid football fan (YNWA) and futsal player.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 18, 2014
Japan's 'no immigration principle' looking as solid as ever
In contrast to Hidenori Sakanaka's unbridled optimism, I argue that Japan has little prospect of becoming a 'migrant nation' anytime soon.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 18, 2013
Democracy, interrupted: How local voices were silenced in Tokyo's first referendum
On Sunday, May 26, something quite remarkable happened in Kodaira city, western Tokyo: Over 50,000 citizens voted in Tokyo's very first local referendum (jūmin tōhyō) on the issue of whether a 50-year-old plan to construct a road should be reviewed or not.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 21, 2013
Ambivalent Japan turns on its 'insular' youth
Japan's decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations shows that at least some in government have accepted the fact that 'opening up' Japan is in the nation's best long-term interests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 21, 2011
Media grasp for words to sum up post-3/11 grit
The disaster was "divine retribution (tembatsu)," proclaimed Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara just days after the Tohoku earthquake. "The Japanese have become a selfish (gayoku) people. We need to use the tsunami to wash away this egoism."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 19, 2011
Students choose failure over uncertainty
"Could you please fail me?" As a university lecturer, it is by no means unusual to have seniors drop by to check if they have sufficient credits to graduate. However, I was flabbergasted by this recent visitor who wanted not reassurance - she was on track to graduate - but rather my cooperation in failing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010
Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts
In the upcoming Australian general election, there is one issue that the major parties unanimously agree on: opposition to Japanese whaling. Voters are overwhelmingly antagonistic to whaling and Australian politicians have demonstrated an increasing willingness to listen to public opinion.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 23, 2010
Higher education: opening up or closing in?
First in a two-part series
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 27, 2009
Immigration showing signs of ninjo
Last month, I was asked to take part in a public panel discussion on the recently released Harrison Ford blockbuster "Crossing Over." In the film, Ford plays an L.A. Immigration and Customs officer with a conscience, increasingly disturbed by the human consequences of his job.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 2, 2008
Soft power is key to Japan reshaping its identity abroad
In February this year, a Japanese university student scribbled her name and that of her college on the walls of Florence's Duomo. The following month, the university received complaints from Japanese travelers embarrassed to find Japanese graffiti on a World Heritage Site. In June, after another Japanese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 11, 2008
The lowest form of flattery?
In order to avoid the entry of terrorists into Japan, it has been decided to impose fingerprinting and photography at immigration.' So begins the Foreign Ministry video explaining the November changes to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2007
'Multicultural Japan' remains a pipe dream
In February, education minister Bunmei Ibuki called Japan "an extremely homogenous country." Eighteen months earlier, now Foreign Minister Taro Aso described Japan as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race." What was notable about these comments is that they were...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 14, 2006
Country kids need language support
Ji Young was 13 when she moved from Seoul to a small village in Yamagata in 1999. Her mother had arrived from Korea a few months earlier to marry a Japanese man.
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
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