February 21, 2025

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COMMUNITY

Voices

Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida accepts a gift of 'dekopon' citruses, a specialty product and symbol of Kumamoto Prefecture, from Kumamon, itself a mascot and instantly recognizeable symbol of the region.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Oct 28, 2024

Japan’s ‘meibutsu’-industrial complex is a wonder to behold

By Jordan Allen

If you name a Japanese prefecture, many locals will instantly be able to tell you something that the region is famous for or a product synonymous with that area.

Time is nearly up for the hordes of insects that are thriving more than ever in Japan's increasingly boiling summer.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Sep 23, 2024

Saying good riddance to what bugs me about a Japanese summer

By Jordan Allen

For an arachnophobe in Japan, the fall, winter and spring just can’t come quick — and stay long — enough.

Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Jul 27, 2024

When did summer in Japan stop being fun?

By Thu-Huong Ha

Summer in Japan used to be something to enjoy. Now, it’s something to endure.

Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Jul 15, 2024

No AC this summer? No problem (for me).

By Jordan Allen

I do have a unit, and I dutifully clean the filters now and then, but over the past two or three years, I’ve learned to live entirely without it.

Perhaps being seen in the company of your own children in the right places — playgrounds, schools, etc. — can make you seem more approachable and allow children to say exactly what’s on their mind.

COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA

Jun 24, 2024

‘You’re a spy, then?’ The odd interactions of a non-Japanese father in Japan

By Jordan Allen

Remember to keep your ears open whenever you’re near children and you’re guaranteed to hear something that’ll make you think.

Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," visited Japan last month shortly after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden.

COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye

Jun 14, 2024

U.S. civil rights icon Opal Lee brings her Juneteenth walk to Tokyo

By Baye McNeil

Juneteenth, held on the 19th of the month, celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. Opal Lee sees it as more than an American holiday.

This untitled work was completed and installed in 1994 by a prominent Nigerian artist named Sunday Jack Akpan.

COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye

Jun 3, 2024

How a cache of African art found a home in western Tokyo

By Baye McNeil

When I first encountered these statues, I was just minding my business headed for Tachikawa Station. I was struck dumb, paralyzed damn near mid-step.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”

The race to save 20th-century history

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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