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May 14, 2024
 

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THE ZEIT GIST

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 21, 2009
Japan's many roads to ruin
While there are many roads to democracy and prosperity, in Japan it is roads that may take the country in a different direction. In their latest book on construction in Japan, "Doro o do suru ka" ("What to do about the roads?"), lawyer Takayoshi Igarashi and journalist Akio Ogawa paint a bleak picture of how the "road tribes" — the impenetrable scrum of bureaucrats, politicians and industry that benefit from an ever-expanding program of road construction — are literally paving the road to national ruin.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 14, 2009
'A battle for Japan's future'
Despite being Japan's most densely populated area, Warabi rarely causes a blip on the national media radar.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 31, 2009
Women, know your place
Every time I open a newspaper or click on the Internet, yet another article appears bemoaning the same tired trend in Japanese society: the falling birthrate. Citing everything from sexless marriages to inequality in the workplace for women, these articles all skirt the real problem — Japanese women themselves.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 24, 2009
Punishing foreigners, exonerating Japanese
Examine any justice system and patterns emerge. For example, consider how Japan's policing system treats non-Japanese. Zeit Gist has discussed numerous times (July 8, 2008; Feb. 20 and Nov. 13, 2007; May 24, 2005; Jan. 13, 2004; Oct. 7, 2003) how police target and racially profile foreigners under anticrime and antiterrorism campaigns.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 17, 2009
Canucks abroad fret over new curbs on citizenship
Citizenship can mean the difference between "belonging" and being just a visitor. Some people endure years of waiting in line and filing applications in a bid to change citizenship; others, by virtue of their birthplace and familial ties, begin their lives with the opportunity to be citizens of two or more countries. Citizenship can offer a free ticket out of a crisis, or even be a matter of life and death, as demonstrated by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year, in which attackers reportedly targeted those with British or American passports.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 10, 2009
Big winners in 'jury' system may be judges, bureaucrats
With notices having already gone out to the randomly selected citizens who may have to serve as lay judges (saibanin) in serious criminal trials starting later this year, authorities are concerned that yakuza gangsters may end up being chosen. Oh well, at least they made sure to exclude law professors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 3, 2009
Rape victim fights for justice against U.S. military, Japan
Around the nondescript Tokyo suburb where she lives with her three children, Jane is a well-known face. Foreign in an area crowded with Japanese, she has taught English for years here among neighbors who greet her warmly on the street. Few know that her life is consumed by a fight against one of the world's most powerful military alliances, and a secret agreement that she says allows its crimes to go unpunished.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 17, 2009
Berlitz launches legal blitz against striking instructors
It has been 14 months since members of the Berlitz General Union Tokyo (Begunto) first downed chalk and launched rotating strikes against the language school Berlitz Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 10, 2009
A young life in legal limbo
For years, Arlan and Sarah Calderon fretted over when to tell their daughter, Noriko, that she was different.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 3, 2009
What would the locals do?
In Japan, paper advertisements hang from the ceilings of train cars. In how many other countries would that be a viable advertising option? Certainly not in my hometown of Melbourne. Back in Australia, the majority of those ads would not survive any given Saturday night.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 27, 2009
Half, bi or double? One family's trouble
It may not matter for inanimate objects, incapable of altering their own sweet smell, but for humans a name becomes part of our identity. My voice rises slightly as I warm to my argument: It may not be a tangible part of a person, like a hand or foot, but what others call us — and how we name ourselves — matters in this world, I say. So the half vs. double debate begins in my family.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 20, 2009
Breaking the silence on burakumin
For those who don't know — and you would be forgiven considering the lack of coverage the issue receives — a buraku is the term used to describe an area where some, but not all, of the residents have ancestral ties to the people placed at the bottom of feudal society in the Edo Period. These people were assigned tasks considered "tainted" according to Buddhist and Shinto beliefs, such as butchery and leather work, where the killing of and use of animal corpses was involved. Today, official statistics put the number of burakumin at around 1.2 million, with unofficial estimates as high as 3 million.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 13, 2009
Bloated bureaucracy exposed
A common joke among some foreigners here is that everything makes sense once you realize Japan is a communist country. However, the role of privileged ruling Communist Party (or, if you have a literary bent, the pigs in George Orwell's socialist parable "Animal Farm") is played not by the perpetual opposition party of that name, but by the country's bureaucrats. For this reason, Japanese government policies that may at first seem crazy often make sense if you ask the question, "What do the bureaucrats get out of it?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 6, 2009
Otaru ruling beats 'mob rule'
Paul de Vries' treatise on group accountability in Japanese society ("Back to the baths: Otaru revisited," Zeit Gist, Dec. 2) offered a new take on the now familiar story of the court case between Japan's naturalized enfant terrible, Debito Arudou, and the managers of the Yunohana public bath in Otaru, Hokkaido. De Vries presented a "thin edge of the wedge" argument for the ultimate unraveling of Japanese society if certain groups are no longer allowed to practice overt discrimination in the name of making Japan "cohesive and safe."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 30, 2008
Foreign university faculty face annual round of 'musical jobs'
Universities in Japan force most of their foreign instructors to play an unnerving version of musical chairs. Every year the music starts and instructors with expiring contracts scramble for an opening at a new school. University administrators force teachers to play "musical jobs" by offering limited-term contracts.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 23, 2008
School bridges China-Japan gap
At first glance it seems to be a typical lunch break at a local Japanese school: Boys rambunctiously chasing one another and yanking at each other's white polo shirts, little girls twirling so hard in their pleated gray skirts that they fall down with squeals of glee.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 16, 2008
Young 'Zainichi' Koreans look beyond Chongryon ideology
Imagine attending school with portraits of the late North Korean dictator, Kim Il Sung, and current leader Kim Jong Il hanging on the classroom walls. This is a reality at schools operated by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 9, 2008
'Tokyo Two' fight to clear names
Six months ago Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were ordinary men looking after young families. But in June they were arrested by a large group of uniformed police, taken to a detention center in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, and held for 26 days.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 2, 2008
Back to the baths: Otaru revisited
The story is familiar to regular readers of Zeit Gist. Debito Arudou, a naturalized Japanese citizen, originally from America, was living in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and had heard of the Yunohana public bath's policy of denying entry to foreigners. In 1999, media in tow, he decided to put that onsen's policy to the test. Sure enough, entry was denied, with the accompanying explanation that foreigners often "cause trouble" and, as such, the regulars "dislike sharing the facilities with them."
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 25, 2008
An Obama for Japan: Yes, we can?
On the long, unwinding railroad, on the sixth day — the day that, according to Christian texts, God created Man — a great dissatisfaction seeped into me as I continued to bask in the pride of seeing the majority of my fellow Americans transcend race in the selection of the next president of the United States.
Three men rearrested over brokering of overseas prostitution
A woman speaks of her experience of being sent to Macau by an overseas prostitution broker during an interview in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 8.
Money stolen via online transfers up fivefold in Tokyo
Special fraud cases in Tokyo in which stolen money was sent via online banking services grew some fivefold from the previous year in 2023.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
In first month of operations, ride-hailing services used more than taxis in Tokyo
As of last Sunday, ride-hailing services, which use personal vehicles to offer paid rides, had been used a total of 12,628 times in five areas.
Tech giants start to treat Southeast Asia like the next big thing
Attendees arrive for Microsoft's event on AI technologies in Jakarta on April 30.
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
Japan’s tween skateboarders get head start on preparations for 2028 Olympics
Ibuki Matsumoto competes at an event in Osaka on April 21.

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