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April 08, 2025
 

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Philip Brasor
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 10, 2010
The other New Year: Can Chinese prop up J-retail?
Inbound tourism has taken a hit recently, with the exception of Chinese tourists who collectively spend a lot of yen.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 8, 2010
Consumer finance regroups: Promise to be good?
Dinged with lawsuits and government scrutiny, the consumer loan business is having to play it a bit cautious.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 7, 2010
Film series reveals more than just foreign take on Japan
Many people still think Japan is inscrutable. It's a cliche reinforced on the Japanese side by another cliche that says Japan is "unique," and which is further reinforced by the tendency to explain cultural aspects as if they were museum exhibits. Much of NHK's English language content falls into this...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 3, 2010
Kids are all right at Softbank
If Japan wants to reverse the declining birthrate then maybe more companies should start following the Softbank model of family benefits.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 31, 2010
Notes on the end of the department store (as we know it)
Seibu department store has called it quits in Yurakucho. Should we be surprised?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 31, 2010
Groping pregnant women shouldn't be what's it about
On Jan. 14, 36-year-old comedian Sayaka Aoki made her last TV appearance before taking some time off to have a baby. The appearance was on Fuji TV's noontime variety show "Waratte Ii to mo" ("It's OK to laugh"), where she was a semiregular. The show's host, Tamori, placed his hands on Aoki's belly as...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 27, 2010
The art of boro: rags to riches
A Tokyo museum takes a look at the time-honored tradition of boro, rag-like hand-me-downs that rise in value as time goes by.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 24, 2010
Egg prices: Nobody here but us chickens
Known for their stable prices, eggs used to be prize produce of supermarkets. Now, as prices plummet, they're loss leaders used to lure in customers.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 24, 2010
A 'stable' life for Ozawa, yakuza, sumo stars
In the Jan. 25 issue of Aera, show-business reporter Yoshiko Matsumoto, writing about the persistence of image, related an anecdote about Seiji Maehara. The land minister was traveling coach on a domestic JAL flight and after the airplane landed he helped other passengers remove their belongings from...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 20, 2010
New recruits quickly get reality checked
The reality of corporate work has a funny way of changing the views of fresh-faced college graduates.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 17, 2010
Stockholder coupons bite JAL in the butt
JAL is in dire straits but it's been reported that the resale value on discount coupons issued to stockholders has doubled.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 17, 2010
SMAP put on the spot
The most recent edition of NHK's New Year's eve song contest, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," received more attention than usual owing to a number of production coups.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 15, 2010
Annals of cheap: Kitchen Dive
If the bento are the barometer of the national economy, then the u00a5250 bento from Kitchen Dive will tell you that times are tight.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 11, 2010
Debit cards are the way to go
Credit cards are more widely accepted in Japan, but think about how easy things would be if you could use a debit card anywhere.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 10, 2010
Fast fashion is not what's ailing Japan's economy
Last fall outspoken economist Noriko Hama caused a fuss with an essay about deflation in the magazine Bungei Shunju. She said that the trend of yasuuri kyoso (low price competition) was "destroying society," and not just in Japan. However, in Japan she singled out the clothing retailer Uniqlo as the...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 8, 2010
Assisted living: You can't take it with you
There gold's in the silver sector and everyone wants a piece of the the kaigo hoken (nursing care insurance) system.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 8, 2010
Girls
Based in San Francisco but fronting a sunnier, fuzzier sound that has more to do with a Southern California contaminated by the melodic chutzpah of early 1960s East Coast vocal groups, this duo of self-described losers is the latest big deal in the American underground. At first, it isn't clear what...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 4, 2010
Checking out affordable resort condos in Chiba
If you're willing to look beyond the more well-known areas, a second home in Japan can come at quite a bargain.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 3, 2010
Bad boys take a beating in TV ads
When discussing Tiger Woods' fall from grace following revelations of extramarital hanky-panky, the American media make a point of distinguishing his talent from his newly soiled image. Whatever his sins, these media say, they can't take away from his accomplishments on the golf links. However, the damage...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 29, 2009
Annals of cheap: Hanamaru
Outside of Shikoku, sanuki udon is a premium dish at premium prices, but that's simply not the case at udon chain Hanamaru.
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Nikkei plunges in third-biggest daily loss ever amid Trump tariff concerns
Pedestrians stand in front of an electronic board showing the numbers of the Nikkei Stock Average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in the Japanese capital on Monday.
Ride-hailing services spreading in Japan
Vehicles used for ride-hailing services in the city of Kiryu, in Gunma Prefecture
Taiwan eyes zero tariffs with U.S., pledges more investment
Kids view the area from a lookout point over cranes and containers at the Port of Keelung, Taiwan, on Thursday.
‘Let’s make it practical’: NATO chief eyes greater defense-industrial ties with Japan
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte plans to visit Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday — his first to the Indo-Pacific region since taking office in October, as he seeks to implement lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.

Podcast

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

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
By Alex K.T. Martin

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