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.
National Topics
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 ...
Media | MEDIA MIX May 5, 2013
Media weighs in on LDP's English education plan
by Philip Brasor
The Liberal Democratic Party has a thing for archery. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s financial policies comprise “three arrows.” The symbolism is based on the old Japanese saying, “Three arrows are harder to break.” Since “Abenomics” has proven to be a PR success, at least ...
Media May 5, 2013
Japanese broadcasters eager to grab more Asian viewers
by Hiroaki Matsuki and Kisaku Seno
Japanese television networks are scrambling into Asia, seeing it as a new frontier of business opportunities as they struggle with dwindling advertising revenue at home. Fuji Media Holdings. is pushing into the Asian market with its “Asia Versus” program, a competition for amateur musicians. ...
Media | MEDIA MIX Apr 28, 2013
Pressure grows for the nation's housewives
by Philip Brasor
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s April 19 National Press Club speech about boosting women’s participation in the workforce has been covered extensively in the domestic and foreign media since it signals a sea change in the Liberal Democratic Party’s view of women’s role in society. ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Apr 28, 2013
An avian flu outbreak in Japan could kill 'Abenomics'
by Mark Schreiber
No one has ever fully explained why, in 2002-3, the virulent pathogen known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ran rampant in mainland China (5,328 cases, 349 deaths) but only infected four people in South Korea, with no fatalities, and none in Japan. Unlike ...
Media Apr 21, 2013
In 'Tsukuru Tazaki,' Murakami once again shifts his point of view
by Daniel Morales
Two thousand and nine was a good year to be a Haruki Murakami fan. Seven years after writing his last epic novel, “Kafka on the Shore,” with only the bite-sized 2004 “afterdark” to tide over his readership, the author published the massive two-volume “1Q84.” ...
Media | MEDIA MIX Apr 21, 2013
Local media must play a bigger role in alerting public on product recalls
by Philip Brasor
Last week, four Japanese carmakers announced a worldwide recall for vehicles with faulty airbags. According to USA Today, “Toyota, Honda and Nissan need to track down 3 million vehicles around the globe,” and with Mazda later added to the roster, the number rises to ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Apr 21, 2013
Fearing the worst if Japan joins the TPP
by Michael Hoffman
Here is Shukan Josei magazine’s nightmare scenario of a typical Japanese salaryman’s TPP future, if in fact Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement currently being negotiated among 12 countries. After a genetically-engineered, chemical-drenched breakfast, he hops into his American-made car, drives to his ...
Media Apr 21, 2013
News-literacy lessons teach students how to find fact amid fiction
by Lynh Bui
When Ife Adelona saw a picture circulating on Twitter of singer Selena Gomez as an adult-magazine cover girl, the 17-year-old knew what she had to do. “I immediately went for a second source to make sure it wasn’t true,” Ife said. A quick Web ...
Media | BIG IN JAPAN Apr 14, 2013
Tabloids sharpen claws for North Korea's 'X-Day'
by Mark Schreiber
Three months before the present crisis on the Korean peninsula, Shukan Jitsuwa (Jan. 24) ran an uncharacteristically astute article predicting that in addition to potential for armed conflict with China over the disputed Senkaku Islands, North Korea, under its inexperienced young leader Kim Jong ...