Thursday February 23, 2012

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Opinions › Eddie Landsberg

GKB47 and suicide

Feb. 12, 2012 - 06:38AM JST ( 9 )

Let’s talk about suicide for a moment… not that it's the most pleasant of topics. I try now and then with my more advanced Japanese students. Most clearly feel uncomfortable discussing it. Even on trains, the word is somewhat taboo. “Human accident,” the screens say. In… Read

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Japan’s 'polite' tobacco war rages on ( 42 )
GKB47 and suicide ( 9 )
Waiting for the apocalypse ( 15 )

Japan’s 'polite' tobacco war rages on

Opinions Feb. 07, 2012 - 06:38AM JST ( 42 Comments )

When I first came to Japan, I had been forewarned -- everybody smokes. In fact, it’s a smoker’s paradise, I was told. The Japanese were known as being among the heaviest smokers in the world,… Read

Waiting for the apocalypse

Opinions Feb. 02, 2012 - 06:26AM JST ( 15 Comments )

The University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute recently predicted a 70% probability of a magnitude 7 or more earthquake within four years, and almost certainly within the next 30 years. The news itself in many… Read

The day the drinks stopped pouring

Opinions Jan. 23, 2012 - 06:23AM JST ( 18 Comments )

And so the "bonenkais" (end-of-year parties) are over and so too most of the "shinenkais" (new year parties). This year I managed to avoid most of mine through a variety of “schedule conflict” based excuses.… Read

How to be funny in Japan

Opinions Jan. 18, 2012 - 06:35AM JST ( 43 Comments )

When I was growing up, there was a factually erroneous thing that most of us Americans believed we knew about the Japanese: Apparently, while there were some things about them that were wacky and zany,… Read

'Getting help' is not un-Japanese; it's expensive

Opinions Jan. 08, 2012 - 05:36AM JST ( 18 Comments )

If you’ve been reading my pieces up until now, you’ll probably notice that I like to weave concepts of psychology into the understanding of Japanese society. I do this for a number of reasons. One… Read

The obligatory New Year's resolution story

Opinions Jan. 01, 2012 - 07:00AM JST ( 1 Comment )

If polled, I wonder how many readers would agree with the statement, “Wow, 2011 really went so fast.” It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in HUB in Omiya ringing in the New Year… Read

Japan and the death penalty

Opinions Dec. 29, 2011 - 07:24AM JST ( 16 Comments )

A little over two years ago, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) wrested power from the LDP, with an election manifesto full of promises of ambitious social reforms, many of which seemingly have been dropped… Read

The story of love hotels

Opinions Dec. 23, 2011 - 06:24AM JST ( 26 Comments )

One of my favorite J-pop groups, Kome Kome Club, wrote a tune a number of years ago called “Funk Fujiyama.” The lyrics gently poked fun of many of the stereotypes and ideas that visitors to… Read

When kids become murderous

Opinions Dec. 17, 2011 - 06:47AM JST ( 15 Comments )

Those who lived in Japan at the time will never forget it. In 1997, a 14-year-old boy from Kobe decapitated an 11-year-old boy, left his head on the gate of a school with a cryptic… Read

Farmers - last of the modern-day samurai

Opinions Dec. 10, 2011 - 05:47AM JST ( 45 Comments )

As Japan entered the Meiji era, it knew it had to modernize or face dangers of possible colonial invasion. Today, Japan also knows that it needs to change to adapt to an overwhelmingly competitive global… Read

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Author Infomation

Eddie Landsberg: Eddie Landsberg is a writer, musician and reviewer who's lived and taught in Japan for 17 years. He presents stories and interviews on a wide range of topics related to changing Japanese society. He's recorded three internationally distributed CDs as a Hammond organist. Among his hobbies shogi, dog training and collecting R&B.; Website: http://www.facebook.com/eddie.landsberg1

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