Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA Oct 10, 2018

Can five Little Japans defuse one big demographic time bomb?

What about if Japan split into a confederation of five semi-autonomous "regions," each delineated roughly by geography and population?

Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA Apr 11, 2018

Pick up a secondhand book in Japan and unearth a mystery

Perhaps the greatest pleasure to be derived from shopping at secondhand book stores in Japan comes from never knowing what might turn up between their pages.

Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA Dec 6, 2017

In Japan, rarefied manners abound but courtesy is less common

Japanese manners are often remarked upon with awe and wonder by visitors, but you seldom hear a word about Japanese courtesy.

Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA Mar 29, 2015

Reflections on war and childhood on a Tokyo train

It had been sheer chance that propelled the silver-haired woman and that young girl to those particular seats in that particular carriage on that particular Ginza Line train at that particular hour.

General / Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA Jan 29, 2014

The confounding case of Japan's creativity crisis

The smartphone demands the attention and occupies the mind of its owner, crowding out the random impressions that — were they observed — might just lead to insights, ideas and novel solutions to seemingly intractable questions.