Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
27
P/SUNNY
The Internet is ablaze with lists suggesting ways to fight back against the deadliest foe of modern man — stress. Yes, stress. It will boil your blood pressure, electrify your nerves, scramble your stomach, ruin your happiness and lead you straight to the grave. ...
Sunlight streams in through large windows that look out on a sweeping Pacific Ocean vista. Artworks stand waiting in various stages of creation, while mobiles twist and dance in the sea breeze. This space, known as Atelier Hayakawa, is where Canadian multimedia artist Kirsten ...
I’ve been running pilgrimages in Japan since 1997. So far, I’ve run the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, the Mount Hiei Kaihogyo route in Kyoto (of the Tendai-shu monks), and tens of other smaller pilgrimages in Japan. If you are a runner in Japan, you should ...
It took a devil of a time before finally managing to locate the home of potter Paul Lorimer, the building tucked into a rural lane on the fringes of the Sashiki community on Okinawa Island’s southeast coast. This is wild country, the fertile, well-watered ...
Japan is often criticized for the time it takes to make decisions. The government drags on making decisions from natural disasters to nuclear power and whether to allow gambling casinos. Ha! You should try to teach English to Japanese university students, where it can ...
I once had this Japanese student who told me he could tell a book’s publisher from the smell. He would close his eyes, crush a paperback into his face and inhale. Deeply. As if sucking down a cold beer after a hot day on ...
For Finnish diplomat Mikko Koivumaa, being an ikumen (men who take an active role in ikuji, or child rearing) comes naturally. Hailing from a country known to have a high level of gender equality, Koivumaa says ikumen is standard practice in Finland. “In Finland, ...
When vocalist Herb Kendrick, better known simply by his nickname “Q,” takes the stage next week in Tokyo, he will be appearing onstage for the first time in nearly a year. The gig at What the Dickens in Ebisu is being billed as the ...
You often hear about animals being rescued from abusive owners, but I wonder, is there any help for pet owners who have been abused by their pets? Is there even a support group, let alone a foster home, for all of us owners who ...
While hammering nails and cutting planks in the prop department at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Metropolitan Opera in the early 2000s, Barry Silver never dreamed of a life in Japan.
Aging Japan. We hear this phrase all the time. The question is, what are they talking about — the infrastructure? The people? Four Roses whisky? Everything ultimately ages. Even newborns age. So perhaps to defy “aging Japan,” we need people who age younger, or ...
A Japanese colleague trying to improve her English via episodes of the TV sitcom “Friends” once asked me this . . . “Was ‘Friends’ really aired on prime time television? The content seems so racy. Here this would have been late night fare, for ...