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.
Voices | HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO Aug 19, 2013
Abe and his ministers give anti-foreigner rallies tacit green light
To the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: I read with sadness The Japan Times of July 11. In it, an article (“Politicians silent on curbing hate speech” by Eric Johnston) spoke of the demonstrations taking place, largely in Osaka and Tokyo, which demonize ...
Voices | COMMUNITY CHEST Aug 19, 2013
‘Halfies’ and hapa the norm elsewhere
Hapa haole celebrated in Hawaii I’m writing about an article published in your newspaper and written by Ryan Surdick with the title “There is more to my son than the fact he’s a ‘half’ “(The Foreign Element, July 29). A perspective from Hawaii where ...
World Aug 18, 2013
Was rodeo mask act more than just a case of clowning around?
by Philip Rucker
As some people at the Missouri State Fair see it, the rodeo incident earlier this month in which a ringleader taunted a clown wearing a mask of President Barack Obama and played with his lips as a bull charged after him was neither racist ...
Our Lives | JAPAN LITE Aug 16, 2013
What being a minority allows us to see
by Amy Chavez
Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before — many times. Someone called your child hafu (half) and you take offence. Or your contract is only one-year renewable, whereas your Japanese coworkers have “lifetime employment.” Or maybe someone called you a gaijin as you walked ...
Global-related Aug 13, 2013
How Russia's 'science of sex' threatens gays
by Laurie Essig
Whatever is done to help sexual minorities in Russia, it must be done with an understanding that sex in Russia has a very different history than it does in the West.
Politics & Diplomacy Aug 13, 2013
Court battle looms after North Carolina governor signs strict voter-ID law
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday signed into law one of the nation’s most wide-ranging voter-identification laws, just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for such changes by striking down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act. ...
Crime | Focus Aug 13, 2013
Year after slaying, threat persists for U.S. Sikhs
by Shaun Tandon
When they spotted a stranger parked near their temple, two Sikh men came out and asked if he would like tea. He responded by shooting them both dead and walking inside. Satwant Singh Kaleka, an immigrant from India who worked long hours at a ...
Voices | COMMUNITY CHEST Aug 12, 2013
The perennial 'half, bi or double?' debate rolls on
Confounding ‘half’ stereotypes Re: “There is more to my son than the fact he’s a ‘half’ ” by Ryan Surdick (The Foreign Element, July 29): I’m a bicultural teenage girl and I have lived in Japan since I was 8 months old. I connected ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Aug 12, 2013
Ainu fight for return of plundered ancestral remains
by Simon Scott
Shigeru Kayano, one of the most well-known and respected Ainu figures of modern times, writes in his autobiography “Our Land Was a Forest” about the loathing he felt as a young man for the shamo (Japanese) researchers who used to visit his village and ...
Issues | JUST BE CAUSE Aug 5, 2013
Ol' blue eyes isn't back: Tsurunen's tale offers lessons in microcosm for DPJ
by Debito Arudou
Spare a thought for Marutei Tsurunen, Japan's first European-born naturalized immigrant parliamentarian, who was voted out in last month's House of Councilors election.
World Aug 4, 2013
Woman with Down syndrome wins rights case
In a victory for the rights of adults with disabilities, a judge has declared that a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome can live the life she wants, rejecting a guardianship request from her parents that would have let them keep her in a group ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Jul 29, 2013
Prove you're Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden
by Louise George Kittaka
Japanese are Japanese and foreigners are foreigners, and never the twain shall meet? In many aspects of daily life in this country, there is one way for the Japanese and another for the rest of us. Like it or not, that's just how it ...