The 100 Hour Japanese Work-Week and One Woman Who Escaped
On the other hand, most Japanese - white collar or not, are well aware that clocking in over 100 hours of overtime a month is quite common, and so is…
AKB48: A Microcosm Of Dark Corporate Japan. Sexual exploitation of child labor is sooo cute. (Book review)
Shohei Sakakura has linked Black Companies with the nation's most famous and lucrative girl group AKB 48. "AKB48 and the Black Companies," and his indictments make Walmart look like a…
“Does My Gaijin Husband Go Good With My Dress?” Mixed Marriage in France & Japan
France has the highest rate of mixed marriages in the EU - close to 20% of married couples are of differing nationalities. For the rest of Europe that number on…
The Rise & Fall Of Japanese Xmas: Please Bring Back The Sex & Money & Carnal Pleasures
One is referring to the Japanese Christmas, of course. Back in the day, or the 1990s to early 2000s to be exact, Christmas was drenched in two things: sex and…
The Girl’s Guide to Decluttering and Hunting (in that order)
Consider these 2 pictures. Before: Single, living alone in a 29 square meter apartment in Tokyo. The place is so filthy it’s a struggle every morning to shower, get dressed…
The 70 Year Fallout: A Lament for Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Editor’s note: This year it will be 70 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. What is not widely known is that Japan was working on building its own atomic…
Book Review: “Why the Japanese Are Beautiful” （日本人はなぜ美しいのか） by Kaori Shoji
Still, Masuno's book is hugely inspiring, if only because it makes us realize the seeds of beauty are within. All we have to do is become aware of it, and…
Book Review: “The Bad-Mood Marriage” 不機嫌な主婦 なぜ女たちは「本能」を忘れたのか（朝日新書）
By Kaori Shoji As long as time immemorial, being a woman in Japan meant the rawest of deals. The long, long tradition of top-down patriarchy held that women were good…
How the Japanese Went Under, and Stayed There
Uchida's speciality is throwing politics and philosophy, Aikido and women's issues, the income gap and Japan's slide into poverty, plus sex and relationship advice - all in one blender and…
Over-Educated, Under-Paid and Most Likely Single: Women in Japan’s Academia
Japanese academia is crowded with smart, talented women, according to the book Kogakureki Jyoshino Hinkon, but it seems very few in this country have any idea how to welcome or…