Kuchikomi
Ex-con provides peek at killer Tatsuya Ichihashi's life behind bars
Japan's prisons are very much like black holes -- little information about what happens inside ever leaks out. One of the few sources of prison stories is from those who have been released. Such is the case of 44-year-old Hiroshi Yamauchi (a pseudonym), who in April was paroled from Nagano… Read
Success in life depends on how we use words
Humans are word animals. Words to us are what grunts, roars, barks, chirps, twitters, tweets and squeals are to the beasts. We have silence too, but prefer words. We use them to inform, persuade, sell, flatter, flummox, fool, seduce, deceive, cajole, lead, mislead, stir love, stir hate – or none… Read
Shimbashi, a once-popular watering hole for Tokyo salarymen, now a good place to avoid
At 4 a.m. on a Saturday in early June, the drinking area around JR Shimbashi Station is nearly deserted. Here, a man appearing in his mid-50s, without a necktie, walks with the unsteady gait of the inebriated. He's accompanied by a fortyish woman wearing a tight, one-piece dress with an… Read
Female reporters preparing to take their trade to sumo dressing rooms
On April 4, 2018, during a sumo jungyo (regional tour), Ryozo Tatami, the 66-year-old mayor of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, collapsed from a subarachnoid hemorrhage while greeting the audience. Two female medical professionals who happened to be in the audience rushed onto the dohyo (straw ring) to assist Tatami, upon which… Read
Revised immigration law will freeze a welcome already cold by international democratic standards
It’s a world in turmoil, with an island of calm here and there. Japan is an island of calm. Naturally, it draws the dislocated and dispossessed. Seen as a problem, it’s a problem. Seen as an opportunity, it’s that. Japan sees it as a problem. New immigration legislation passed by… Read
Nothing remote about short-term sex work
With the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, millions of corporate employees around the world commenced working remotely from their homes. But as Spa (June 20-27) reports, such employment is by no means limited to people holding white-collar jobs. To wit, a growing number of foreign females, mostly in Japan on short-term… Read
Office romance in Japan – how it has been evolving in recent years
How simple life was, “once upon a time!” Men were men – i.e. warriors, breadwinners, office executives, wielders of power and exploiters if not abusers (without meaning any harm) of women, who were homemakers, geisha, courtesans, office clerks, vulnerable and (outwardly at least) yielding. For 2,000 years the framework held… Read
Is religion in Japan in irreversible decline?
"For many families, encounters with priests at Buddhist temples are confined only to funerals. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, funeral services became streamlined, exacerbating people's disengagement with temples. As the role of religion in Japan continues to fade, does this spell their demise?" With the above lead-in, business weekly… Read
Can't get no satisfaction from now-mandatory My Number cards
To say that My Number cards, the soon-to-be mandatory digital card that incorporates national pension and health insurance, among other government services, are not without major headaches is putting it mildly. Thanks to offered incentives like ¥20,000 in usable points, the number of valid applications has reached 96.7 million people,… Read
Why are middle-aged men getting so persistently bashed online?
Why do middle-aged gentlemen make such easy targets? Everyone who is not one seems to resent them. They get on people’s nerves. They are gauche, insensitive, tactless; they mean well but, rooted in an age less enlightened than the present, are forever saying the wrong thing, making the wrong gesture;… Read
