Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
We periodically hear from nationalists about Japan’s distinctiveness — how “Japaneseness” is a matter of “race” and “blood,” not citizenship or culture. This is usually disregarded as mere unscientific sentiment from fringe elements. But not, it seems, by the National Police Agency. One of ...
Consider this: You are a student in a Japanese J.H.S. Your native language may or may not be Japanese, but you are learning English as a second language like everyone else. You have enough of a knack to become the best in the class, ...
It may be difficult to take an interest in Japan’s election last week, since many readers cannot vote. But results this time may be critically important for Japan’s future as a democracy. Basics first: Japan’s legislative branch is a parliamentary system with two assemblies. ...
Sports are seen as a catalyst for international communication. Even the Olympic Games were established a century ago to promote world peace — through people meeting and competing on level playing fields. Never mind linguistic, historical, or cultural differences. The rules of the game ...
There’s something to be said about Japanese police attitudes towards foreigners. Police shakedowns of foreigners riding bicycles have become routine in some parts of Tokyo. Kabukichou, due to its high foreign concentration, enjoys Japan’s only 24-hour neighborhood-wide cop surveillance camera system. Most noteworthy are ...
You might have heard recently about Tama-chan, a cute sea lion frequenting Yokohama rivers. He became so popular that the city threw him an unprecedented fish: an honorary Certificate of Residency (“juminhyo”). This was, uh, fishy indeed to some of the other mammals living ...
