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.
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.
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 ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Jul 29, 2013
There is more to my son than the fact he's a 'half'
by Ryan Surdick
For foreign residents, having a child in Japan can be a daunting prospect. Going to the hospital and trying to figure out what the doctor is saying in complex Japanese medical terms is just one of myriad trials.
World Jul 28, 2013
Italy's first black minister subject of banana attack
The latest racist attack against Italy’s first black minister, in which bananas were hurled at her during a rally, sparked outrage across the political spectrum Saturday. Immigration Minister Cecile Kyenge was speaking at a Democratic Party rally Friday when an unidentified spectator threw bananas ...
Politics & Diplomacy | ANALYSIS Jul 21, 2013
Obama gives voice to what it still means to be black in U.S.
by Dan Balz
President Barack Obama’s comments Friday about the killing of Trayvon Martin were remarkable in many respects, but not least because of the distance he has traveled since the equally notable speech he delivered in 2008 during the controversy about his former pastor, the Rev. ...
Crime Jul 21, 2013
Martin rallies across U.S. urge 'justice'
In most places it was too hot for hooded sweat shirts. So they came with T-shirts. In Washington, Elaine Morris showed up in one bearing a picture of slain teenager Trayvon Martin alongside members of the Ku Klux Klan, with the slogan, “Which hoodie ...
Social Issues | Focus Jul 19, 2013
Racist outbursts show Italy's battle to adapt
by Michele Leridon and Davide Lerner
From monkey chants in soccer stadiums to threats against the first black minister, racial outbursts in Italy reflect the profound social change taking place in a country relatively new to immigration. Shocking episodes of racism have multiplied over the past few months, from hooligans ...
Politics & Diplomacy Jul 16, 2013
Italy police probe noose protest against nation's first black Cabinet minister
Italian police on Monday were investigating far-right militants suspected of hanging nooses to protest Italy’s first black Cabinet minister, Cecile Kyenge, two days after a senator compared her to an orangutan. The nooses appeared on lampposts with posters signed by far-right group Forza Nuova ...
Crime Jul 15, 2013
Anger flows over Zimmerman acquittal
George Zimmerman’s acquittal Saturday night on all charges in the killing of a black teenager, Trayvon Martin, sparked deep emotional reactions across the country Sunday, resurrecting an intense national debate about the role of race and racism in American life. President Barack Obama declared ...
Asia Pacific Jul 10, 2013
Labor sets deadline for vote on enshrining Aborigines in Australian constitution
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used the 50th anniversary of the indigenous land rights movement Wednesday to pledge a referendum on recognizing the country’s Aborigines in the constitution if his Labor Party is re-elected. His predecessor, Julia Gillard, shelved a plan to hold a ...
World Jul 2, 2013
African-American woman traces ancestry to family of Thomas Jefferson
Reisha Raney’s role in Friday night’s Daughters of the American Revolution ceremony for the military was minor. She carried Virginia’s flag in a procession that walked down a carpeted aisle at Constitution Hall. But for Raney, an African-American raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, ...