For Megumi Iizuka's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
An emerging number of Japanese schools are introducing unisex uniforms or flexible uniform codes in an effort to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. School officials hope the move will ease the mental anguish of such students, who are usually required to wear gender-based ...
More and more Japanese parents are attending matchmaking parties in an effort to marry off their children, worried that they will be part of the growing segment of the population that never ties the knot. Although matchmaking for political or financial reasons was common in ...
The lure of nature and a slower pace of life are attracting a growing number of young women to Japan's traditionally male-dominated forestry business, and their participation may help it cope with an aging workforce and a shortage of manpower. Junko Iizuka, a 33-year-old graduate ...
As it grows more common in rapidly aging Japan that senior citizens will die at home instead of in a hospital, efforts are underway to train people who can ease their final days. The End-of-Life Care Association of Japan, launched in 2015, is at the ...
Changing the cultural mindset entrenched in Japanese society that underestimates and undervalues women's abilities is not only key to promoting them to leadership positions, it will also lead to wider social and financial gains for all. That is what Irene Natividad, president of the Global ...
Muslims in Japan have launched a community outreach program as part of efforts to bridge the gap with locals and counter the perception that Islam is linked with terrorism. Since late September, about a dozen Muslims who are regular visitors to a mosque in the ...
Aging settlements nestled in mountain valleys or fishing villages are drawing more than just retirees who want to live in seclusion. Nowadays, aspiring young people are feeling the charm of such locations, sensing the potential to start anew, leading in some cases to the rescue ...
Three years after leaving his home in Aleppo to seek safety from Syria's ongoing civil war, Ismael, an asylum seeker in Japan, feels life has not changed for the better. Being denied refugee status and unable to unite with his family, the 30-year-old, who withheld ...
Investors wait for SoftBank to revise its global growth strategy after Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son's plan to shake up the U.S. market hits a wall.
Moves by businesses and citizens to set up renewable energy plants at the regional level have been spreading in the hope of breaking away from nuclear power in light of the man-made disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 plant triggered by the March 2011 ...
