JAPANsociology
By Robert Moorehead | Looking at life in Japan from a sociological perspective
Invite foreign interns to settle in Japan, think tank says
A Tokyo think tank says the nation should replace its discredited national foreigners’ trainee program with a system that invites overseas interns to …
'Maternity harassment' verdict benefits women, men — and our humanity
Last Thursday’s Supreme Court verdict in the “maternity harassment” case brought by a physical therapist in Hiroshima was the first of its kind, …
Rabid right foams at the mouth over Line's Korean connection
Internet entrepreneurism has spawned all kinds of free services and applications. Some — with names such as Yahoo, Google, Facebook, YouTube and …
Yasukuni and Nationalist Identities, Japanese and Korean
Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)<p>by Lilia Yamakawa<p>In 1985, US President Ronald Reagan agreed to visit a cemetery in Bitburg, …
Japanese Broadcast Official: We Didn’t Commit War Crimes, the U.S. Just Made That Up
In the clearest signal yet of U.S. unhappiness with the rightward tilt of Japan’s political leadership — and by extension, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe …
Symbiosis in the World of Beauty: The Cosmetics Industry and the Western Beauty Ideal
English: Super Skin Lightener skin lightening cream (Photo credit: Wikipedia)<p>by Kyungyeon Chung<p>Upon walking into a drug store in Japan, one will find …
Who are Japan’s grass eaters?
Lately my American friends have been asking me the most strange question: <b>“Who are Japan’s grass eaters?”</b> Initially I thought they were referring to …
Hundreds of Copies of Anne Frank’s Diary Vandalized in Japan
Japan’s slide to the political right appeared to take an alarming new twist with the discovery this month of hundreds of vandalized copies of the …
70 Japanese students volunteer to help clean Canada’s shores of Tohoku Tsunami debris
On 11 March, 2011 Hiroki Takai was studying at a university in Vancouver. Instead of feeling helpless at the steadily flowing images of destruction …
Snowy Day
My daughter Aya filmed this during Kyoto’s biggest snowfall of the year (4 cm, or less than 2 inches).<p>Advertisements
Hafu: Telling the story of Japan's mixed-race minority and changing attitudes in society【Q&A】
For such a small word, “half” carries an awful lot of weight here in Japan. Adapted to fit the syllabary, the word is pronounced “hafu” in Japanese, …
Plummeting morale at Fukushima Daiichi as nuclear cleanup takes its toll
Dressed in a hazardous materials suit, full-face mask and hard hat, Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, left his audience in no doubt: "The future of Japan," he said, "rests on your shoulders. I am counting on you."<p>Abe's exhortation, delivered during a recent visit to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear …
Finding forgiveness: Japan reworks a Western classic
Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Academy Award winner “Unforgiven” has undergone a Japanese remake. “Yurusarezaru Mono” — starring Ken Watanabe, Akira Emoto, …
Flood Relief in Arashiyama
Yesterday, I had planned to spend the day running round Kyoto’s most iconic sites, taking immersive 360 degree images with my new Ricoh Theta camera… …
Los brutales métodos de entrenamiento de un profesor de voleibol en Japón
Este peculiar <b>método disciplinario</b> lo hemos conocido a través de un vídeo difundido por internet. en el que se puede ver a un entrenador de voleibol …
Travel Shows Mirror Japan’s Imagined Globalization
JAPANsociology got its first mainstream media citation, in a column by Philip Brasor in the Japan Times, “Travel Shows Warp True …
Immaculate Conceptions and Japanese Citizenship
by Robert Moorehead<p>According to the Mainichi, on September 13, the Osaka Family Court ruled that a child conceived through sperm donation must be …
Travel shows warp true globalization
Now that Tokyo has been given the honor of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games, the city, as well as all of Japan, will spend the next seven years …
Tepco tech chief disputes Abe's 'under control' assertion
A Tokyo Electric Power Co. executive created a stir Friday by stating that he doesn’t believe the radioactive water leaks at the Fukushima No. 1 …
Toxic drain water may have run into Pacific
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it found radioactive substances in a drainage ditch that leads directly to the Pacific Ocean near the Fukushima No. 1 …
Filmmaker revisits the children of Fukushima's 'Grey Zone'
For independent filmmaker Ian Thomas Ash, making documentaries is an organic process. “I’m not a journalist, and I don’t try to make judgments,” he …
Is Japan the only winner of the G20 meeting?
There are no operational trading tips from last week's G20 meeting held in the splendors of St. Petersburg's Konstantinovsky Palace. But in spite of …
U.S. JET teacher features in 3/11 film
While Taylor Anderson’s life was cut short on March 11, 2011, along with thousands of others caught in the massive tsunami triggered by an earthquake …
French Fukushima cartoon offends Japan
Japan is to lodge an official complaint about a cartoon in a French newspaper that links the Fukushima nuclear disaster with Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics.<p>The cartoon, which appeared on Wednesday in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé, shows two sumo wrestlers – each with an …