RSS Feed for Japan Today http://www.japantoday.com/feed Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:38:00 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/childrens-depression-and-suicide-a-worsening-problem Here is an excerpt, presented by Shukan Asahi (Nov 27), from the suicide note left by an 11-year-old boy: “All I can think of is… Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/airhead-female-fans-cant-get-enough-of-cute-accused-killer-ichihashi "Kakkoii!" (He's really cool), one blogger posted. "When he was arrested, I thought his disheveled black hair and the line along his neck to his… Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:12:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/new-graduates-face-gloomy-job-prospects The recession of the 1990s spawned a hiring “ice age” that froze many able young people out of the regular full-time job market. One lingering… Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/veteran-tour-escort-relates-travelers-lack-of-decorum In the early 1990s, the term "Narita rikon" (Narita divorce) was added to the Japanese lexicon. It referred to couples on overseas honeymoons who, having… Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:10:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/japan-awash-in-fake-medicines For Japan, says Shukan Jitsuwa (Nov 12), 2006 was Year One of the fake med influx that by now has risen to a flood tide.… Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:08:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/self-centered-zombies-running-rampant-through-japanese-society During the Japan Open golf tournament held in mid-October, 18-year-old pro golf prodigy Ryo Ishikawa botched his swing on a bunker shot for a double… Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:56:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/the-age-of-listless-wary-anxiety-ridden-and-insecure-young-men Pity the young Japanese male. For him, it’s shock piled upon shock. No wonder he’s reeling. The monthly magazine Nikkei Woman (November) lists what career-oriented… Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:23:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/three-day-farming-tryout-leaves-writer-fatigued-aching-and-dejected You're a self-described 35-year-old "lowbrow writer" facing shrinking outlets for your articles and no assurance things will get any better. So you look around to… Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:49:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/new-breed-of-employees-can%e2%80%99t-communicate-and-wilt-under-pressure Heard the one about the company employee who got chewed out by her boss? Next day she was absent. Around mid-morning, there came a call… Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:29:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/domestic-jeans-makers-panting-for-survival Denim trousers were sold in Japan before WW2. But it was the rough-hewn Levi's look in Hollywood films exemplified by stars like James Dean that… Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:04:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/japan%e2%80%99s-medical-infrastructure-crumbling In a society aging as fast as Japan’s, a solid medical infrastructure is a minimum precondition for viability. Japan’s medical infrastructure is anything but solid,… Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:45:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/celebrity-drug-offenders-face-public-humiliation What is it about this country, and its media, that makes people think they can justify turning drug offenders into public spectacles? That's the question… Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:26:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/the-age-of-the-disposable-male Ask young women if their attitude toward men is “love ‘em and leave ‘em,” and almost all, says Spa! (Sept 22-29), will protest that they… Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:44:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/low-income-bachelors-victims-of-widening-sex-gap Over the past several years, Japan's economists have devoted much discussion to the widening gap in living standards. Writing in biweekly magazine Sapio (Sept 30),… Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/retired-cops-npo-patrols-popular-suicide-venue It’s a beautiful spot, spectacular jutting rocks overlooking a wide blue sea. It’s popular with tourists, as the sightseeing boat making its leisurely way among… Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/legal-loopholes-give-rise-to-bars-salons-employing-underage-girls Since last year, a string of incidents have occurred involving so-called "girl's bars," "ear-cleaning esthetic salons" and "thigh massages." In January 2008, a 23-year-old female… Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/womens-poverty-often-an-overlooked-issue-in-japan Somehow over the past 20 years the world’s second-largest economy slipped into poverty -- at least to the extent that rising unemployment, underemployment and underpaid… Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:22:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/law-of-the-jungle-permeates-japanese-society Illegal loan sharks who prey on increasingly desperate borrowers; rampant tax evasion; trolls in cyberspace who recruit group suicides or who serve as middlemen for… Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/what-we-can-learn-from-edo-period-about-recycling The Edo Period (1603-1868) was seen by posterity as a phase Japan had to outgrow, the sooner the better. It was “pre-modern,” “feudal,” “stagnant.” True,… Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:00:00 +0100 http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi/view/eeeek-gokiburi-how-gallant-guys-can-score-points-with-damsels-in-distress The steamy weeks of mid-summer is also the time when cockroaches proliferate. So Weekly Playboy (Aug 24-31) entertains its male readers with a tongue-in-cheek story… Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:00:00 +0100