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Is it a sign of a full-fledged economic recovery or a looming catastrophe in the monetary making? Recent spikes in Japan’s long-term interest rate, represented by the 10-year government bond, have created a stir and roused a deep sense of alarm among investors and ...
Tonkatsu is comfort food, gourmand grub — not a gourmet delicacy. So what are those hearty, unpretentious deep-fried breaded pork cutlets doing in an elegant little bar-style restaurant above one of Ginza’s temples to high-end consumption? Katsuzen has come a long way from its ...
Life in Japan just seems tailor-made for certain foreign residents, who slip into the fabric of this society as smoothly as a hand slides into a glove. American Curtis Patterson, a professional koto player and music teacher, is a case in point. Not only ...
Disgusted by corrupt local leaders, an angry miner picks up a shotgun. A migrant worker returning home looks to armed robbery to escape a life of relentless bleakness. A pretty receptionist at a sauna is driven to the limit when a gangster tries to ...
David Beckham, whose curling free kicks, rugged good looks and celebrity marriage made him one of the most famous athletes in the world, is retiring from soccer. Whether striding on the grass, the red carpet or the fashion catwalks, Beckham transcended his sport and ...
On Dec. 15, freelance journalist Tomohiko Suzuki held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan about his new book, “Yakuza and Nuclear Power,” which describes Suzuki’s stint as a worker on cleanup detail at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor ...
After two-time Olympic champion Masato Uchishiba was arrested Dec. 6 on suspicion of raping a female member of a university judo team, Japanese TV personality and the former first lady of Indonesia, Dewi Sukarno, defended the gold medalist on her blog. She personally called ...
Last week a new movie called “Railways” opened in Tokyo. It’s about a driver on a small rural electric train line who retires after 40 years and is sort of a sequel to a film with the exact same title released in 2010. That ...
Two weeks ago, the health ministry announced that at least 471 people have suffered severe allergic reactions related to the use of a facial soap called Cha no Shizuku. Sixty-six of these people have also been hospitalized. In May, Yuuka, the direct sales company ...
On Nov. 13, publisher Takarajima took out newspaper advertisements for its magazine-like book “Denshi Shoseki no Shotai” (“The Real Shape of e-Books”), describing it as a polemic “against electronic books.” It includes input from Naoki Award winning novelist Miyuki Miyabe, who explains why she ...
Two weeks ago, an advisory panel to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recommended it apply to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for recognition of Japanese cuisine as an intangible cultural asset. The panel made its suggestion after UNESCO granted ...
Last week Kyodo News conducted a survey on the public’s understanding of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Japan is thinking of joining. The TPP basically constitutes a free-trade zone among member countries in the Pacific rim region, including the United States, but right now it ...
November is Child Abuse Prevention Month, an annual government campaign to promote programs that protect children from violence. Most people will say that they know child abuse when they see it, but what characterizes almost all the recent child abuse incidents in the news ...
Last month, comedian Mitsunori Fukuda was stopped and cited for riding a fixed-gear racing bike on a public street in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward. These bicycles, also known as “piste bikes,” have become popular in the past few years, not so much as a conveyance ...
Yoko Komiyama is the first woman to ever occupy the post of Japan’s minister of health, welfare and labor. As a mother, she may have more insight than her male colleagues into issues her ministry addresses, and from the start of her appointment in ...
NHK’s “The Professional” profiles, through interviews and situational coverage, people who are notable for their dedication to some craft or business vision. The series grew out of “Project X,” the very popular documentary series about Japan’s industrial breakthroughs of the past, and is meant ...
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations currently taking place in New York continue to garner more and more attention from the American media, which mostly ignored the movement when it began several weeks ago. Now everybody in America who reads a newspaper or watches TV ...