Tag - big-in-japan

 
 

BIG IN JAPAN

Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 7, 2013
Impending Japan-China war has the makings of a Clancy classic
On Nov. 23, China announced the creation of a newly expanded air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, overlapping a large expanse of territory also claimed by Japan. The move has produced a visceral reaction in the Japanese vernacular media, particularly the weekly tabloids. Five...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 30, 2013
Delving into the dark side of longer life
Longevity is like prosperity — it seems an unalloyed good but on closer examination turns out not to be. Longevity spawns dementia, infirmity, loneliness and a demographic imbalance favoring the very old at the expense of the young.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 23, 2013
'Black' firms exploit staff, 'black' state taxes them
Burakku kigyu014d' refers to companies where management has no desire to reward workers, and where labor laws are intentionally violated. Wages tend to be low, working hours long — with unpaid overtime — and employees are often subjected to 'power harassment' at the hands of their supervisors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 16, 2013
Paths to pay dirt are many and varied
Even stupid people can make money,' Spa magazine declares, in a package of articles aimed at the generation that the long-deflated Japanese economy has failed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 9, 2013
Learning to revel in the odd with the Ig Nobel
"I noticed there was a suspicious-looking email in my in box with the subject 'Ig Nobel' and 'Congratulations.' At first I thought it was some kind of spam. I was going to disregard it, but then I recalled the famous Ig Nobel awards," relates Dr. Masanori Niimi of Teikyo University in Shukan Shincho...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 2, 2013
Trust no one: Japan's magazines offer a bleak message
What a bleak picture emerges from the nation's weekly and monthly periodicals: Trust is simple-minded, mistrust paranoid.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 26, 2013
Japan Inc.'s hurt pride may be behind bout of fresh phone fears
What's the explanation for the current surge in concern over the poor manners and inattention of addicted cellphone users — especially considering smart phones are arguably no more distracting than the previous generation of mobile gadgets
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 19, 2013
Enough already: Can Japan settle for less?
The pua-ju016b philosophy in short: Poverty as Japan understands it is not real poverty and does not rule out happiness. In fact, it may even be conducive to it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 12, 2013
Tabloids brimming with anti-Korea diatribes
For 11 consecutive days from the start of this month, every front page of the Yukan Fuji, a nationally circulated evening tabloid published by the Sankei Shimbun, was embellished with at least one negative reference to South Korea. Some headline excerpts:
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 5, 2013
Is the honeymoon over for young, wedded bliss?
A visitor from another planet (a unisexual planet, let's say) would speedily infer that men and women are mutually hostile creatures. Marriage would puzzle her (the feminine pronoun is purely arbitrary) — all the more so if she stayed long enough to learn the language and hear how ancient and universal...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 28, 2013
Nothing is clear about court ruling on illegitimate kids
Evidently I was wrong.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 21, 2013
Presenting the up, down and dark sides of 'Gorinnomics'
The weekly magazines' and tabloids' reaction to the selection of Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympics reminds one of an oft-quoted remark by Oscar Wilde that goes, "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 14, 2013
Japanese media declare 'dark times' are on us
Being good has never been easy. And it's not getting easier — unlike many things in this age of mass technological empowerment. If it were, presumably, there would be more good and less evil — unless evil is more attractive?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 7, 2013
What's the real story behind 'Emperor'?
...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 31, 2013
Married or single, Japan is a desolate country
"The past century is a history of sexual distortion," social psychologist Hiroyoshi Ishikawa told Time Magazine in 1983.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 24, 2013
Chilling tales are tops when trying to beat the heat
Perhaps stemming from the belief that hearing a scary story will send a chill down the spine and provide welcome relief from the summer heat, August is Japan's favorite season for traditional tales of horror. At local festivals and in theme parks, the obake yashiki (haunted house) is a standby for dating...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 17, 2013
Cyber-kids get a break during Bon holidays
You didn't need prophetic powers, back in the 1980s when the personal computer was starting to show its potential, to foresee something like Internet addiction. It should have been obvious. It was, to science-fiction writer William Gibson. Reminiscing to Time magazine in 1995, he recalled his shock,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 10, 2013
'Haiku killings' recall infamous horror story
Mitake, a tiny mountain hamlet located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, is administrated as part of the city of Shunan (pop. 150,000). The area is so remote, cell phones don't always receive signals there.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 3, 2013
Closet traditionalists still populate a supposedly single moms' world
Every day some 370,000 babies are born worldwide. Of those born on July 22, 2013, 369,999 went unnoticed outside their immediate circles. The exception was a royal prince, third in line to the British throne. His first photos show him blissfully unaware of the vast excitement he was causing. He'll come...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 27, 2013
Tight budgets, food safety and eel inflation
The future promise of Abenomics notwithstanding, Japan's white-collar office workers are still being squeezed in terms of their discretionary spending. Results of the annual survey of salaryman kozukai (allowance), released June 28 by Shinsei Bank, noted that this year the average monthly spending money...

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’