Tag - bureaucracy

 
 

BUREAUCRACY

COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Apr 12, 2015
Bridging corruption and legitimacy: amakudari
Amakudari reaches into almost every aspect of civil and economic life, quietly taking its cut in the form of higher prices, obscure but lucrative monopolies and seemingly bizarre regulations.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 23, 2015
Top grads shun Kasumigaseki
More University of Tokyo graduates with high academic records appear headed these days for graduate law schools or are taking jobs in the private sector rather than joining the Japanese bureaucracy.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Dec 20, 2014
Rage against the capital's (bureaucratic) machine
As the Dec. 14 Lower House election demonstrated, media analysis of political campaigning typically focuses on personalities and parties. In recent years, official manifests serve as TV talking points as pundits — be they boorish young comedians or serious, sober-minded, gray-haired fellows — debate...
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 18, 2013
A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass
Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 23, 2013
Nuclear whistle-blower spills secrets the way the media should
Genpatsu Whiteout' continues to climb the best-seller list, propelled by a guessing game over the identity of its author, who seems to know a lot about the nuclear energy business.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Nov 20, 2013
For 'no war' Article 9, any reinterpretation will do
Since the conclusion of the Article 9 debate — that it permits Japan to participate in collective security efforts — is already known, all that is really called for is some kind of excuse that the public can give the nod to before returning to their smartphones.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 13, 2013
Real 'labor cops' also deserve to get the star treatment
The show 'Dandarin' says a great deal about Japanese office politics and corporate practices that are long overdue some serious scrutiny.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 19, 2013
Imagining civil servants who actually serve
As a comedy, Nippon TV's 'Dandarin' not only pokes fun at bureaucratic privilege, but also wags its finger at Japan's storied management style, which succeeds on the backs of put-upon employees.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past