World
G-8 disappoints Syrian rebels, makes progress on corporate tax evasion
Leaders of the G-8 agree on a plan to clamp down on money launderers, illegal tax evaders and corporate tax avoiders, while pushing for immediate peace talks on Syria.
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Oct 30, 2011
Less acclaim, more fun for Japan's Ig Nobel Prize winners
by Mark Schreiber
Since Hideki Yukawa in 1949, a total of 16 Japanese nationals have been named recipients of Nobel Prizes. In 2010, when the most recent Japanese winners were announced to receive prizes for chemistry, NHK interrupted its scheduled programming with a nyuusu sokuho (breaking news) ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Oct 23, 2011
Rich can afford to jump Japan's sinking ship
by Michael Hoffman
If Shukan Bunshun and Shukan Diamond are both right, Japan is in serious trouble. The former says the nation’s middle class is vanishing. The latter says the rich are deserting. The descent into national poverty that these developments imply would be a shattering epilogue ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Oct 16, 2011
Average Joe could be collateral damage in war against yakuza
by Geoff Botting
The war against the yakuza was raised a notch higher at the start of the month, but not everyone is happy about it. Oct. 1 saw the enactment of ordinances by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Okinawa Prefecture aimed at depriving organized crime groups, ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Oct 9, 2011
Nonprofits in Japan help 'shut-ins' get out into the open
by Michael Hoffman
Not everyone fits into society. Dropping out, or falling by the wayside, has numerous causes and many manifestations. Two categories cover the more extreme forms — homelessness and hikikomori, a withdrawal from all social activities into the security of one’s own room, usually in ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Oct 2, 2011
Bikes keep the wheels of progress rolling
by Mark Schreiber
With the onslaught of super typhoon No. 15 on Sept. 21-22, for the second time in a little over six months Tokyo’s public transport network was snarled by a natural disaster. Several hundreds of thousands of hapless commuters found themselves stranded for hours as ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 25, 2011
Japan's noisy neighbors keep-a knocking
by Mark Schreiber
Sanshoku, the word for “encroachment” in Japanese, is written with characters meaning “silkworm” and “to eat.” Imagine a mulberry leaf, being slowly consumed from the outer edges, nibble by nibble, by writhing white worms. Then overlay this leaf on a map of the Japanese ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 18, 2011
Is permanent connectedness really something we all need?
by Michael Hoffman
An Associated Press report of Apple Inc.’s CEO Steve Jobs’ resignation last month stated, “Jobs helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home.” This testifies to Jobs’ genius but fails to raise what seems ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 11, 2011
Print ad featuring MacArthur sends muddled message
by Mark Schreiber
On Sept. 2, a controversial newspaper advertisement placed by Takarajima-sha, a mid-tier publisher, went viral on Japanese blogs and Web news sites. The two-page ad — widely described as nazo no kōkoku (a mystifying advertisement) — appeared in six nationally circulated newspapers: Asahi, Mainichi, ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 4, 2011
These may be interesting times, yet we yearn to return to normality
by Michael Hoffman
“May you live in interesting times,” goes the familiar curse — or as the Chinese say in a similar vein, “It’s better to be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos.” Unquestionably these are interesting times. It’s not ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 28, 2011
Rising yen, falling prices, cheap beer
by Mark Schreiber
Beginning last Wednesday, Aug. 24, the Ito Yokado supermarket chain announced a five-day sale at 120 of its branches in the greater Tokyo area. Among the reduced-price items were U.S. beef, Australian oranges and South African pineapples. Recently, signs reading endaka kangen sēru (yen ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 21, 2011
Now it's Japan's turn to shout 'Yes, we can!'
by Michael Hoffman
Two thousand eight was a dreadful year. Long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were going badly. The U.S. “subprime crisis” was strangling the global economy. Rising food prices were causing concern at best, riots at worst. The worse things got, the more helpless the ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Aug 14, 2011
A heady witches' brew of midsummer nightmares
by Mark Schreiber
Aside from the Summer High School Baseball Tournament at Koshien Stadium and NHK documentaries reminiscing about World War II, mid-August tends to be a quiet time and most of Japan’s weekly magazines skip an issue. Still, this is the time of the year when ...