Search - discrimination-in-japan

 
 
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2015

Japan's woeful school funding

Japan's consistently and shockingly poor level of educational spending is being ignored by the central government and education ministry.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 4, 2015

Japan rightists' patient wait is over as conveyor belt of death shudders back to life

He's done it.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2015

Abe's move to beef up military role brings Asia closer to war

Given the unrelenting chauvinism that pervades Japan's political establishment, it is no wonder that in East Asia there is serious concern about the resurgence of Japanese militarism — and hence the prospect of war in Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 27, 2015

When women can thrive, so will Japan and the world

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is 'determined to make Japan a country where opportunities for women abound, and glass ceilings are a thing of the past.'
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2015

Security blanket: Should Japan beef up its anti-terrorism measures?

On Nov. 27, 2005, an unidentified terrorist group attacked the Mihama nuclear power plant on the Japan Sea in Fukui Prefecture, damaging the facility and creating fears of a radiation leak.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Mar 18, 2015

From a minstrel no-show to a black beauty queen, in a week

From preventing a blackface TV broadcast to the nation embracing a black face as the embodiment of Japanese beauty, it's been quite a week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 3, 2014

Time to burst your bubble and face reality

Facing the reality of their perpetual second-class caste status would force non-Japanese residents to admit that they traded their entire life for something that they ultimately found no stake in.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Nov 2, 2014

Children of Japanese 'war brides' tell tales of racism, hardship and perseverance

The sons and daughters of American servicemen and their Japanese wives recall the tales their parents told them about adjusting to life in the U.S. in the postwar years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 30, 2014

Dealing with addiction: Japan's drinking problem

We admit we are powerless over alcohol and we need help to break the habit.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 26, 2014

Japan's brand is floundering under Abe

Attending the Association of Asian Studies conference in Singapore last week, I realized that Japan's global image is not what it might be. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan is back, but doubts are spreading about the version of Japan he is promoting. It appears that Abe's energetic regional diplomacy...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Q&A
Jul 25, 2014

A closer look at the Supreme Court's welfare benefits ruling

Opinions are divided over how the Supreme Court ruling last week declaring permanent foreign residents of Japan ineligible for welfare payments will affect the foreign communities in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jul 9, 2014

Under Abe, Japan reconnects with the world of harm

It would be tragic if the process Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has set in motion destroys one of the truly great things about Japan: the fact that so little of its economy and society is devoted to harming other people.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jun 1, 2014

Accidental activist battles Japan's part-timer purgatory

Miho Marui isn't exactly sure how she wound up standing on top of a bus on a blustery Tokyo day in 2009, staring up at the 35-story headquarters of KDDI Corp.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
May 4, 2014

Kikokushijo: returnees to a country not yet ready for them

Though the number of returnee students has tripled since 1977, and despite the recent government push to develop 'global human resources,' the existence of this group of globally educated young people has been largely ignored by policymakers.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2013

Year of ups and downs for Japan

Japan in 2013 was besieged by problems in politics, business and society even while several key events helped to rekindle a sense of confidence in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Nov 4, 2013

No safe country for foreign women: the debate

Holly Lanasolyluna's article published Oct. 23 attracted an unprecedented number of online comments. More than 5,000 people also answered the accompanying poll about safety in Japan. Here are just some of the mails and comments.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 7, 2013

Fukushima, suicide and nihongo fluency: readers' mails

A grab bag of readers' mail in response to recent Community articles.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 29, 2013

There is more to my son than the fact he's a 'half'

For foreign residents, having a child in Japan can be a daunting prospect. Going to the hospital and trying to figure out what the doctor is saying in complex Japanese medical terms is just one of myriad trials.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 28, 2013

Education miracles in remote Japan

It will be hard finding a replacement for the late Dr. Mineo Nakajima, who oversaw the development of a prestigious university in Akita Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 1, 2013

The year for non-Japanese in '12: a top 10

Back by popular demand, here is JBC's roundup of the top 10 human rights events that most affected non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan in 2012, in ascending order.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
May 29, 2012

Your haiku: the good, the bad and the ugly of Japan

The following are the winners of the haiku competition launched to mark the Community section's 10th anniversary. The five recipients of the top prize, a copy of Debito Arudou and Akira Higuchi's "Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants," are marked by an asterisk. Other winners will receive...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Mar 6, 2012

Japan's revolving-door immigration policy hard-wired to fail

Last December, the Japanese government announced that a new visa regime with a "points system" would be introduced this spring.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 14, 2011

Japan through the eyes of Richie

VIEWED SIDEWAYS: Writings on Culture and Style on Contemporary Japan, by Donald Richie. Stonebridge Press, 2011, 264 pp., $16.95 (paper)
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 6, 2011

Ailing Japan Inc. must combine tradition with a new world view

One of the clearest memories I have of my Los Angeles childhood revolves around a car. By the early 1950s, my parents had managed to eke their way into the middle class; and for Los Angelenos, nothing signified that social status more than the automobile. For my dad, the symbol of this par excellence...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 5, 2010

Glass ceiling has not budged for many of Japan's working women

As we enter the third decade of the "lost decade," there is much to despair about the state of Japan. There has been a sharp increase in the number of working poor, mostly due to the spread of nonregular employment, which now involves 34 percent of the workforce, nearly double the level of the asset-bubble...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 27, 2010

The guy just needs a home

It's difficult to decide which spelling to use. In Japan, the name of North Korea's striker at the World Cup in South Africa is usually rendered as Chong Tese. North Korea spells it Jong Tae Se, but in those instances where South Korea reports on the 26-year-old soccer player, it's Jeong Dae Se or Jung...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 18, 2010

Sakurai: a very dapper demagogue

Makoto Sakurai brings to mind that old joke about the man in a pub who says "I'm not racist, but . . . "
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 5, 2010

Human rights in Japan: a top 10 for '09

They say that human rights advances come in threes: two steps forward and one back.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2009

Refugee treatment under spotlight

Nongovernmental organizations in the Asia-Pacific region supporting asylum seekers say they are watching with great interest how Japan will handle the resettlement of people from Myanmar starting next year, because it will influence their nations.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji