Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Dec 5, 2015

Push for balance can lead to a skewed view

In September, public broadcaster NHK aired a documentary that recounted the news events from the capital this summer. One of the segments focused on the continuing protests led by college students in central Tokyo against the controversial security bills the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had yet to...

COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS

Dec 5, 2015

Aota-uri: 'green' condominiums to be wary of

Each year between 1990, when Japan's asset bubble burst, and the 2007 recession, about 200,000 new condominium units were added to Japan's housing stock. After 2007, the number dropped to about 100,000, but, depending on the year, anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 of these units were built in the Tokyo...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Dec 4, 2015

Secret ballerinas; remembering Setsuko Hara; CM of the week: Mercedes-Benz

Many Japanese women studied dance when they were very young, and some have gone on to careers in show business and incorporated what they learned into their work. On the two-hour special, "Geinojin ga Honki de Baree" ("Celebrities Do Real Ballet"; TBS, Wed., 7:56 p.m.), 20 female TV personalities who...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Nov 28, 2015

Films focus on dementia and find hope

Last week, a 47-year-old woman was arrested for killing her 81-year-old mother and "assisting" in the suicide of her 74-year-old father. The woman had been found on the banks of the Tone River in Saitama Prefecture, into which she and her parents had driven in order to drown themselves.

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Nov 27, 2015

Tunnel-building woman; historical food drama; CM of the week: Sharp

Japan is currently suffering a labor shortage that will only worsen. The main solution is getting more women interested in working in certain sectors, such as construction, where only 12.4 percent of the workforce is female. Even worse, only 3.5 percent of the country's civil engineers are women.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Nov 21, 2015

Split clears a path for Constitution revisionists

The National Society to Create a Constitution for a Beautiful Japan met at the Budokan on Nov. 10 to listen to speakers advocate for a new national charter. One was Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who addressed the rally via a prerecorded video.

BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING

Nov 21, 2015

Without tackling Japan's labor mismatch, Abe's GDP target is just a pipe dream

The government urgently needs to address the mismatch between the jobs available and the people who are looking for employment.

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Nov 20, 2015

Motor-mouthed comedian returns; nursing drama; CM of the week: Taisho Pharmaceutical

Last year, TBS cancelled "Karakuri TV," hosted by motor-mouthed comedian Sanma Akashiya. "Karakuri" lasted 22 years and was considered the progenitor of the talk-based variety show. It was also the first Japanese series to popularize funny home videos.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Nov 14, 2015

Abe and the media get ahead of themselves on driverless cars

In a new TV commercial for Nissan, American actress Charlotte Kate Fox, who appeared in last year's NHK morning drama series, "Massan," is driving on city streets at night. She pushes a button on the dashboard and slowly takes her hands off the steering wheel. The car continues to move, making turns...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Nov 13, 2015

Searching for a missing father; an unusually gifted detective; CM of the week: Mizuho Bank

Fuji TV's documentary series, "The Non-Fiction," celebrates its 20th anniversary this week with a special program, "Watashi wa Dare?" ("Who Am I?"; Sun., 2 p.m.).

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Nov 7, 2015

TV Asahi gets 'The Scoop' on false convictions

Last week the Tokyo Shimbun ran an article about Keiko Aoki and Tatsuhiro Boku, the couple convicted of murdering Aoki's 11-year-old daughter in 1995 and sentenced to life in prison. The upcoming retrial, which will likely reverse the guilty verdict, may reveal that the Osaka pair were coerced into making...

BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING

Nov 7, 2015

No relief in sight for Japan's poor single-parent families

How can Japan's single mothers have both the highest poverty and employment rate among the OECD group of developed nations?

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Nov 6, 2015

Junichiro Tanizaki's sexual exploits; romantic adolescents; CM of the week: Nissan

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, whose best works were published in the 1930s and 40s. Tanizaki was Japan's most accomplished writer about sex, and much of what he wrote was based on experience.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Oct 31, 2015

Cancer and Fukushima: Who to trust?

South Korean director Kim Ki-duk is a noted provocateur. His latest movie, "Stop," is about a Japanese couple who were living near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant when it suffered a meltdown in March 2011.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS

Oct 31, 2015

Not-so-friendly neighborhood associations

When the U.S. military took charge following Japan's surrender in 1945, one of the first things it did was ban jichikai, or community associations. The thinking was that these organizations had carried out the work of the military government at the neighborhood level and their continued existence might...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Oct 30, 2015

Reopened restaurants; SMAP leader's sports knowledge; CM of the week: Jetstar

Ninety percent of the restaurants that open in Japan go out of business within five years. It's tough, so those that survive must have something special. This week's "Nichiyo Big Variety" ("Sunday Big Variety"; TV Tokyo, Sun., 7:54 p.m.) is about "famous restaurants" that have gone out of business for...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Oct 24, 2015

Abe raises eyebrows when he's off script

On Oct. 1, the Sankei Shimbun reported that during a regularly scheduled press conference, NHK President Katsuto Momii addressed statements made by "former NHK employees" who told media outlets that the public broadcaster had "received phone calls from the prime minister's office" regarding passage of...

BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING

Oct 24, 2015

Water, water everywhere in Japan, but fewer people to pay for it

Water is relatively abundant in Japan, but there are less people around to pay for the infrastructure that processes it and delivers it to homes.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 23, 2015

Courtney Barnett's garden offers up some well-received tracks on 'Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit'

Courtney Barnett lives in Melbourne, Australia, in a house she was cleaning when she answered her phone. She said it was a nice day, "kind of cold," and sounded relaxed and happy to be home after a year of on-and-off touring to promote her album, "Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit,"...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Oct 23, 2015

Prefecture battle; the witches of Japan; CM of the week: SoftBank

The government's plan for regional revitalization gets a boost from the world of television with the three-hour variety special "47 Todofuken Taiko! Kakuzeke Nippon!" ("47-prefecture Rivalry! Ranking Japan!"; Fuji TV, Sun., 7 p.m.).

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