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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 24, 2021

Is the IOC putting a torch to ‘freedom of speech’?

Press outlets that are not affiliated with the Summer Games are calling foul on a number of directives issued by Olympics bodies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 24, 2021

In COVID-19's wake, Japan faces a bleaker future

A 'baby shock' now threatens Japan, according to one journalist. Meanwhile, older residents could be shipped off to China?
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 27, 2021

Corporate selloffs reflect tough times in Japan amid pandemic

Leading Japanese companies are considering selling off prestigious headquarters in central Tokyo as COVID-19 continues to reshape business operations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 16, 2021

Stories that cater to the soul, the intellect and the stomach

Examining the challenges facing Soka Gakkai, a new teen comic book hero and coffee franchises nationwide amid the pandemic.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 5, 2020

Japan's portrait studios are adjusting services to cater to COVID-19 landscape

Revenue this year is expected to plunge by as much as 20% from 2019.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 7, 2020

Pandemic spurs idle workers in Japan to engage in moonlighting

An oft-cited passage from the Gospel of Matthew (6:24) goes: "No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 17, 2020

Media join the debate over the economics of a universal basic income

Could the introduction of such a welfare model lead to economic inequality?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 10, 2020

U.S. election coverage falls flat in Japan

Japan's mainstream media might be taking their cue from the new administration of Yoshihide Suga
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 26, 2020

Telltale signs that a business in Japan may be teetering on the edge of financial ruin

One reliable way to discern if the corporate ship is listing severely is to scrutinize the behavior of its president.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 19, 2020

Despite pandemic, some individuals are living ordinary lives

While enormous things are currently happening in the world, we shouldn't altogether lose sight of the small things either.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 23, 2020

Rats, bugs, crooks and trucks share media spotlight amid pandemic

With city dwellers around the world in lockdown, increasing reports have surfaced about wild animals infiltrating urban areas.
JAPAN / History / BIG IN JAPAN
May 2, 2020

Redefining normality in a world turned upside down by COVID-19

In normal times, we seek happiness. In times of crisis, we seek normality.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2020

Akie Abe criticized for taking group tour in Oita during pandemic

Her reported activity took place a day after her husband sounded the alarm over the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2020

Suicide note reignites Moritomo scandal that rocked Abe administration

The wife of a former Finance Ministry official who killed himself filed a lawsuit against the ministry and the former chief of its financial bureau, seeking damages of u00a5110 million.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 29, 2020

Kansai businesses suffer as COVID-19 alarm hurts tourism

The Japanese expression "kankodori ga naku" (literally, "the cuckoo sings") is frequently used to describe a business slump.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 18, 2020

Japan's news outlets take one step backward before moving forward

Before going forward into the new year, an extra edition of Shukan Shincho (with a Jan. 27 publication date) flashed back in time to track down author Ben Goto. Now a spry 89 years old, Goto achieved instant fame with a 1973 publication titled "Great Prophecies of Nostradamus." His book initially sold...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 4, 2020

From hangover cures to prairie dogs, tabloids end 2019 with a bang

For their final issues of December, the weeklies — their covers trimmed in gold color (except for the Sunday Mainichi, which came out in yellow-orange) — typically publish two-week bumper issues with extra pages. This gives many of them leeway to write about lots of timely topics. For instance, journalist...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 7, 2019

The long arm of the law can't be rushed in Japan

In Japan, 2019 will be remembered as a year that ended twice. In addition to the Western calendar year, which ends on Dec. 31, April 30 marked the final day of year 31 of the Heisei Era, thereby bringing an end to the reign of Emperor Akihito, who had abdicated in favor of Crown Prince Naruhito. From...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 23, 2019

Overuse of Japan's medical system may be complicating treatment

One of the criticisms of the “Medicare for All” government-run health care scheme proposed by U.S. Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren is that eliminating all limits to treatment would lead to "overuse" of the medical care system, meaning people would be seeing...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 28, 2019

New generation of quasi-gangsters fly under police radar

Mainstream media last month broke a long-standing silence they've had concerning the activities of Japan's organized crime groups, which are referred to in official circles as "boryokudan" (violent groups) or, colloquially, as "yakuza."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 3, 2019

Letter threatening to hunt Koreans sent to South Korean Embassy in Japan

A letter threatening to hunt Koreans and containing what appeared to be a bullet has been sent to the South Korean Embassy in Japan, police said Tuesday, amid worsening ties between the Asian neighbors
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2019

Road rage coverage reveals gulf in awareness of traffic rules in Japan

For the past several weeks, media organizations in Japan have been obsessed with a road rage incident that happened in Ibaraki Prefecture on Aug. 10, when a 43-year-old man forcibly stopped another driver on the Joban Expressway and assaulted him as he sat in his car.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 24, 2019

Double bubble, tapioca tea and garbage trouble

Food and beverage fads come and go. On frequent occasions, "Gatten," NHK's health-oriented Wednesday evening program, used to present evidence that eating this food or drinking that beverage achieved seemingly miraculous results, including weight loss, lower blood pressure or relief from constipation....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2019

Japan-South Korea trade spat gains little traction among youth on social media

The diplomatic rift between Tokyo and Seoul widened earlier this month after Japan removed South Korea from its "whitelist" of preferred trading partners. The apparent reason given for the move is national security: Japan says some strategic materials it sells to South Korea are making their way to third...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 10, 2019

Spooky tales from the dead abound over Bon season

"Actually I was wavering over whether or not to publish this story," writes Kyoto-based compiler Nobuo Yuki in "Wailing of a Restless Ghost." It's one of a series of five books from publisher Bunko Ginga-Do under the title "Exceptionally Scary True Ghost Stories" — which many in Japan like to read...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 6, 2019

Friction growing in Osaka over rising foreign population

The guests from the gala Group of 20 conference may be gone, but Osaka continues to garner attention in the media.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 22, 2019

Japan's print media ponder wealth, poverty and pensions

One of my recollections from the bubble economy of the 1980s was a passage in a 1987 book titled "Hokokuron" ("The Theory of National Wealth"). Its author, the late economist Taiichi Sakaiya, stood out as one of the bubble era's most fervent cheerleaders.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?