FOREIGN AGENDA

One question I have always found difficult is, "Where are you from?" While most people I meet are able to answer it with a single word — Japan, England, India — for me the answer is a lot more complicated. The question itself is innocent ...

Whatever intriguing cultural differences we may have as human beings, it would appear that there are certain fundamentals that remain the same wherever you go — eating, sleeping and walking, for example. Yet, if you think about it, even these fundamentals vary radically from place ...

Tokyo is up against the clock when it comes to creating a city that's accessible for everyone. Its deadline? Next year's Olympic Games, though that really shouldn't matter when it comes to transforming Japan into a nation where anyone can use any space. Accessibility means ...

When most people think of Latin Americans in Japan, their thoughts turn to Brazil. It's a fair response, Brazilians make up one of the largest groups of ethnic minorities in the country, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. As a non-Brazilian Latin American living ...

While some people pine for traditions from Japan's ancient past, it might actually be the more modern things that we'll truly miss.

One false move on the Tokyo transit system can lead to a nasty lesson in survival of the slickest.

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.

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 ...

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 ...