Commentary / Japan May 22, 2020

COVID-19 versus Japan's culture of collectivism

Has the nation's group mentality helped it weather the coronavirus storm?

Commentary / Japan Dec 12, 2018

Eight decades on, no end in sight to Nanjing toll row

A mutually acceptable accounting of the Nanjing controversy is a matter perhaps best left to wiser generations to resolve.

Commentary / Japan Aug 14, 2017

For the U.S., Japan was the foe and China the prize

The Pacific War was a struggle between imperial powers for control of imperial possessions.

Commentary / Japan Dec 7, 2016

Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack but hardly a surprise

In truth, the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan astonished very few at all.

Voices | FOREIGN AGENDA May 25, 2016

U.S. sees wars' end through the prism of Hiroshima

Post-World War II belief that anything less than unconditional surrender is defeat has cost the U.S. dearly, in blood and treasure.

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST May 26, 2009

Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful

I am a 46-year-old Caucasian male. I have lived in Japan for 17 years with an attitude toward assimilation that would not be looked upon favorably in my native Australia. I would feel worse about this were it not for an undeniable fact: Compared ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Feb 3, 2009

What would the locals do?

In Japan, paper advertisements hang from the ceilings of train cars. In how many other countries would that be a viable advertising option? Certainly not in my hometown of Melbourne. Back in Australia, the majority of those ads would not survive any given Saturday ...

Issues | THE ZEIT GIST Dec 2, 2008

Back to the baths: Otaru revisited

The story is familiar to regular readers of Zeit Gist. Debito Arudou, a naturalized Japanese citizen, originally from America, was living in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and had heard of the Yunohana public bath's policy of denying entry to foreigners. In 1999, media in tow, he ...