National
NRA makes new reactor safety regimen official
The Nuclear Regulation Authority officially approves new safety requirements for reactors aimed at preventing disasters like the catastrophe at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
National Topics
Media | MEDIA MIX
Miura oldest to climb Everest but some facts overlooked
by Philip Brasor
The government has just established a new public award named after alpinist-skier Yuichiro Miura for “adventurers who challenge themselves to the limit of human potential.” Originally the recipients of the prize, whom Miura will select himself, were going to be seniors, but at its namesake’s insistence all ages are now ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN
Occasionally Japan's glass ceiling is smashed
by Michael Hoffman
Someday people will look back in astonishment at the way society treated women. Women haven’t always been regarded as an ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN
Sifting through the rubble of Hashimoto's political ambitions
by Mark Schreiber
In 1995, the late University of Illinois professor David G. Goodman observed that when serious disagreements arise between Japanese people ...
Media | MEDIA MIX Jun 9, 2013
'Nutritious' claims need to be taken with a pinch of salt
by Philip Brasor
During a recent visit to the United States, I was impressed by several advertising campaigns. The American Beverage Association (ABA) is running a series of spots that alternatingly complain of what it deems the over-regulation of soft drinks and promote the efforts of member ...
Media | DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN Jun 2, 2013
Sex gaffes and the voluble Osaka shyster
by Jake Adelstein
If the Japan Restoration Party — headed by Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, and former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara — needs a new political slogan, the proverb Kuchi ga wazawai no moto (The mouth is the source of great trouble) would do nicely.
Media | MEDIA MIX Jun 2, 2013
Media polls on constitutional change reveal bias
by Philip Brasor
In a democracy, the people’s will is conveyed through representative government. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to rewrite the Constitution, but Article 96 requires the approval of at least two-thirds of the national assembly to do that, so in order to hasten the process ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jun 2, 2013
Society no longer shuns solitary pursuits
by Michael Hoffman
“A solitary cloud wafted by the wind.” Thus the 17th-century wandering haiku poet Matsuo Basho described himself. Not an ordained priest, he nonetheless wore priestly garb on his journeys and was steeped in the principles of Zen Buddhism, among which solitude ranks high. Japan’s ...
Media | MEDIA MIX May 26, 2013
The dark side of Japanese fashion made in Bangladesh
by Philip Brasor
While it's not clear if any Japanese firm had interests in factories operating in the building that collapsed in Dhaka last month, it is natural to infer that there are Japanese companies in Bangladesh taking advantage of lower wages and less stringent safety regulations.
Media | BIG IN JAPAN May 26, 2013
Xenophobia stretches from the street to the dinner table
by Mark Schreiber
The territorial disputes between Japan and its nearest neighbors over the islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) and the Senkakus (Diaoyu in Chinese) have gradually faded from the front pages; but this does not necessarily mean there have been no repercussions. Accumulated resentment on ...
Media | MEDIA MIX May 19, 2013
Family drama is reimagined for today's Japan
by Philip Brasor
“Kazoku Game (The Family Game),” directed by the late Yoshimitsu Morita and released in 1983, remains a movie milestone. A cynical black comedy, it presented to the world a distillation of the less edifying social outcomes of Japan’s postwar economic miracle. The Numata family ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN May 19, 2013
Trimming the fat from Japan's problems
by Michael Hoffman
Why do people disagree? It seems a stupid question. Maybe it is. Or maybe not. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that we are all rational beings. We possess average intelligence, adequate and more or less similar education, and copious exposure to ...
Media | MEDIA MIX May 12, 2013
Inose's lack of media savvy may have ruined Tokyo's Olympic bid
by Philip Brasor
Two weeks ago, Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose gave an interview to the New York Times in which he violated International Olympic Committee rules by publicly bad-mouthing Istanbul and Madrid, the Japanese capital's two rivals to host the 2020 games.
Media | BIG IN JAPAN May 12, 2013
Will Mount Fuji celebrate World Heritage status by blowing its top?
by Mark Schreiber
On May 1, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs announced it had received notification that Mount Fuji had been recommended for World Heritage status by the UNESCO-affiliated International Council on Monuments and Sites. Formal approval is expected at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Cambodia ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN May 5, 2013
The first kiss of death for a single society
by Michael Hoffman
Let us pause for a moment to consider … the kiss. So simple a gesture; so overpowering, sometimes, the effect. Who doesn’t remember his or her first kiss — and remember it with pleasure? First sex can be a painful memory; a first kiss ...
Media | DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN May 5, 2013
Yakuza links put nation at added nuclear risk
by Jake Adelstein
On April 15, two alleged terrorists in Boston killed three people, injured more than 170 others and terrified a nation — for about $100 it cost them to modify pressure cookers into bombs. We should be glad they didn’t come to Japan, where they ...