News outlets debate the ethics behind prenatal testing
Last month, the Diet enacted legislation to pay ¥3.2 million to each person who was sterilized as part of the Eugenic Protection Law passed in 1948. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also said he will apologize to the roughly 25,000 victims on behalf of ...
TBS drama misses an opportunity to shine a light on genuine workplace issues
The most common gripe I hear from white-collar employees at Japanese companies is about the fluid meaning of "quitting time." The feeling is that even if a worker has finished their tasks for the day, it is considered bad form to leave the office ...
JR Hokkaido confronts the harsh realities of financing rail lines in depopulated areas
Privatization of public enterprises is a core tenet of neoliberalism, and probably the most representative domestic development in this regard was the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1987. The resulting rail companies, distinguished primarily by region, have demonstrated differing degrees of success. ...
Talking trash: The sport of collecting as much waste as possible
Thanks to Netflix, many are familiar with Japanese clutter-buster Marie Kondo and her soothing remedies for the melancholy brought on by conspicuous consumption. Kondo is already a superstar in Japan, where closet sizes barely keep up with snowballing affluence, but she wasn't the first ...
Keeping up appearances in the workplace in Japan
Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc., which employs about 17,000 people, announced earlier this month it would allow office workers to come to work in jeans and sneakers. Factory workers in the company will still be required to wear uniforms and sales staff will still be ...
NHK docudrama reveals telephone scam tactics
Thai police last month raided a residence in Pattaya where an alleged telephone swindling operation was taking place. They discovered 15 Japanese nationals suspected of calling retired people in Japan and fooling them into purchasing electronic money. Japanese police say they will arrest the ...
Japan's news outlets toe the line over Aegis Ashore anti-missile system
On March 21, a female student at the Akita University of Art in Araya Okawamachi, Akita Prefecture, was slated to give a valedictory speech at the college's graduation ceremony. According to the Asahi Shimbun on March 31, the unnamed woman wanted to talk partly ...
Japan's outgoing Emperor has made the role his own
Among the hundreds of recent articles about the impending end of the Heisei Era was one Asahi Shimbun opinion piece by Yukiya Chikashige, who has covered the Imperial family for the past 30 years. He wrote that women's weekly magazines invented the modern image ...
Will Japan finally promote its female politicians?
Japan has one of the lowest participation rates of women in national parliaments in the world, but a law is meant to remedy this deficit, even if it includes no enforceable quotas or penalties.
Idols and agencies in Japan navigate a brand new landscape
Television personality Masahiro Nakai made an appearance as a "surprise guest" on the March 10 installment of Nippon TV's law-related variety show, "Gyoretsu no Dekiru Horitsu Sodanjo" (“Line-up Law Office”). Earlier, guest Koji Kato had related an anecdote featuring Shingo Katori, Nakai's former associate ...
News outlets gloss over South Korea friction
March 1 marked the 100th anniversary of a speech given by a student in a Seoul park declaring Korean independence. To commemorate the event, South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivered an address in which he called for strengthening bonds between Japan and South Korea, ...
Just how convenient are convenience stores in Japan?
The recent trend of online videos showing "baito tero," or "part-timer terrorism," enacted by part-time workers has sparked another media discussion about the plight of low wage earners. Most of these videos were recorded by people working in food-related businesses, and explanations for why ...
