Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Jul 3, 2012

The curious case of the eroding eikaiwa salary

by Patrick Budmar

Now fraught with job insecurity and low pay, there was a time when the work was steady and salaries were high for those who taught English in Japan. One only has to contrast the birth of the eikaiwa (English conversation) business in the late ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Jun 26, 2012

Japanese business isn't working: What would Shima do?

by Glenn Newman

A Ponzi scheme. Alleged yakuza ties. Accounting scandals. Executive misuse of company funds for gambling. A record-breaking bankruptcy. Callous disregard of public health and safety. Japanese companies are in the headlines a lot these days. But for all the wrong reasons. While each is ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Jun 19, 2012

Mishmash jumble of systems is recipe for a do-little Diet

by Colin P.A. Jones

Given the momentous fiscal and social problems Japan was facing even before Fukushima, even foreign residents — who can’t vote — may be wondering what on Earth Japan’s elected officials are doing to solve the nation’s many ills. “Not very much” is the most ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Jun 12, 2012

'Flyjin' feel vindicated, worry for those left in Japan

by Patrick Budmar

Although more than a year has passed since the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami struck Tohoku on March 11, 2011, Ivan Stout’s memory of the moment when the Shinmarunouchi building in Tokyo’s Chou Ward began to tremble is as vivid as ever. While Stout, ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Jun 5, 2012

Rumors, lies fill void left by police in Furlong case

by David Mcneill

It is one of the more ugly tasks in journalism: trying to extract a quote from a bereaved family after a violent death. By the time I called Nicola Furlong’s mother on May 25, she had learned that her 21-year-old daughter had been sexually ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Jun 5, 2012

Blackston taught kids days before murder, may have toured with AI

by Simon Scott

Although no official statement has been made by the artist or her representatives, evidence points to links between high-profile Japanese pop star AI (Ai Carina Uemura) and at least one, if not both, of the suspects being questioned over the rape and murder of ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST May 29, 2012

Photos reunite left-behind parents with lost children, but only on film

by Simon Scott

If there is no bond deeper or love stronger than that between a parent and a child, then equally, there is no pain greater than when that bond is broken or that love taken away. For father Akio Yokota, the pain of being separated ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST May 8, 2012

A decade serving the community

Wednesday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Community pages, which have been providing news, analysis and opinion by, for and about the foreign community in Japan since May 9, 2002. Here, an editor, columnist and writer who helped make the section what it is ...

Community | THE ZEIT GIST May 1, 2012

Blood, beatings and the cage: the bouncer

by Stephen Carr

Before The Japan Times was invited inside Nagoya’s iD Cafe to speak to Thomas, the nightclub’s security manager, we stopped to chat to a uniformed policeman near the club. He told us there were as many as 50 fights in a nearby park on ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Apr 24, 2012

Tokyo gets double dose of gay pride for 2012

by Siguenza

For the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, gay pride parades are not only a great means to raise awareness of LGBT issues and spread the message of diversity and acceptance, but also a much-needed excuse to gather supporters together and party down. At ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Apr 17, 2012

Bread and becquerels: a year of living dangerously

by Gianni Simone

My New Year’s resolution back in January was to survive this year, and many more to come, which means keeping myself and my family as far from harm’s way as possible. Unfortunately, staying healthy in the atomic age is far from easy, particularly after ...