Tokyo Review
Society
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9.2K#MeToo Hits Japan’s Most Famous Photographer
The #MeToo movement has been slow to gain traction in Japan - but now the country's most internationally well-known photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki,...
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6.1KThe Fukushima Disaster Is Far From Over
Akiko Morimatsu is a refugee from Fukushima whom I met, along with several other women like her and their children, at a...
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11.2KShinzo Abe and Japan’s Demographic Reckoning
On January 1, 2018 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed the nation via the customary Prime Minister’s New Year’s Reflection statement. He used...
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5.8KJapan’s Halloween Boom
Even torrential typhoon rain couldn’t entirely dampen the Halloween spirit in Japan last weekend. Some costumes undoubtedly got soaked, but the street...
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29.1KJapan by the Numbers: ‘Karoshi’
As another worker's death is ruled 'karoshi' - death by excessive overwork - the government seems to be at a loss as...
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6.7KThe Curious Case of the Criminal Tattooist
Last week, Taiki Masuda was fined ¥150,000 by the Osaka District Court, for the crime of conducting “medical practices” without a medical...
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7.5KJapan’s Celebrities Challenge Traditional Media
When three ex-members of Japanese superstar group SMAP last month announced their first media appearances after quitting their draconian talent agency, they chose...
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36.8KThe Myth of Japan’s Bored Police
Japan's crime rate being so low that police are bored has become a popular meme; in reality, the police often ignore sexual...
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Japan by the Numbers: Birth is Too Painful
Japan has one of the lowest rates of pain-free delivery in the developed world: only 5.2 percent of mothers were given epidural anesthesia...
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16.7KThe Dark Side of Japan’s “Okinawa Boom”
There is probably some hypocrisy in discussing the appropriation of Okinawan culture from an Okinawan restaurant that has recently opened in a...
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Where do Japan’s politicians eat?
Want to rub shoulders with Japanese politicians but don’t have a pass to the LDP cafeteria? (Too bad, you’re missing out on...
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5.5KAn Olympic Opportunity for Japan’s Progressives
Just as the 1964 Olympics laid the foundations for the modern perception of Japan, 2020 offers the nation a chance to reinvigorate...