Language | BILINGUAL Apr 6, 2020
Cancellations, postponements, suspensions — words that define the times
March was a month of cancelled classes, postponed planes and sudden suspensions. Let's take a deeper look at the ways we express delays.
Film Apr 3, 2020
Actress Aoi Mizuhara explores Asian family values in 'The Farewell,' her Hollywood debut
Japanese actress Aoi Mizuhara explores Asian family values in her debut Hollywood film, 'The Farewell,' which is set for release in Japan in April.
Language | BILINGUAL Mar 24, 2020
Can’t find tissues? Get some towels, it’s moving time
It’s a bad time to run out of toilet paper and tissues. March is a month of big life changes in Japan such as 入学 (nyūgaku, entering university), 入社 (nyūsha, entering a company) and 転勤 (tenkin, company transfers), and those will often require your ...
National / Media | Japan Pulse Mar 21, 2020
Family dynamic shifts as schools remain closed nationwide
Japanese dads are coming under scrutiny — again. Ever since Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi officially made ikumen (men who take an active role in child-rearing) fashionable by publicly taking two weeks off for paternity leave, fathers who let their spouses shoulder all the burden ...
Language Feb 25, 2020
Shinjiro Koizumi and the new Japanese father
Shinjiro Koizumi joins the growing ranks of "ikumen," dads who challenge the norm of the Japanese father by taking stronger interest in raising their kids.
National / Media | Japan Pulse Feb 22, 2020
The rebirth of cool: It's not easy being a lovable middle-aged man in Japan
For the first time since … never, the ojisan (middle-aged man) is on a roll. Until recently, many have treated middle-aged men in Japan with a sense of dismissiveness, if not outright contempt. Mainstream media have always portrayed middle-aged men as being overbearing and clueless at ...
Film Feb 14, 2020
'Shape of Red' shows what Japanese women really want
Yukiko Mishima addresses the dangers of traditional gender roles with her latest film, "Shape of Red," adapted from a Rio Shimamoto novel.
Language | BILINGUAL Jan 28, 2020
Going green with your Japanese vocabulary
Everyone seems to be talking about the environment and if you're going to get people to step up and help then we'll have to know what language to use.
TV | Wide Angle Jan 17, 2020
NHK's taiga drama hopes to shake off its curse
Amid celebrity scandals and low ratings, NHK launches the latest installment of its long-running Sunday evening drama series.
National / Media | Japan Pulse Jan 11, 2020
Infestations in Tokyo begin to align with zodiac animals of the year
It’s hard to associate Tokyo with anything else besides people, buildings and cars, but a closer inspection of the city and its outskirts reveal otherwise. From 2014 to 2016, there were sightings of masked palm civets in many of the city’s 23 wards. Public health ...