Tag - japanese

 
 

JAPANESE

While Google may be the restaurant review medium of choice in other countries, Japan largely prefers Tabelog, where five-star reviews are rare and three-star reviews aren't what they seem.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2025
On Japan's top foodie site, imperfection is gold
Cultural expectations may influence ratings on Tabelog, but reading between the lines might help you find the next hidden gem.
Bar Bota, the 37th-floor watering hole at the Four Seasons Osaka, looks out on a glittering cityscape better known for its cheap eats and drinks.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2025
Slowly but surely, Osaka emerges from Kyoto’s fine-dining shadow
The majority of tourists go to Osaka with street food on their minds, but the city is rapidly improve its elevated dining options as well.
A man is silhouetted beneath a screen displaying Japan's Nikkei share average in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 8, 2025
Japanese stocks expected to remain on downward trend amid tariff turmoil
Uncertainties over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs this week pushed the Nikkei 225 index below 37,000 for the first time in six months.
A welfare caseworker (Takumi Kitamura) heads down a dangerous path despite trying to do the right thing in “A Bad Summer.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 7, 2025
‘A Bad Summer’: A scorching drama of simmering rage and its consequences
Hideo Jojo pushes into forbidden territory and navigates the darker currents of his latest film with assurance.
Shoshi Maekawa (center) speaks during a news conference in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday following the opening of his retrial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Retrial ruling set for July 18 over 1986 murder in Fukui
In a hearing at the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court, Shoshi Maekawa said he was innocent of the junior high school student's murder.
Kanagawa Prefectual Police headquarters in Yokohama
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Kawasaki man arrested for alleged murder in 2003
The arrest came after a skeletonized body was found in a bamboo forest in the city in 2010.
The Nagasaki Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Nagasaki. Nagasaki police have arrested a 54-year-old woman for allegedly locking her naked partner out on their balcony for the night three years ago, which led to the man's death from extreme cold.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Woman held over death of partner after locking him out naked on balcony
The temperature had fallen to a low of 3.7 degrees Celsius on the night of the incident in February 2022.
Following the Nagoya High Court ruling on the same-sex marriage lawsuit, lawyers and others raise banners and boards that read "unconstitutional" and similar statements on Friday in Naka Ward, Nagoya.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Nagoya High Court rules not recognizing same-sex marriage unconstitutional
It is the fourth high court ruling in Japan on same-sex marriage, following decisions in Sapporo, Tokyo and Fukuoka.
The illuminated advertising board of a host club in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district. The bill approved by the government on Friday aims to ban hosts from emotionally manipulating customers into making excessive purchases — a common tactic in the industry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Japan looks to crack down on host club exploitation with tighter regulations
Police received 2,776 consultations nationwide related to host clubs last year, with many involving women coerced into sex work to cover unpaid bills.
Japan is grappling with a budget shortfall, and while raising the tax-free threshold has sparked political debate, the country's booming tourism industry presents an untapped revenue source.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025
Japan has a revenue hole. Plug it with tourists
More than 35 years after sales tax was first introduced, it remains incredibly unpopular and reducing it is a regular promise of opposition parties.
Globally, women are severely underrepresented among leading roles in cinema, with female directors accounting for just over 10% of the industry in Japan. Achieving gender equality on-set would have far-reaching consequences for the whole of society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025
Without women behind the camera, equality stays out of the frame
Cinema isn't only about what stories are told, but who tells them. Overcoming severe underrepresentation, women are reshaping the film industry and cultural narratives.
The weighted average of wage hikes demanded by 2,939 member unions of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, in this year's shuntō labor-management negotiations came to 6.09%, a Rengo survey showed Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2025
Japan pay hike demands top 6% for first time in 32 years
It is the first time in 32 years for the average wage hike request to exceed 6%, amid the soaring cost of living and labor shortages.
Rengo says its member unions have demanded an average wage increase of 6.09% this year, up from last year’s 5.85%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 6, 2025
Japan’s biggest union group demands highest wage hike since 1993
Member unions of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation are seeking an average wage increase of 6.09% this year, up from last year’s 5.85%.
Former Executive Vice President Ichiro Takekuro enters the Tokyo High Court for the appellate court ruling in January 2023 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025
Acquittal of two former Tepco executives to be finalized
The Supreme Court supported the lower courts' decisions that the accident was unpredictable and decided to dismiss an appeal by lawyers acting as prosecutors.
The yield on Japan’s 10-year note climbed 7 basis points to 1.5%, the highest since 2009.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 6, 2025
German bond rout goes global as yields surge in Japan
The yield on Japan’s 10-year note climbed 7 basis points to 1.5%, the highest since 2009.
After the ruling in the lawsuit seeking an injunction against the operation of the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power's Ikata nuclear plant, the representatives of the legal team led by attorney Kan Ebisuda (center) hold a news conference on Wednesday in Naka Ward, Hiroshima City.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025
Hiroshima court rejects request for Ikata reactor injunction
Presiding judge Kazumi Ohama said "It cannot be said that there is a specific danger that violates the lives of the plaintiffs."
A group of talentless noiseniks are sent away on a year-long retreat to the countryside to write a hit song in “The Gesuidouz.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2025
‘The Gesuidouz’ flips the bird at viewers
Kenichi Ugana’s horror-fixated punk-rock slacker comedy is one of the director’s laziest films to date.
Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a former deputy manager at Hana Credit Union’s Yokohama branch on suspicion of stealing ¥619 million in cash from the branch's safe deposit boxes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2025
Hana Credit Union employee arrested on suspicion of safe deposit box theft
The suspect admitted to the allegations, telling police he used the stolen money to pay off debts and gamble.
Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2025
BOJ’s deputy chief hints at more rate hikes, without rushing
The remarks come as BOJ watchers look for hints that the next upward move could come earlier than the view that projects the move will come in the summer.
Billboard advertisements for host clubs in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025
Tokyo police step up crackdown on sex worker scout group
The group is believed to have earned about ¥7 billion over five years by dispatching women to the sexual service businesses that offered the best pay.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’