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July 17, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 16, 2011
The rich are getting out while the getting is good
Japan's wealthy folks are taking their money, and their bodies, to safer havens.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2011
Busan festival takes a bold step, but is Asian cinema ready?
"Change" was the key word at this year's Busan International Film Festival, and not just because the organizers finally succumbed to the host South Korean port city's request to change the name from "Pusan." Lee Yong Kwan took over as festival director from founder Kim Dong Ho, who is credited with turning...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 12, 2011
Politicians hope you don't notice when their pay goes back to normal
The special pay cut for national lawmakers expires this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 9, 2011
Television's skewed version of poverty
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations currently taking place in New York continue to garner more and more attention from the American media, which mostly ignored the movement when it began several weeks ago. Now everybody in America who reads a newspaper or watches TV news understands that the protesters...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 6, 2011
Rice market turned upside down by radiation fears
Thanks to radiation fears, the pattern for seasonal rice sales is different this year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 4, 2011
Buying a brand new home: cookie cutter or order made?
We went for the six-pack of beer, which the manufactured-housing company was giving away to the first 10 people who came to inspect its new model homes. Competition is fierce among Japan's many manufactured home builders, and the one we were visiting is No. 10 in terms of units sold per year, though...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 3, 2011
Restaurant chain retains No. 1 position in sales . . . and robberies
Why has the Sukiya beef bowl chain become such a magnet for thieves?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 2, 2011
Press miss the point at antinuke demo
Three weeks after Japan's biggest antinuclear demonstration, there is still some dispute over how many people actually attended. The organizers estimate 60,000 and the police say about 30,000. Except for the Yomiuri and Sankei newspapers, which accept the police figure, the mainstream vernacular media...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 28, 2011
Eat a potato chip and send a kid to college
Three major manufacturers have set up a fund for orphans' continuing education
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 26, 2011
Will K-cars save the domestic automotive industry?
In the wake of the March 11 disaster, mini-cars come into their own.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 25, 2011
Welfare system not faring well
Ten years ago, in her book "Nickel and Dimed," Barbara Ehrenreich chronicled her own experience as a subsistence-level American wage-earner during a period of relative economic vigor. She found a whole class of workers who lived — and would always live — from paycheck to paycheck. In the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 22, 2011
In Japan, you get the education you (the consumer) pay for
Why is private spending for education in Japan so much more than public spending?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 18, 2011
Political elite can't stand outsiders
Yoshio Hachiro's stint as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the new Yoshihiko Noda administration was not the briefest cabinet assignment on record, but it was certainly one of the most controversial. News outlets reported that it was "public outrage" over two remarks he made which forced...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 15, 2011
Heal me: Spirituality businesses redefining "religion"
'Spirituality businesses' endeavoring to bring back that old-time religion, Japanese-style.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 11, 2011
Local governments crack down on health insurance scofflaws
As the tax base gets poorer fewer people pay their national health insurance premiums, and local governments are doing something about it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 11, 2011
High profile case highlights the delicate issue of foster care in Japan
On Aug. 20, police arrested voice actress Shizuka Suzuike at her home in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of causing injuries that led to the death of 3-year-old Miyuki Watanabe in August 2010. At the time of her death, Miyuki had been in Suzuike's foster care for almost a year. The suspect denies...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 7, 2011
Grandma got game: More elderly patronizing arcades
Game arcades are counting on the elderly to turn around their business fortunes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 4, 2011
Actress's inheritance saga plays out like melodrama
Sometimes the components of a news story fit together so perfectly that you can't help but wonder how much of it was engineered by the press. Actress Hisako Manda, a former beauty queen who found success in recent years as a cover girl for magazines catering to women in their 50s, is currently at the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 2, 2011
Annals of cheap: Kenko.com
Right now bottled water is cheaper than . . . water.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 31, 2011
Discount strategies: Every dog, and man, has his day
The service industry is finally targeting guys.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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