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.
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 28, 2013
Nothing is clear about court ruling on illegitimate kids
by Michael Hoffman
Evidently I was wrong. Two weeks ago in this space, in a passing reference to the unanimous Sept. 4 Supreme Court ruling declaring unconstitutional a Civil Code provision denying full inheritance rights to heirs born out of wedlock, I wrote, “The rank injustice of ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 21, 2013
Presenting the up, down and dark sides of 'Gorinnomics'
by Mark Schreiber
The weekly magazines’ and tabloids’ reaction to the selection of Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympics reminds one of an oft-quoted remark by Oscar Wilde that goes, “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 14, 2013
Japanese media declare 'dark times' are on us
by Michael Hoffman
Being good has never been easy. And it’s not getting easier — unlike many things in this age of mass technological empowerment. If it were, presumably, there would be more good and less evil — unless evil is more attractive? The monthly Sapio has ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 7, 2013
What's the real story behind 'Emperor'?
by Mark Schreiber
“Emperor,” a film directed by Peter Webber that takes up the subject of Emperor Showa and the postwar occupation period, has been showing at local theaters since July. The film’s protagonist is Gen. Bonner Frank Fellers, who served as a subordinate to Supreme Commander ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 31, 2013
Married or single, Japan is a desolate country
by Michael Hoffman
“The past century is a history of sexual distortion,” social psychologist Hiroyoshi Ishikawa told Time Magazine in 1983. “A small portion of young people in Japan are sexually very, very active,” he added, “while the vast majority are sexually repressed.” What would he say ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 24, 2013
Chilling tales are tops when trying to beat the heat
by By Mark Schreiber
Perhaps stemming from the belief that hearing a scary story will send a chill down the spine and provide welcome relief from the summer heat, August is Japan’s favorite season for traditional tales of horror. At local festivals and in theme parks, the obake ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 17, 2013
Cyber-kids get a break during Bon holidays
by Michael Hoffman
You didn’t need prophetic powers, back in the 1980s when the personal computer was starting to show its potential, to foresee something like Internet addiction. It should have been obvious. It was, to science-fiction writer William Gibson. Reminiscing to Time magazine in 1995, he ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 10, 2013
'Haiku killings' recall infamous horror story
by Mark Schreiber
Mitake, a tiny mountain hamlet located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, is administrated as part of the city of Shunan (pop. 150,000). The area is so remote, cell phones don’t always receive signals there. On the night of July 21, according to news reports, two ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 3, 2013
Closet traditionalists still populate a supposedly single moms' world
by Michael Hoffman
Every day some 370,000 babies are born worldwide. Of those born on July 22, 2013, 369,999 went unnoticed outside their immediate circles. The exception was a royal prince, third in line to the British throne. His first photos show him blissfully unaware of the ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jul 27, 2013
Tight budgets, food safety and eel inflation
by Mark Schreiber
The future promise of Abenomics notwithstanding, Japan’s white-collar office workers are still being squeezed in terms of their discretionary spending. Results of the annual survey of salaryman kozukai (allowance), released June 28 by Shinsei Bank, noted that this year the average monthly spending money ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jul 20, 2013
Japan's weeklies debate modern man's burden
by Michael Hoffman
Pity the declining male in an age of expanding female empowerment! True, he has only himself to blame. For centuries, millennia, man lorded over woman, subjecting her to every indignity, reducing her to servitude, denying her full membership in the community of human beings. ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jul 13, 2013
'Black' business tales cast shadow on candidate
by Mark Schreiber
Elections for the House of Councillors will be held a week from today. The election is being billed as historic in that candidates are permitted to appeal to voters via the Internet. To the near-exclusion of the other 120 seats in contention, however, the ...