In a case of marked progress for Japan’s LGBT community, Ibaraki has become the first prefectural government to recognize same-sex couples through its issuance of “partnership declaration certificates.”
Yumi Ishikawa, an actress and model, launched #KuToo about sexist workplace rules in Japan requiring women to wear high heels. A campaign collected over 23,000 signatures against the women’s high heel dress code.
Given that Japan is likely to host more foreign residents and tourists in the future, it is necessary for such residents and visitors to the country to remain respectful and mindful of the fact that they are not under the jurisdiction of their home country’s more familiar legal system.
Bar Gold Finger in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Nichome has stood as a notable hub for Japan’s LGBT community for decades, but a late April incident has subjected the bar and its owner, Chiga Ogawa, to accusations that it discriminates against transgender people.
Nishimachi International School in the Moto-Azabu district of Tokyo is finally coming clean after a decades-long coverup of sexual misconduct, including a now well-documented allegation of the rape of a 13-year-old female student by the former vice-principal who effectively ran the school in the late 1970s.
Dual nationality is the predicament or privilege of most of the growing population called haafu. With their contributions to society they are expanding what it means to be Japanese.
Laidback Kaz Taira is a genius when it comes to finding new opportunities to downsize.
The issue of bullying in Japanese schools becomes much more real when the victim is your own child. My wife and I found out that it can also become much worse when school authorities participate in the bullying and fail to protect the innocent.
Historian Roberto Baschetti describes the links between Argentine leaders Juan and Eva Peron with Japan and the Japanese, especially with one of their admirers, Makiko Yamamoto.
More than thirty years of woodworking and I still feel like an intern. The lessons I have learned, however, show a depth and intimacy that make me wonder how it is we today call ourselves the “material world.”
