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August 15, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 10, 2016
Pricing system offers scant protection as Amazon Japan hacks away at bookstores' benefits
Japan's saihan seido system may not be enough to save the country's remaining bookstores, whose advantages Amazon.jp has systematically worked to nullify over the years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 3, 2016
Two of Japan's pacifist voices go silent
Rokusuke Ei — writer, broadcaster, raconteur — died on July 7 at the age of 83, roughly two decades after publishing a best-seller called "Daiojo," which means "Dying Peacefully." Several media outlets reported that Ei passed peacefully. He'd had Parkinson's disease for a number of years before he...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 3, 2016
For elderly residents, city life doesn't get old
The government in Japan is facing an immediate demographic crisis with regards to seniors, whose numbers relative to the general population are increasing rapidly. One of the main problems is where they are going to live out their lives.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 27, 2016
Japan zoos could be an endangered species
In terms of zoos per capita, Japan is No. 1 in the world, despite the fact that attendance has been dropping for more than two decades.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 27, 2016
Single mothers courted to plug Japan's local labor gaps
While some employers are unsympathetic to the circumstances of single parents, others see them as a solution rather than a problem.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 20, 2016
With deft political move, Japan's Emperor seeks to cement the role he created
Could the Emperor's raising of the issue of possible abdication be a move designed to stave off constitutional revision?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 13, 2016
In 'Hibana' TV series, sparks fly when the art of comedy collides with ambition
Television as the career apex for Japanese comedians is the kernel of the plot for the 10-part Netflix series 'Hibana,' based on the Akutagawa Prize-winning novel by Naoki Matayoshi.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 13, 2016
Expensive new drugs put strain on Japan's health system
Expensive drugs like Opdivo, a lung cancer treatment that costs a whopping ¥1.33 million a dose, are asking difficult questions of Japan's health insurance system.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 6, 2016
Victims of Sagamihara massacre at disabled facility are forever nameless
There is only one way to interpret the one-off policy of not naming the victims: Their families don't want the public to know that their loved ones have disabilities.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 6, 2016
Resort condos: an option for home buyers
As everyone in Japan now knows, there are millions of vacant houses and apartments throughout the country, many of which are on sale for a song. The money and effort needed to renovate these properties, however, often isn't worth it given how inexpensive new houses can be. That, of course, is the main...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 30, 2016
Sayaka Murata and the art of neutrality
When 36-year-old Sayaka Murata recently won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for literature, the media latched onto the author's background rather than the novel itself. Murata continues to work part-time as a convenience store clerk, and gains inspiration for characters and plots from her work environment....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 29, 2016
'Kidnap Tour'; 'Takeshi's How to Look at Japan'; Y! Mobile
Now that school is out summer is officially here, and NHK celebrates with a dramatization of Mitsuyo Tsunoda's novel, "Kidnap Tour" (NHK-G, Tues., 7:30 p.m.).
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 23, 2016
Constitutional change may target Japan's elderly
In the week prior to the recent Upper House poll, the Kochi Shimbun asked 100 people at random what the significance of "two-thirds" was in relation to the election. Only 17 answered correctly that it was the minimum portion of Diet lawmakers needed to amend the Constitution. One of the main reasons...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 23, 2016
Beyond the spiel, outlook for 4K TV is cloudy
The market credo that says consumers are always interested in upgrading whatever they already have may no longer apply to televisions.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 22, 2016
'Lockheed Incident Document 40th Year Shocking Scoop'; 'Yassan'; Xflag
Thanks mainly to a first-person "biography" written by former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, there is renewed interest in disgraced former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. NHK is presenting a series of special programs, some of which are dramatizations, about the scandal that brought Tanaka down: the Lockheed...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 16, 2016
Why Japanese media still kowtow to Ken Takakura
"Ken San" is a new documentary about late actor Ken Takakura opening in local theaters next month. Described as Japan's "greatest" and "last" movie star, Takakura was respected by both the Japanese people who worked with him and international film giants such as Martin Scorsese, John Woo and Paul Schrader....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 15, 2016
"Graduation Song"; "Natsuko Kira, Sales Manager"; Hearthstone
Based on a true story, the new drama series "Aogeba Totoshi" ("Graduation Song"; TBS, Sun., 9 p.m.) takes place at a high school in Kanagawa Prefecture in the 1980s.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 9, 2016
How long can Japan's old mens' club last?
Media coverage of the House of Councilors election campaign has been even more lacking in substance than usual. On July 2, Tokyo Shimbun noted how "low-key" the coverage has been on TV.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 9, 2016
Complex funding rules keep electioneering in Japan risky and expensive
Considering how complicated electoral funding regulations are, it's no surprise that stories of candidates violating campaign rules are so common.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 8, 2016
'I Absolutely Love You'; 'How Do You Do, I Love You'; Toyota
Love vs. career is the theme of the new drama series "Seisei Suru Hodo Aishite Iru" ("I Absolutely Love You"; TBS, Tues., 10 p.m.), which is based on a popular manga.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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