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Update! Larceny Is Part of Family Love in Cannes Winner “Shoplifters”–Showing With English subtitles on June 21 (木）
The titular family in "Shoplifters" give a new slant to the term "living in squalor." Their house looks more like a bizarre crime scene than an actual dwelling for normal…
“Yo girls, get out of the ring!”–Sumo, Sexism And Why In Japan Upholding Tradition Can Mean Protecting Discrimination
In terms of celebrity status, sumo wrestlers are on par with kabuki actors, also entrenched in anti-woman tradition. In spite of this (or maybe because of it) there's never a…
UPDATE: Oh Lucy! A darkly funny movie that asks: Can learning English in Japan change a woman’s life? The answer…..
"I think being able to speak English will change a Japanese person in the most unexpected ways," she said. "The Japanese language is just not conducive to self-expression, whereas English…
Let’s have a war! The reincarnation of a war criminal, The LDP, and militarising Japan
“Rich nation, strong army” (fukoku-kyohei) was the nineteenth-century slogan the ruling elite used to rapidly industrialize in the advent of the Meiji period to protect national interests against Western colonial…
Japan’s Peace Constitution, Article 9, And Why Abe Wants To Dismantle It: A short primer
RENUNCIATION OF WAR Article 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and…
State Shinto Nightmares in Abe’s Japan
Like many foreigners observing the Moritomo Gakuken scandal play out, I am fascinated by the interplay between Shinto, nationalism, and government. There are questions that come with the scandal: Why…
Abe-Japan’s Time Machine Back To The Nazi Era
In the summer of 2013, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso, famous for his verbal gaffes declared in a speech to his political supporters, “Germany’s Weimar Constitution was…
Sex, Marshmallows and Cryptocurrency
Here is a trilogy of articles about porn, love, bondage, dominatrix, cryptocurrency, Japan and marshmallows. It’s been a hard week. BDSM For Cheap https://t.co/xxI3cAoHmN White Day https://t.co/ZCVtcurBcD The Price of…
Love Hotels Are Not Meeting Rooms. #MeToo doesn’t take off in Japan’s Hollywood
I’m a female actor in Tokyo. I thought I was safe from the filth of Hollywood, safe here in “innocent” Japan. But the truth is that Japan’s entertainment business is…
Japan’s Pakuchi (Coriander) Craze is Just Crazy! But Also Crazy Delicious!
Pakuchi or ‘パクチー’ is derived from a Thai sounding word ‘Pakchee’ meaning coriander. It is an herb seen in many Thai dishes, either sprinkled on top or put in the…