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November 22, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 4, 2014
Tourists may not warm to Japan's welcome
A former colleague of mine always made it a point to tell people coming to Japan for a visit to bring lots of handkerchiefs because the public restrooms didn't have towel dispensers. I always took a more positive view and emphasized that public restrooms in Japan were everywhere and open to everyone,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 3, 2014
Inheritance tax in Japan may not be the burden you imagined
With the government cutting corporate tax, it needs even more revenue to make up for its already alarming fiscal shortfall. So far the media has fixated on consumption tax, which tends to be more punishingly felt by the average person than any other sort of tax.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 1, 2014
Rice is nice when the price is right
Is the big drop in rice prices a good thing or a bad thing?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 27, 2014
Scotland's independence referendum inspires an Okinawan discussion
As sometimes happens when a news story that has nothing to do with Japan becomes topical worldwide, the Japanese media tried to find a local angle for the Sept. 18 Scottish referendum. The coverage fell into two categories: greater autonomy for Okinawa, and the use of referendums.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 22, 2014
Annals of Cheap: Eco Rent-a-car
With rental cars this cheap, who needs to own?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 20, 2014
Abe's female Cabinet picks warrant a closer look
In a Sept. 5 Twitter post, university instructor Akiko Orita pointed out that four of the five women appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his new Cabinet do not use their legal names. Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi, state minister in charge of abduction issues Eriko...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 15, 2014
Mail order scofflaws are the exception that proves the rule
Some Internet consumers take advantage of sales agents' honor systems.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 13, 2014
Social media aids rehashing of historical hate
After rain caused deadly mudslides in Hiroshima Prefecture last month, rumors spread over the Internet about burglaries of evacuated homes by "foreigners," including Zainichi (ethnic Korean residents of Japan). Such rumors tend to accompany disasters, so Tokyo Shimbun talked directly to police in the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 8, 2014
Casino tax study exposes pachinko to greater scrutiny
The government wants to tax pachinko but the police are in its way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 6, 2014
Push for casinos runs into headwinds
Until a few months ago, it seemed a sure thing that casinos would be open in Tokyo by the time the Olympics rolled around in 2020. For years now, a group of lawmakers have been working to legalize gambling resorts in Japan, and Tokyo was considered the ideal place for them thanks to the capital's ease...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 5, 2014
Can Japan level its problem with vacant buildings?
On July 29, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released the results of its latest survey on Japanese housing, which it completed last fall and conducts every five years. The statistic that caught the media's attention was the one for akiya, or vacant homes. As of the end of October 2013,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 1, 2014
Prep schools succumbing to more than economic reality
Cram schools and prep schools rely on 'ronin,' whose numbers are dwindling.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 30, 2014
Asahi rivals pile on over sex slaves retraction
It has been almost a month since the Asahi Shimbun printed a long, two-part retraction of its reporting in the 1980s and '90s on the "forced mobilization" of so-called comfort women during World War II based on the published confessions of a man named Seiji Yoshida.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 25, 2014
European winemakers fret over competition from Chile
Imports of Chilean wines to Japan recently outperformed those of Italian wines
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 23, 2014
Criminal notoriety for the sake of fame
Hirofumi Watanabe, the man convicted Thursday of threatening publishers, stores, universities and basically anyone or anything that had something to do with the popular manga "Kuroko no Basuke (Kuroko's Basketball)," has enjoyed a peculiar sort of celebrity since he was arrested in December. Prior to...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 16, 2014
Home is where the hard work is
Earlier this year, house builder Asahi Kasei Homes produced a video "white paper" based on a survey of 1,371 "double-income families" with children. Seventy percent of the husbands surveyed said they had been subjected to kaji-hara, or "housework harassment," by their wives.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 15, 2014
Whatever you do, don't call Nestle's coffee 'instant'
Nestle aims to change the way office people think about coffee breaks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 11, 2014
Local municipalities vie for your 'hometown tax'
If you donate money to a local government, you can get rewarded three times.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 9, 2014
Critics get frank when it comes to Godzilla
Because Japanese media are incestuous in their inter-corporate dealings, those writers referred to as hyōronka (critics) tend to be less critical about popular culture than their counterparts in North America and Europe. They are more likely to engage in punditry or public relations, because complaining...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 2, 2014
Is the next stop 'brokesville' for the maglev?
Robert Moses, the civil servant who built the great park-expressway-bridge network in New York state during the middle of the last century, succeeded by gaming the system. Understanding how politics would make it difficult for him to fulfill his vision, he often started a public works project clandestinely....
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.
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.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
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’

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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