One month after Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide set a goal of one million COVID-19 vaccine injections per day, Japan still shows lackluster success at inoculating the general public. One success of sorts came last Friday...
Author - Tim Patrick
Tim Patrick
Japanese Anger Over Vaccine Distribution
A few months ago, I posted an article that practically gushed over how well Japan was dealing with COVID-19. Although the points raised there are still legitimate, Japan’s slow rollout of the available vaccines has been...
Japan Everyday is on Hiatus
Due to other projects, Japan Everyday will be on a temporary hiatus. In some ways, the timing is good. Golden Week, one of the largest holiday seasons of the year in Japan, starts this week. It is a time when nothing...
AmaoJapan Podcast Episodes 17 to 20
Episodes 17 through 20 of the AmaoJapan podcast are now available. As with other episodes, these new releases all review recent stories as found on various news web sites in Japan. Here are some of the newsworthy topics...
Paying National Income Taxes in Japan
It’s tax time once again! This year, the filing deadline for national income taxes in Japan has shifted from mid-March to April 15. Be sure to thank your local coronavirus. Naturally, I waited until this weekend to...
The Japanese Language Learner’s Shelf of Shame
If you have been studying Japanese for more than a year or two, it is likely that you, like me, have your very own Japanese Language Learning Shelf of Shame. Mine is large, so large I could hide behind it. But the time...
The Growing Influence of News in Asia
An interesting notice appeared in this Monday’s edition of The Japan Times, the largest English-language newspaper in Japan. Under the headline, “A message to our readers,” the publisher announced a small but meaningful...
A Japanese Actor Shares His Love of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare has long been recognized as one of the most important—perhaps the most important—contributor to English literature. But in America’s current “cancel culture” that has set its sights on influencers...
Have a Bright, Sunny Vernal Equinox Day
Japan has a lot of holidays, thirteen official ones to be exact—going up to fourteen next year! Four of them already took place earlier this year, including the Emperor’s Birthday and Coming of Age Day. There are also...
Remembering the Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami
Ten years ago, on March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that devastated a large swath of the country’s Tōhoku region. As people were still trying to grapple with...
