Tag - expats

 
 

EXPATS

COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Mar 21, 2014
Have once-welcoming Urawa Reds matches changed that much?
Some responses to Debito Arudou's March 13 Just Be Cause column, 'J. League and media must show red card to racism.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 14, 2014
Dahl still drawing on the joys and absurdities of expat life
For over 20 years, Roger Dahl has been making Japan Times readers laugh — and think — with his Opinion Page political cartoons and “Zero Gravity” comic strip, which pokes gentle fun at the foreign experience in this country.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Mar 12, 2014
J. League and media must show red card to racism
On Saturday, during their J. League match against Sagan Tosu at Saitama Stadium, some Urawa Reds fans hung a 'Japanese only' banner over an entrance to the stands.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 12, 2014
With love and Japan, what you get out depends on what you put in
Moving to Japan makes an infant of us all, regardless of race, sex or creed. A major conflict in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' comes from the fact that Prospero knew the language and Caliban the land, but when you first get to Japan, you know neither.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 26, 2014
It's their plan for your money, so assume deception
An expat approaching a financial adviser with money to invest could be considered akin to the proverbial duck innocently waddling up to a nabe party with a bundle of leeks slung over his shoulder.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 22, 2014
Tokyo 2020: only as old as the medalists you field
The motto of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is 'Discover Tomorrow,' which organizers hope will help distract sport fanatics from the reality of Japan being the fastest-aging country in the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 19, 2014
Osaka: What did you make of ANA's 'blond, big-nosed foreigner' ad?
All Nippon Airways caused quite a stir last month with the release of an ad many foreign residents found offensive. But what did foreigners and natives in Japan's comedy capital make of it
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 17, 2014
Filipino academic community in Japan unites to aid typhoon-hit homeland
Reggy Figer saw the news. A rapidly intensifying typhoon was heading towards his family in Tacloban. Concerned and nearly 3,000 km away in Nagoya, Figer sent a text message to his sister, Aileen Rose Figer-Peru, asking her to go to his parents' home.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2014
ANA caricature speaks volumes about Japan's outdated mind-set
My personal opinion is that the ad is a disappointing anachronism, and a reminder of the parochial outlook of large Japanese corporations. The ad appeals to the facile formula that 'foreigner = white = blonde and big-nosed = English-speaking = globalization.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 10, 2014
Tokyo model community melds fashion and compassion
Male model Dean Newcombe runs what surely must be the most photogenic all-volunteer organization around. And although some of the volunteers are indeed fashion models, the 'model' in Intrepid Model Adventures refers to role models as well as the catwalk variety.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 2, 2014
Post-school life can bring visa complications
After The Japan Times published a Lifelines column on Dec. 15 that focused on visa issues, we received a lot of mail from readers asking about their particular individual situations. We would like to stress that it is always best to have a professional look at personal cases.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 1, 2014
For Japan's foreign residents, the little things make such a big difference
American political ideals may be grander, European philosophy may be deeper, Islamic faith may be firmer than anything native to Japan — but Japan, perhaps uniquely, knows the value of small things.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 27, 2014
A death in detention in Tokyo and a bitter belated farewell
What was the back story to this Ghanaian's death from pneumonia? A pre-existing condition? Or something the immigration authorities wanted hidden? Without an autopsy, there would be no answers to these gnawing questions. We already knew all we would ever know.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 24, 2014
Don't let ANA off the hook for that offensive ad
If ANA had really wanted to 'change the image of Japan,' it should have avoided racializing its product. Instead, it's just business as usual.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 22, 2014
Teachers tread water in eikaiwa limbo
Every year, thousands of young native English-speakers fly to Asia in search of an adventure, financed by working as English teachers. They come from Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Britain, Canada and elsewhere.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2014
Japan to ease permanent resident conditions for foreign professionals
The government is considering relaxing requirements for highly skilled foreigners to obtain permanent residency status in Japan as it expects them to help enhance the nation's international competitiveness, according to government sources.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 15, 2014
No refuge from booze in Tokyo, paradise for alcoholics in denial
Many of us foreigners living here know deep down that we and many of our friends are at least mild alcoholics, masking each other's addictions, and the allure of alcohol is not an easy monkey to get of your back. It's difficult in any city, though living in Tokyo provides it's own unique set of problems.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 10, 2014
Educator with a mission sends out support from Hiroshima
Some people seem to have a knack for turning their hand to anything that comes along and, moreover, making a success of it. This is certainly the case with Hiroshima-based Adam Beck. Over the years, the American has been a children's theater director, an English teacher, a newspaper columnist and the co-founder of an arts-themed NPO to benefit young people.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 6, 2014
The empire strikes back: the top issues for non-Japanese in 2013
2013 saw the enfranchised elite consolidating their power further than has ever been seen in the postwar era, while Japan's disenfranchised peoples slipped ever lower down the totem pole, becoming targets of suspicion, fear and loathing.
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2013
Orphan of distance? Find time to latch onto some Okinawans this New Year's
Japanese New Year's is a decidedly family affair. If you can't find a family to invite you in from the streets for a bowl of soba, it's important to find the right group of friends — friends who will make a point to gather on a cold New Year's Eve with a fellow orphan of distance. Friends who find themselves, like you, far from their homes and families, caught between two worlds.

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