Once a drug user in Japan, always an outcast
Since being arrested for possession of stimulant drugs on June 2, it is assumed that 30-year-old actor Ryo Hashizume's career is over. As Mark Schilling wrote in the June 15 Japan Times, Hashizume's latest film, in which he played a supporting role, was pulled ...
Discrimination in day care is a vexed issue
Last January, the mayor of Chiba, Toshihito Kumagai, raised eyebrows when he called for increasing the number of male staff in the city's public day care program. Tending to children is still considered a woman's job in Japan, which is why pay remains criminally ...
What, if anything, makes Japan unique?
In February, American comedian Atsugiri Jason remarked on a Fuji TV talk show that one of the "demerits" of being a foreign TV personality in Japan is that he can't publicly say he thinks those aspects of Japanese culture which Japanese people believe are ...
There's nothing weird about 'sexless' Japan
Japan has somehow earned a reputation as a "sexless" country — a place where men and women have lost their libidos. The reasons given are various but mainly have to do with increased introversion and general loss of sociability among young people. This theme is ...
