A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio summarized his administration’s policy goals at the opening of the 211th session of the Diet. Although this speech happens around the same time of year as the American State...
Author - Tim Odagiri
Tim Odagiri
How Many Foreign Residents Live in Japan?
When you wander around Japan, be it the countryside or in urban areas, you notice right away that there are a lot of Japanese people here. But every once in a while, you will see a foreign face. Sometimes when I come...
What You Need to Know about this Powerful Japanese Diet
Under Japan’s original 1889 constitution, all sovereign power rested in the person of the Emperor. He was the head of the Japanese Empire, “combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty,” an authority inherited through...
Japan’s Big News Stories for 2022
As we roll into 2023, let’s look at some of the news stories from last year that residents in Japan are still talking about.
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What is Christmas Like in Japan?
This year, I celebrated my fourth Christmas since moving to Japan. For a country that has a Buddhist and Shinto rather than a Christian core, I have to admit that they do a fairly good job with the trappings of the...
Is Japan Too Innocent?
Earlier this month, my wife and I decided to watch “Best Artist 2022,” a music special broadcast on Nippon TV (日テレ). It was presumably a compilation of the year’s best songs, but you know kids these days and their music...
Tonkatsu, Katana Swords, and the Roots of Japanese Culture
Consider the humble katana sword. If you are a fan of jidai geki historical dramas, you understand the kind of damage these weapons can inflict in the hands of a skilled samurai. By the nineteenth century, the katana...
What is Japan’s Endgame for Masks?
As we approach the fourth year of this *!&$# pandemic, it’s a good time to start asking how we are going to get out of it. The vaccines and medicines, while a step in the right direction, haven’t cured us yet. I still...
Nominate Japan’s English Word of the Year
The modern Japanese language includes more and more words imported from English and other language families. And now you have a chance to nominate one of them as the official English word for Japan for 2022. The contest...
Is Japan Too Trusting?
Japan is famously known as one of the safest countries on earth. Nobody gives a second thought to walking alone early in the morning or late at night, whether man, woman, or youngster. I read about an experiment a few...
