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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2020

In George Floyd’s city, inequalities are everywhere

Black communities — and businesses — are at a steep disadvantage in Minneapolis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2020

Shibuya's Club Asia stays steady and looks ahead to post-coronavirus clubbing

As some of Tokyo's clubs face permanent closure as a result of COVID-19, others look to the future and ways of ensuring they survive the pandemic.
Japan Times
SATOYAMA CONSORTIUM
Jan 27, 2019

Programs aim to keep youth in rural areas

A two-day event on topics related to satoyama (mountains and woods shared and maintained by residents of the adjacent rural communities) was co-hosted by the Japan Times Satoyama Consortium, the Chugoku Region Governors Association and the town of Jinsekikogen in Hiroshima Prefecture at the Jinseki Kogen...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 20, 2019

Be it ever so graying, there's no place like home

On a recent bus trip in Indonesia, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me who told me he was Malaysian but living in Australia, which prompted me to admit that I was American but living in Japan. This seemed to pique his interest as he next said, "I am very interested to see how Japan...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 17, 2019

#StandUpJapan and other hashtags allow for new voices to be heard

On the morning of Jan. 14, 20-year-old women decked out in brightly colored kimono scrambled to catch trains to take them to ceremonies across the country to mark Coming of Age Day.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Aug 29, 2018

Wanting to make a difference, Bolivia-born Noemi Inoue turned Japanese and entered politics

Shocked by gender inequality and wanting to do something about it, Noemi Inoue decided to naturalize and stand for her local council.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 27, 2018

Japan's public policy is killing rural entrepreneurship

While big-ticket tourism projects in Japan thrive, those involved in smaller-scale projects can feel starved of government support.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 18, 2018

Midori Farm: Finding earthy solutions in rural Shiga

Nonprofit turns neglected land into productive farmland and brings together foreign volunteers and local people.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 6, 2017

Looking back at 2017's Trump-triggered resurgence in American activism in Japan

The Women of the World March in January that brought hundreds onto the streets of Tokyo was the highlight of a year of action.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2017

Time to tighten the screws on North Korea

Kim Jong Un's drive to make North Korea a nuclear power won't be halted without tougher steps taken by the international community.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
May 21, 2017

Having trouble wrapping your head around Japan? Help with mental health is at hand

Black Eye speaks with professionals trained to offer guidance to those struggling to cope with a new environment.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
May 20, 2017

For better relations, Tokyo should use Korean residents to open diplomatic channels with new South Korean government

Since the beginning of the year, Japan's official relations with the Korean Peninsula have gone from bad to worse. Not a day goes by without a report about North Korea's latest provocation. Journalists, politicians, and pundits deliberate — one might say "geek out" — over whether the missile just...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 15, 2017

Finding a family in Japan's foreign drag scene

Western drag queens living in Tokyo, Kansai and Nagoya discuss the differences between the scene in Japan and back home.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 30, 2016

Is Japan ready for the LGBTQ revolution?

This past spring, at a restaurant in Tokyo's upscale Omotesando neighborhood, I encountered something new in Tokyo: a prominent sign written in English on the door of the communal WC declaring it "gender-free."
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 7, 2016

'Sweetest' town clings to Hershey, adding to takeover hurdles

The town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, calls itself the "sweetest place on Earth."
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 27, 2016

Learning to embrace the halal industry

With an increasing number of Muslims residing in and visiting Japan, local governments and businesses in the private sector are eyeing ways to target the potentially lucrative market
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jan 31, 2016

NPO founder fights to reverse plight of Asia child sex victims

When Sayaka Murata visited Cambodia while in university, she was shocked to see a little girl around 5 or 6 years old among those who had been rescued after being tortured by electric shock and forced into the sex trade.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / AEC SPECIAL
Jan 29, 2016

Contributing to Southeast Asian development

ASEAN is currently attracting much attention as a major growth center in the global economy. With a market of more than 600 million people and an abundant young labor force, whose working-age population will peak in the second half of the 2040s, ASEAN has achieved remarkable economic growth with its...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jan 17, 2016

'Being black can be more fun than being gay'

A look at the experience of two black men in the LGBT community in Tokyo, a 'minority of a minority of a minority.'
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2015

Gauging Abe's 'proactive contributions to peace'

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has talked a good game about Japan playing a bigger international role, his track record so far shows little has changed.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2015

Upcoming session will decide the U.N.'s future

The 70th commemorative session of the General Assembly, which begins next week, should be an occasion for providing much-needed hope that the world organization can remain relevant in the coming decades.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 2, 2015

Tokyo craft store meets demand for LGBT rainbow goods hard to find in Japan

At first glance, Nijiiro Komachi (Rainbow Beauty) looks like any craft shop, with colorful handmade earrings, necklaces, illustrated postcards and metal badges adorning the shelves and walls. The store in Tokyo's Kichijoji district, however, has a unique mission: to support sexual minorities in Japan....
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 16, 2015

Yemen's last Jews reluctantly eye exodus after Islamist militia takeover

A few worried families are all that remain of Yemen's ancient Jewish community, and they too may soon flee after a Shiite Muslim militia seized power in the strife-torn country this month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 30, 2015

Building social change after the earthquake

In 2011, the devastation of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami forced Japanese architects to rethink their understanding of architecture at a fundamental level — to consider closely society's systems and the affect buildings had on not only the life of, but also the psyche of the people.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2015

ASEAN captain Malaysia prepares to set sail into maritime disputes, 'democratic recession'

As Malaysia takes over the ASEAN chairmanship for 2015, it faces the challenges of intractable territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the 'democratic recession' in the region.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 12, 2014

Shonan complex offers a curated lifestyle

A discreet black sign, concrete floors, industrial-style ceilings, wooden shelves filled with design toys and gourmet treats. This may sound like the minimal interior of an urban lifestyle store in some hip corner of Tokyo, but the reality is more surprising. It is, in fact, a new branch of one of Japan's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 28, 2014

A world away from Ferguson but feeling the flames

I went through an entire day in Yokohama without a single person mentioning that my country was on fire. Of course, they knew, but what could they have said, anyway?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 19, 2014

DeafJapan opens up the world to the hearing-impaired

DeafJapan provides opportunities for hearing-impaired people in Japan to enjoy activities in English while also linking them up with the global community.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 25, 2014

Use them or lose them: There's more at stake than language in reviving Ryukyuan tongues

With the last speakers of the Ryukyuan languages dying out, an identity is vanishing too.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Aug 18, 2014

Ferguson police fail to learn from past incidents of racial unrest

Ignoring lessons of past civil disturbances such as the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, police inflamed tensions that have fueled more than a week of unrest in a St. Louis suburb where an officer shot to death an unarmed black teenager.

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