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The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.
Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...
Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...
The inter-season TV schedule always features specials dedicated to police videos, eating contests and large, impoverished families. In this third category we have “Binbo ni Makeru na” (“We Won’t be Beaten by Poverty”; TV Tokyo, Mon., 6:30 p.m.), the 11th semiannual installment in the ...
In celebration of Kansai TV’s 55th anniversary, Fuji TV is presenting a drama, “Kamisama no Beret-bo” (“God’s Beret”; Tues., 9 p.m.), about a late episode in the life of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka. The story is framed as a fantasy. Sakura (Yuko Oshima) is hired ...
Many Japanese men live far away from their families because of job assignments. The men in “Sekai Hataraku Otosan” (“Fathers Working in the World”; TV Tokyo, Mon., 7:54 p.m.) live as far away from their families as you can get — in foreign countries. ...
SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai hosts a late-night talk show, “Nakai no Mado” (“Nakai’s Window”; Nippon TV, Wed., 12:13 a.m.), that attempts to get more candid with both the questions and the answers. The point is to reveal the “true face” of his celebrity guests. ...
TV personalities with psychic powers used to be all the rage and then they suddenly disappeared because of a few scandals. Who could have foreseen that they’d now be making a comeback? One of the new psychic stars is a young woman named Chie, ...
Nippon TV has the sole broadcast rights for the films of Hayao Miyazaki, which means whenever you watch his movies on TV you have to endure commercial breaks. NHK has the lock on TV documentaries about the reclusive animator. The public broadcaster hangs around ...
The government continues to chip away at the welfare state, reducing benefits for poor families and forcing them to find new ways of saving what little money they have. Luckily the variety show “Ikinari! Ogon Densetsu” (“Suddenly! The Legend of Money”; TV Asahi, Thurs., ...
In June, 11 Japanese people whose family members died shortly after the end of World War II in the area now called North Korea traveled to the communist country to carry out memorial services for their kin. It was the first time they’d ever ...
NHK commemorates the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima with a report on “secondary leukemia” in the documentary special “Owarinaki Hibaku to no Tatakai” (“Battling Endless Radiation”; NHK-G, Tues., 7:30 p.m.). In the aftermath of the bombings, many victims who showed no ...
One million people were killed in Rwanda 20 years ago during a period of civil terror. On Monday, TV Tokyo visits the African country for the documentary series “Mirai Seiki Jipangu” (“Future Century Japan”; 10 p.m.) to look at its “miracle recovery.” Tourism and ...
As the saying goes, behind every great man is a woman, and this week’s installment of the variety show “Bakuho! The Friday” (“Explosive Information! The Friday”; TBS, Fri., 7 p.m.) looks at wives of prominent professional athletes. The first is the proprietress of a ...
Monday is Marine Day, a national holiday, and as has been its tradition for a decade, Nippon TV will air a 90-minute afternoon special about sustainability hosted by Osaka-based announcer Seiji Miyane. “Nippon no Shoku no Mirai” (“The Future of Food in Japan,” 2:55 ...