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November 22, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 9, 2018
Japanese consumers increasingly face stealth price hikes via 'shrinkflation'
In Japan, a phenomenon known as "shrinkflation" — an important economic countermeasure against inflation for businesses — has been catching the attention of consumers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 3, 2018
NHK tries to clear up LGBT misconceptions
Last month, publisher Iwanami Shoten was criticized for its definition of “LGBT” in the newest edition of Kojien, which is considered to be the most authoritative dictionary of the Japanese language. The complaint was specifically about the meaning of the acronym’s “T” portion, which stands...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 27, 2018
Is artificial intelligence killing Japan's banks?
As part of an ongoing series about artificial intelligence, the Asahi Shimbun on Jan. 11 published a story that asserts the financial industry has adopted AI more readily than any other. Because finance is a data-driven endeavor, designing AI software to do things such as read and analyze reams of economic...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 20, 2018
Debate grows over paying compensation to Olympic 'volunteers'
A  constant concern about the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics is its cost. Projected operating expenses for the games as of the end of last year was ¥1.35 trillion based on calculations made last May. Although the figure is smaller than it once was, the International Olympic Committee says it is still...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 13, 2018
Press failing to question the legal process
To ring in the new year, TBS Radio’s “Session 22” asked several notable people on Jan. 4 about their predictions for 2018. Michiko Kameishi, a human rights lawyer, commented that she is looking forward to three criminal trials that turn on confessions extracted from suspects. Two of the cases are...
Japan Times
JAPAN / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 12, 2018
Electric vehicles are here, but are they practical and economical?
The future seems to belong to electric vehicles (EVs).
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 6, 2018
Japan spends scant energy on renewables
Dec. 11, 2017, marked the 20th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty signed by 84 countries who committed to limit the release of greenhouse gases, which are considered the cause of global warming. Japan, of course, was one of the signatories, and a Dec. 14 feature in the Asahi Shimbun reviewed...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 31, 2017
Lessons about Japan's school catchment areas
A neighbor recently asked us to sign a petition requesting that the local education committee keep a certain elementary school open. Due to falling enrollment, students who attended the school would be transferred to a different one in the near future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2017
Japanese media's hits and misses of 2017
The term "fake news" was used in so many different situations this year that it no longer describes an agreed upon concept but rather anything you don't agree with. This is why the U.S. press has had a difficult time making sense of its president's conflation of cynical policy aims with his own deranged...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 23, 2017
Fuji TV's home-improvement wrecking ball
A popular sub-genre of reality TV is the home-improvement show, and as with many things having to do with television, Japan did it first.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 16, 2017
Why do some old men age disgracefully?
It's a universal belief that life is unfair, though there are many ways in which people manifest this belief. Some withdraw from the world, while others engage with it in an attempt to correct imbalances. Sometimes this engagement takes the form of anger.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 9, 2017
Without an official father, kids can be stateless
On Nov. 29, the Kobe District Court dismissed a suit against the state filed by a woman in her 60s who claimed that the law that allows only men to deny paternity of a child is unconstitutional, since it discriminates against women. She said the law meant she was unable to register her daughter as the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 8, 2017
Abe's free day care pledge may be an appealing solution for the wrong problem
Just before the recent Lower House election in October, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to make public day care services and kindergartens free for children between the ages of 3 and 5 and free for children below the age of 3 if they were from lower income households.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 3, 2017
Can a death kill property value?
The apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, where police found the remains of nine bodies in late October is one of 12 units in a two-story wooden apartment building located 10 minutes from Sobudai Station on the Odakyu Odawara line. Each unit consists of one room and a kitchen and, according to various...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 2, 2017
Japan's plan to export arms is lacking ammo
When U.S. President Donald Trump was here last month, he said Japan should be buying more military hardware from America, and seemed to believe it would. Trump's penchant for talking off-the-cuff is well-known, but Japan's reluctance to address the matter forthrightly may have more to do with the fact...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2017
#MeToo movement confuses media in Japan
During a recent discussion on Bunka Hoso's radio talk show, "Golden Radio," about sexual misconduct in the U.S., the participants wondered if the #MeToo social media movement would catch on in Japan. "Me Too" as a movement was started more than a decade ago by American social activist Tarana Burke to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 18, 2017
Ad money makes the news world go round
In a Nov. 8 press release, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center announced that Katsuya Takasu, the most famous plastic surgeon in Japan, was no longer a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (AACS). Previously, the center had been urging the AACS to expel Takasu because of his public...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 11, 2017
Fuji TV's wishful thinking is food for thought
Since 1987, Fuji TV has owned Monday night, specifically the 9 to 10 p.m. time slot, when it broadcasts fluffy romantic drama series starring the season's hottest actress and often a prominent member of a boy band.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 10, 2017
Are libraries to blame for Japan's slump in bunko paperback book sales?
Kiyondo Matsui, the president of the publishing house Bungei Shunju, spoke at this year's All-Japan Library Conference, which took place in Tokyo on Oct. 12 and 13. During his talk, Matsui asked the assembled professionals to no longer acquire bunko editions of books for lending in their libraries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Nov 5, 2017
A gut feeling that you need an extra toilet
Everybody knows that Japan produces the most technologically advanced toilets in the world. They pretty much do everything except pull up your pants when you're finished. And one of the more pleasant surprises greeting foreign visitors to Japan is the ubiquity and accessibility of public toilets.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

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