When you move to Japan, one of the first things you realize is how woefully unprepared you are for the experience. Naturally, there’s the language to deal with, its never-ending foreign words and phrases...
The nations of the world recently have been behaving like a bunch of cranky kids, refusing to play well together despite having ample toys. Consider the United States, scribbling on everyone else’s coloring books with...
I participate in a variety of online groups where foreigners living in Japan mingle to discuss their experiences. Recently, in one such group, a foreign resident posted an anecdote about his work environment. His boss...
I moved to Japan in part to get away from all the politics. America, in its modern incarnation, is politics on steroids. The old adage, “All politics is local,” was once linked primarily to elections, a reminder to...
As I was browsing through some online news reports last week, I learned that Japan is an oppressive patriarchal hellscape. It’s just so sad, and so unexpected. I mean, you wouldn’t know it from wandering around the...
If you are like me, you have way too many meetings. There are productive meetings in this world—or so I’ve heard. Rather, many meetings start out with no clear agenda, cover ground that was already dealt with in prior...
Once upon a time, there was a young American boy who grew up to become a handsome prince. Oh wait, this isn’t a fairy tale. That young boy actually turned into a middle-aged computer programmer with a face for radio...
Back in March, I posted an article about Japan’s declining birthrate, identifying the nation’s key demographic concern and offering the kind of random suggestions that you might expect from an old guy past his child...
I finally received my very own credit card. This isn’t one of those fake pre-loaded cards that you have to top off every few weeks, oh no no no. It’s a real credit card, like the grown-ups have. It took several years...
I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but sometimes I fall down and get boo-boos. Nothing too serious; mere flesh wounds. But scraped knees are the Archduke Ferdinand of bodily injuries, quickly triggering something...
Tim Odagiri
Harold Archer
