Tag - expats

 
 

EXPATS

Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 9, 2016
Low wages at the heart of foreign labor shortage woes
There has been a lot of discussion recently about allowing more foreign workers into Japan to make up for severe labor shortages in some fields. As of the end of 2014, the labor ministry estimated there were 790,000 foreign nationals working in Japan legally, which is more than the number of national civil servants (640,000).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Jan 6, 2016
Views from Saitama students: What are your post-graduation hopes and dreams?
Sakurako Misaka, 19Ideally, I want to be rich when I graduate from university, and I would also like to live in London.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 6, 2016
For Japan's English teachers, rays of hope amid the race to the bottom
The major economic engines of Japan Inc. — car manufacturers, appliance giants and the like — have often been caught price-fixing: colluding to keep an even market share, squeeze competitors out and maintain "harmony." Similarly, the commercial English-teaching business could be accused of wage-fixing: Rather than competing for talent, they have followed one another's lead, driving down salaries to hamper career development, limit job mobility and keep foreign teachers firmly in their place.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 3, 2016
Battles over history, the media and the message scar 2015
A rundown of the top 10 human rights issues of the past year as they affected non-Japanese residents.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 3, 2016
Readers hoping for a reunion in the new year
Does anyone have any information that might help these readers reconnect?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Dec 31, 2015
The issues that grabbed you or got your goat in the Year of the Sheep
Readers praise and pan Community articles from the past 12 months.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 30, 2015
Views from Nagoya: What did you make of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'?
Cinemagoers offer their opinions after a showing of the much-anticipated seventh installment in the 'Star Wars' saga.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2015
Taking a longer view in defense of clutter
There's a worrying trend in Japan that is spreading throughout the world: that of throwing things out.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 23, 2015
On a Christmas visit, expat thoughts turn to 'going home'
Reconnecting with home can be a cause for reflection: Where have I been, and where am I going? Is there another life to return to?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 20, 2015
More on pensions: what to expect and when you can get it
Following up on the Lifelines special on the Japan pension system, here are some more questions from readers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 16, 2015
Airbnb: Will Japan kill the golden goose?
Time will tell whether new legislation kills or culls the golden-egg-laying goose that Airbnb has become for hosts and travelers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 2, 2015
Life after work in Japan: tackling readers' pension questions
Among the questions that Japan Times readers send to the Lifelines column, a perennial topic is navigating the Japanese pension system. Here are some answers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 2, 2015
Views from Tokyo: Would you like to retire in Japan?
How do people out and about in Tokyo feel about living out their twilight years on this archipelago?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Nov 30, 2015
Japan's tiny refugee community urges Tokyo to open doors wider
Hitoshi Kino, a bespectacled clerical employee at a university near Tokyo, doesn't stand out. Only a slight Vietnamese accent betrays his past as he speaks in Japanese about being stranded on a rickety boat in waters off his war-torn homeland in 1980, starving with 32 others and left by pirates with nothing but his underpants.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 29, 2015
Lessons in Japan's labor laws from striking NPB baseball stars and English teachers
What do Nichibei Eigo Gakuin teachers in 2000, pro baseball players in 2004 and Berlitz language instructors in 2007 have in common?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 29, 2015
Seeing 'only in Japan' through an inflatable kayak moment
'Only in Japan' isn't just about the lengths people go to here to do things for others — it's also the lengths they go not to.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Nov 25, 2015
In an age of global terrorism, what should we tell the children?
As parents, should we shelter and protect our children from the horrors of terrorism, or does that promote the very ignorance it thrives on?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 22, 2015
Bring back that Kobe feeling, 'cause it's gone, gone, gone
From the moment I stepped off the shinkansen at Shin-Kobe Station, I could feel a subtle difference between the Yokohama-Tokyo area and this city.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 4, 2015
Different strokes: navigating the Japanese school system with a learning difficulty
Japan's schools can be ill-prepared for dealing with bicultural children with learning problems.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 1, 2015
Tackle embedded racism before it chokes Japan
Japan has a dire problem it must address immediately: its embedded racism.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree