Contemporary Culture

It was a grisly grim and horrific Halloween in Japan but it wasn’t all bad news–there was a yakuza Halloween, after all. After the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime group…

The opening reception party for the show "Make Up Your Mind" was held on October 21st, featuring a living painting performance with guest artist, dominatrix and fashion designer Lehysl. Using…

An American filmmaker, Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, from Texas, depicts this struggle to be accepted as a dark skinned black man in Japan in his award winning short film Born With It(生まれつき).…

What I leave out is this: I don't want children. I'm fine with being a Japanese Wife but I would never want to be a Japanese Mother. I think about…

“Fingertalk” a cafe run by the deaf in Indonesia has become a successful philanthropic business in Indonesia. It owes its success to the experience and determination of Dissa Syakina Ahdanisa,…

Seiko and I still share the same bedroom but sleep in single beds placed two feet apart, because she claimed my snoring bothered the hell out of her. I understand…

Government officials have shied away from holding press conferences in the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) to avoid being faced with tough questions. Instead, they prefer to have private…

    How many of you have ‘swimming with dolphins’ on your bucket list? Well, I am one who have always wanted to do that ever since I saw a…

Power harassment, sexual harassment, unpaid overtime, extended work hours, discrimination, casualization, short-term employment contract, etc…Japan’s workers have been ground down by companies that repeat these practices and sometimes even drive…

I'm always happy to engage people in English conversation in Japan--hey, I was an English conversation instructor and sometimes still enjoy teaching some of my favorite students! I also take…