Tag - expats

 
 

EXPATS

Colin Croy's Japanese is still a work in progress, but he hasn't had much trouble communicating with local customers in Sapporo due to the mutual language of musical performance.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 10, 2024
Colin Croy: 'After I built my first pedal, I just kept making more and more'
A St. Louis transplant in Sapporo serves the Hokkaido capital's music scene with equipment repairs, upgrades and customizations.
A street in Vancouver, Canada.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2024
Japanese man fatally stabbed in Canada
The victim, who lived in greater Vancouver, worked at an izakaya Japanese-style bar in the city.
A market in Asuncion, Paraguay. Two elderly Japanese men have been found dead in their house in Pirapo, southern Paraguay, according to the country's law enforcement authorities.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2024
2 elderly Japanese found dead in southern Paraguay house
Authorities suspect that someone broke into the house for robbery and killed them by beating with a blunt object.
In a bureaucratic blunder, a foreign resident was assigned the identity of a completely different person — who had the same name, same nationality and even the same birthday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 4, 2024
It wasn't me: Similar strangers given same ID in Japan
The two individuals had the same name, same nationality and even the same birthday.
Almost 45% of Japanese nationals living abroad feel lonely, with a language barrier the leading cause of loneliness, a survey finds.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024
45% of Japanese nationals living abroad feel alone: survey
The survey found that a language barrier is the leading cause of loneliness, cited by 31.6%, followed by a cultural gap, by 27.9%.
Hyappu Ishikawa (left) attends to children at the "Karafuru" Japanese language school in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2024
How one Japanese city supports foreign students through community education
In the city of Nishio, public and private sectors collaborate with schools to support foreign students in Japanese language education and raise their school enrollment rates.
Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura speaks during an interview in Tokyo on May 23.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2024
Keidanren to propose policy on foreign workers
The association will draw up a medium-term vision of the economy and society called "Future Design 2040."
Foreign technical interns work at a food processing factory in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture
JAPAN
May 30, 2024
OECD criticizes fees for foreign technical trainees in Japan
The OECD said that the trainee program has been used to satisfy labor demand instead of passing on skills.
The health ministry says it will conduct its first survey on how much foreign residents are paying in health insurance and pension premiums.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2024
Health ministry to collect data on insurance premium payments by foreign residents
The ministry currently has no data on how much foreign nationals are paying in terms of health insurance payments and pension premiums.
Language support groups in Fukushima Prefecture are calling for the creation of a better environment for foreign children to learn Japanese.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
May 27, 2024
With more foreign children, Fukushima struggles with language support
A number of children attending schools in the prefecture in fiscal 2023 were unable to fully understand Japanese.
The increase in foreign student numbers in Japan came after the government started to gradually lift its COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2022.
JAPAN / Society
May 24, 2024
Foreign student numbers in Japan grew in 2023
A survey found 279,274 foreign students in the country as of May 2023, up 20.8% from a year earlier but still below prepandemic levels.
Though he enjoyed making films when he was younger, Ryan Filiatrault wound up working a slew of other jobs before returning to his passion in his 30s.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 24, 2024
Ryan Filiatrault: 'Failure is an obstacle not a barrier. You can always get back on track.'
The Canadian filmmaker has taken a regimented approach to following his passion — and it has worked.
The Tokyo District Court has dismissed a lawsuit by a foreign woman who claimed to have been subject to discriminatory treatment by police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024
Tokyo court dismisses foreigner's claim of police discrimination
A South Asian woman in her 40s and her 6-year-old daughter of Japanese nationality had sued the Tokyo metropolitan government ¥4.4 million for alleged discrimination.
Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 21, 2024
Japan's revised immigration bill clears Lower House
Permanent residency holders may have their status revoked if they deliberately fail to pay their taxes, impacting only those "with malicious intent."
In 2023, Bryan Eastlake (left) began a three-year contract with the local Takahama tourism association to write, post photos and otherwise promote the small town in northern Kyoto Prefecture to a wider audience.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
May 20, 2024
The new vanguard of rural revitalization efforts in Japan
Currently, the Regional Revitalization Corps has around 200 foreign residents working in different industries around the country.
From the outside, the light-brown complex that is Fuchu Prison in western Tokyo could easily be mistaken for a city hall.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
May 19, 2024
Fuchu Prison adapting to foreign prisoners
The penitentiary houses the biggest population of foreign prisoners in Japan, and as such is taking measures to accommodate them in terms of language, culture, food and lifestyle.
Japan Times contributor Laura Pollacco (front right) was offered the role of one of her all-time favorite heroines, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet, in the Tokyo International Players’ production of “Pride and Prejudice.”
CULTURE / Stage
May 18, 2024
Local theater in Japan is more than a hobby — it’s a community
For contributor Laura Pollacco, companies such as Tokyo International Players and Sheepdog Theatre offer a home away from home.
The Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee approves legislation to introduce a new training scheme for foreign workers on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 17, 2024
Japan parliamentary panel OKs bill on training foreign workers
It will replace the foreign technical intern program with a new training scheme to allow foreigners to work in Japan for the medium to long term.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting of the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2024
Kishida defends planned rule to revoke foreigners' residency
The bill calls for allowing the government to revoke permanent residence permits of foreigners who intentionally evade taxes or social insurance premiums.
Pete Reynolds (front row, right) has trained for 38 years with the Bujinkan, an organization that teaches skills used by ninja. The American moved to Japan in 2000 and is now a senior instructor at the organization’s dojo in the Nezu neighborhood in Tokyo.
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 10, 2024
The unexpected acolytes helping to keep ninja heritage alive
What may have started as youthful fantasy has led to a deeper passion in an area of Japanese history by non-Japanese martial arts practitioners.

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'