'You're so Japanese': The compliment that triggered my identity crisis
They were meant as words of encouragement but ended up being the first salvo in a different kind of education that taught me to exist between Japanese and non-Japanese.
Confessions from behind a mask ... and from the sickbed
Just as new blooms mark the arrival of spring, we know it's hay fever season in Japan thanks to an uptick in face masks. Like anyone who comes to Japan, I've flirted with the mask myself on occasion, but never really made a commitment. For ...
Non-Japanese people are poorly represented in Japanese media: That needs to change
For almost a decade, the Japanese TV show "Why Did You Come to Japan?" has operated on the premise of finding foreign tourists and asking them the titular question. It might seem like an innocent query at first, but in fact this show and ...
'You're so Japanese': The compliment that triggered my identity crisis
They were meant as words of encouragement but ended up being the first salvo in a different kind of education that taught me to exist between Japanese and non-Japanese.
Who's been sleeping in my bed? An unexpected guest
A few weeks ago I had one of those "only in Japan" experiences that leaves you shaking your head and asking yourself, "Did that really just happen!?" Let me explain. It was about 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday. My husband had already gone up to ...
Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court
In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin. The commercial, which has since been ...
Japanese law needs to catch up with the realities of trans life
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the current law for gender transition is constitutional, though it registered that this law may fail to align with our current society. The law requires people wishing to change their official gender to be unmarried, have no ...
Before returning from your trip back home, you'll have a big choice to make
Whenever friends of mine return home for a visit, they've all told me they're confronted by one nagging question when they're there: Should I just stay, or should I go back? I like it here in Tokyo, yet I'm sometimes surprised that other non-Japanese people ...
I feared the crush of the rush, but now my commute completes me
Everybody knows that it is hard to make a good living from writing alone. However, every aspiring writer I've met has thought they might end up as that one-in-a-million exception to the rule. Most learn the hard truth in their 20s, but some have ...
Do the elderly and disabled people in Japan want robots to look after them?
What appears to be lacking are detailed surveys and studies, asking questions of the elderly and disabled people whose quality of life Japan's new legion of robots are supposed to improve.
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?
Gaijin Day: How an event in Hamamatsu about unity proved to be divisive
Referring to Nikkei Brazilians and Peruvians as "gaijin" was at the very least inaccurate and, at most, deeply offensive.
