author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 23, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Twitter

@philipbrasor

Philip Brasor
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 27, 2010
Finders keeper . . . except on the job
Osaka's city government cracks down on 'embezzlement — sanitation workers who pocketed money that they'd found while cleaning public property.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 26, 2010
A clean slate for this year's media awards
Media persons of the year: Toshikazu Sugaya and Atsuko Muraki
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 24, 2010
Recycling rackets poised to make a killing at New Year's
Waste disposal hits a peak at the year's end. Just make sure you don't fall prey to the unscrupulous recycling vultures.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2010
Japan makes Beethoven's Ninth No. 1 for the holidays
It's Sunday afternoon at Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo, where the Japan Philharmonic is performing Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, one of dozens of performances of the piece that take place throughout Japan during the month of December. The house is virtually sold out, and the audience appears to be mostly...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 20, 2010
Scandal economics: Shochiku rides out Ebizo brawl all the way to the bank
Shochiku could have lost a chunk of change from the Ebizo fall-out, but renowned onnagata Bando Tamasaburo saves the day.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 19, 2010
University grads need to expand their horizons
A man I sometimes work with built a house in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 10 years ago when he was 30 years old. At the time he was working for one of Japan's most prominent trading companies, and had been ever since he graduated from university. He chose Hiratsuka because it's on the JR Tokaido...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 16, 2010
Bonenkai season a blast for some, drag for others
A recent survey says budgets for year-end bonenkai parties are up; on the other hand, more companies are opting to take their festivities in-house.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 14, 2010
Rich kids set to inherit higher taxes
A new proposed inheritance law, which hasn't changed since 1958, is being aimed at the silver spooners who can afford a higher tax.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 12, 2010
Kabuki's golden boy knocked off his pedestal — for now
TBS's Dec. 4 edition of "Newscaster" aired a long report on the run-in that kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo had with a man at a Tokyo bar in the wee hours of Nov. 25, a dustup that resulted in Ebizo's hospitalization with a fractured cheekbone and broken teeth. Elaborating on the principle of "it takes one...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 9, 2010
Caregiving not the unemployment panacea the government hoped for
Premiums for Long-term Care Insurance could be raised again in 2012. Question is, will this translate to higher salaries for low-paid caregivers.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 5, 2010
A relaxed approach makes news understandable for young and old
Two weeks ago, NHK announced that its popular half-hour series, "Shukan Kodomo no News" ("Weekly News for Children"), will be ending on Dec. 19. According to an article in the Sankei Shimbun, an executive at the public broadcaster explained the cancellation by saying that the show, which was launched...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 4, 2010
Starbucks caves in to refills, sort of
While it's stopping short of a bottomless cup, Starbucks Japan is making a slightly generous offer of u00a5100 refills on the Coffee of the Day.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 2, 2010
New refuse rules criminalize can-collecting
Can-collecting used to be one way for homeless people to earn a bit of cash. Recently, though, more Tokyo wards are saying, 'No, you can't.'
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 28, 2010
Journalist wants Ashikaga murder case reopened
In June 2009, this column mentioned a TBS news report about the DNA testing method that resulted in the 1992 conviction of Toshikazu Sugaya for the 1990 murder of 4-year-old Mami Matsuda in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture. Sugaya was sentenced to an indefinite prison term but was released last year after...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 25, 2010
Tourist spots averse to foreign exchange
If Japan really wants to say 'Yososo' at tourist destinations, it's going to have to work on its acceptance of credit cards and foreign exchange.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 22, 2010
Cost of education a drag on the economy
Trickle down effect 101: When the cost of education goes up, family spending goes down, and the economy with it.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 21, 2010
'Freeter' drama reflects Japan's income gap
The American media keeps wondering whether or not the United States will have to endure a "lost decade" of sluggish growth and stagnant employment like the one Japan suffered through after the real-estate bubble burst in the early 1990s. It seems unlikely. The American economy is dynamic while Japan's...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 18, 2010
Living off the land in Okinawa
The issue of U.S. military bases in Okinawa has largely been a political argument, but there's also an economic angle that comes with the territory.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 15, 2010
Electronics retailers likely to phase out point systems
Retailers fret that life after the eco-point system is abolished won't be so bright.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 14, 2010
Media sheepish over island disputes
Last Tuesday, when Tokyo prosecutors raided the offices of YouTube in order to find the person who leaked those videos of a Chinese fishing boat ramming a Japan Coast Guard vessel near the Senkaku Islands, the Asahi Shimbun published a letter from a man who said he had worked in media for 30 years. He...
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.
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
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.
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.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono
The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER