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Nicolas Gattig
Nicolas Gattig is a teacher and writer from San Francisco. His articles/essays about politics and education have been published in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, SOMA magazine, Street Sheet, and the Japan Times. He is greatly interested in literature and the effects of culture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 19, 2014
San Francisco's huff with Hashimoto over 'comfort women' reveals double standards
San Francisco's reaction to Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's comments about 'comfort women' says much about equality between nations, about how we judge each other through cultural lenses and blinders, and how we have to keep finding ways to address grievances from our past.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 15, 2014
For Americans abroad, old 'Duke' flicks can transport us home
As expats, our Americatown is the corner DVD shop, where we know who we are and have roots.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 23, 2014
Can Japan show the West how to live peacefully with Islam?
Uniting a colorful mix of expats, removed from the context of sectarian strife and the historical Western interference still haunting many Muslim countries, could the Japanese brand of Islam be a showcase for its peaceful essence?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 23, 2014
In a world of pretense, are Japanese just more honest about lying?
The net sum of lying may be similar in Japan and America, but in their acceptance of life exigencies, the Japanese may be more realistic, more charitable and forgiving about the role that deception plays in our social relations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 2, 2013
Between dreams and discrimination, Japanese build new lives in the City by the Bay
How are modern-day Japanese immigrants experiencing life in America — and in particular, San Francisco? What are their dreams, their struggles and rewards? And how do they handle the need to belong, the ceaseless negotiation between assimilation and roots?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Aug 19, 2013
The world's a stage, but you don't have to play along
On the night of April 18, three days after the Boston Marathon bombing, a side-drama to that story unfolded between three men as they criss-crossed the city, a performance staged partly in the theater of culture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 25, 2013
'Yellow fever' and the fantasy of the Asian female
Here is a dumb thing you should never do: watch the 007 caper "You Only Live Twice" with your feminist American girlfriend — a woman of color to boot. In a series renowned for its sexism, the Japan entry takes the biscuit.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 13, 2012
Failing students: Japanese universities facing reckoning or reform
I had been warned of the "Circus," yet still I was unprepared.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 22, 2011
MacArthur, identity theory and Japan's lingering eigo woes
Some years ago I was teaching an advanced English class in San Francisco that featured a hodgepodge of students from all over the world. Just as the range of cultures and accents extended from Europe to the Middle East to Asia and South America, so did the array of communication styles. Yet while the...

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?