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 Dreux Richard

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Dreux Richard
Dreux Richard is an American journalist, writer and literary translator. From 2011-2016 he wrote about Japan's African community for The Japan Times. His first book, "Every Human Intention: Japan in the New Century," is coming soon from Pantheon. Born in Washington, D.C., he divides his time between Japan, Nigeria and New Zealand.
For Dreux Richard's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 23, 2016
Sincerely, Little Nigeria: A reporter signs off
After five years of covering Japan's African community, a writer reflects on progress since 3/11 and speculates about the future.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 1, 2015
Neither here nor there: Stretched between Nigeria and Japan, family ties fray
This is the last of a two-part series on Japanese-Nigerian families torn between Asia and Africa. The first part can be found here.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 23, 2015
Neither here nor there: the families torn between Nigeria and Japan
Caught between instability in Nigeria and isolation in Japan, African immigrants fear the loss of their children's love.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 24, 2014
Long-term African expats and new migrants alike face growing 'integration gap' in Japan
With dysfunctional Japanese immigration policies having led to a sharp increase in incarceration rates among African immigrants, a growing number have given up on integration in favor of living a double life: married with children in both Japan and Africa.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Oct 18, 2013
Norma Field, champion of Japan's leftist literature, retires — but not from anti-nuclear activism
A colleague once told me he didn't want to be attached to lost causes,' says academic Norma Field. 'I've never understood thinking like that. The bright spots in human history are so few. We should embrace and magnify them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 2, 2013
Tin Man's throne: the rise and fall of a Roppongi royal
Gilbert Otaigbe is the current owner of Black Horse bar and nightclub in Roppongi. At the height of his success in the mid-2000s, he owned at least seven bars, clubs and restaurants.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 11, 2013
Japan's Nigerians see symbol of change in masquerade
Anyone wandering the back streets near Omiya Station at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, June 2, might have passed a particular office building, unremarkable except for two African men standing on a 2nd floor balcony, rope in hand, lowering a car-sized Ugo (eagle) costume down to the parking lot. One of them was Tony Ikeotuonye, chairman of the Anambra State Union, one of Japan's two largest Nigerian immigrant civic associations. He had slept lightly and awoken at 6 to begin loading costumes into a Nippon Rent-a-Truck, a process culminating in the curious scene that greeted passersby that morning in Saitama.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 11, 2013
Toxic management erodes safety at 'world's safest' nuclear plant
On Jan. 30, 2012, Byron Nuclear Generating Station lost operability to all of its safety-related equipment. At the time, Jim Hazen was the nuclear station operator responsible for the affected reactor, one of two at the Exelon-owned nuclear plant in Byron, Illinois.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 28, 2011
The best of his years . . .
This summer, my translator and I stood in Izumi Matsumoto's home-cum-office in Tokyo, where he had just been searching in vain for any original drawings from "Spring Wonder," which was, 27 years ago, the first manga serial he pitched to leading comics magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 23, 2011
Peace Boat-Rolls Royce talks lay bare ethical minefield
Convinced the recovery in Tohoku will result in the birth of widespread corporate philanthropy in Japan, in the same way the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake prompted the proliferation of volunteerism, Peace Boat director Tatsuya Yoshioka spent a day in June shepherding a busload of businesspeople on a tour of Ishinomaki neighborhoods hit hardest by the March 11 tsunami. They'd travelled north from Tokyo for a weekend of volunteering under the auspices of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, many of whose members share a similar vision for importing corporate social responsibility (CSR) to Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 19, 2011
Japan's Nigerians pay price for prosperity
The Nigerian Union in Japan is the central civic organization for immigrants from Africa's most populous nation. It has foundered twice in 21 years and its current incarnation is less than a year old. Its mixed history is a reflection of the social and economic turmoil Japan's Nigerian community has endured over the past two decades.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?