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Are black people dangerous for Japan?

by Baye McNeil

In recent weeks, there have been some YouTube channels espousing blatantly racist content that more than likely violates hate speech legislation here in Japan. Some of these videos, made by Japanese, even target blacks living in Japan, proposing we are a danger to this country. I won't waste m...

New minpaku law will alter Japan’s rental and hospitality landscape

by Philip Brasor

A new law will go into effect in June to regulate minpaku, private residences rented out by their owners as short-term lodgings. To most, the new law will address changes that have occurred in recent years due to the rise of Airbnb, the worldwide online service that allows travelers to book room...

Kyoto ceilings bear footprints of 1600 samurai mass suicide

by Gary Tegler

KYOTO — Stepping onto the outer corridor of Shodenji Temple in Kyoto on a recent afternoon, I marveled at the view from the neatly laid out garden. Perfectly framed between the surrounding trees stood a spectacular view of Mount Hiei. Ceiling boards in Kyoto's Genkoan Temple, whose g...

Yasha Yukawa checks his handiwork at his forge in the valleys around Hofu in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Swedish-Japanese swordsmith forges his destiny in Yamaguchi after trial by fire

by Kajsa Skarsgard

Driving through the valleys outside Hofu in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Yasha Yukawa scours the surrounding rice paddies for the raw material he covets. He is constantly on the lookout for rice straw, but only the farmers that harvest the traditional way preserve it. "The people who live there harve...

Foreign worker woes: Though Japan is suffering labor shortages in many fields, Abe's foreign worker policy neglects to consider the needs of non-Japanese employees.

Abe walks a tightrope on Japan’s foreign worker policy

by Hifumi Okunuki

The number of foreign nationals working in Japan reached its highest-ever level in October 2017 at 1,278,670, according to a study by the labor ministry (bit.ly/mhlwhoudou). The foreign proportion of the population remains tiny compared to that in European countries or North America, yet the impa...