Kuchikomi
The danger of idol-fan relationships, and how the former encourage the latter to come close
Scene: A dingy hole-in-corner “live house.” Air: close. Noise: stifling. Room to move: none – except onstage. There the movement is intense, frenetic: Six miniskirted “idols” flinging themselves about in frenzied dance in frenzied keeping with their frenzied song. The performance ends, the idols descend. The fans gather round and… Read
Magazine scrutinizes the many downsides of smartphones
"Smartphones are dangerous" screams the headline of weekly business magazine President (April 4). Leading with "The new common wisdom of smartphones and damage to health," President devotes pages 14 to 74 -- more than half of its entire 112-page issue -- to the snares and pitfalls of smartphone usage. Considering… Read
Living happily into your 80s: It can be done
What an unhappy country this is, ranking a dismal 55th in this year’s World Happiness Report. Why should it be so? Japan is democratic and at peace, its streets are safe, its cities clean, its countryside intermittently (where not ravaged) beautiful, its people well-educated, its economy not as flourishing as… Read
New graduates get hired but quit before they even start, for various reasons
This story might have been titled – as a certain bold and brazen song once was – Take this Job and Shove it. Spa (March 25) opts for a less belligerent stance. “Young people quitting jobs in rising numbers before they even start work,” it announces. It comes to the… Read
Sex trade in Tokyo booming thanks to inbound visitors
With foreign tourists converging on Japan in record-breaking numbers, it probably shouldn't be surprising that more sex businesses have begun welcoming their patronage. A reporter for Shukan Post (March 28-April 4) hopped the train to the Kabukicho adult entertainment zone in Shinjuku, where he soon observed a street tout propositioning… Read
Japan's nursing care system on verge of breakdown
Desperation stalks the care industry. More and more people need care. Fewer and fewer can give it. It’s an impossible situation. It can’t continue. Something will have to happen. What? When? Nobody seems to know. Once every nine days a care recipient is murdered by an exhausted caregiver, sometimes a family… Read
Expo 2025 visitors to face a gauntlet of transportation and environmental pitfalls
American author Rita Mae Brown once wryly observed, "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done." As a current example of that axiom, Asahi Geino (March 20) offers a hazard map of potential pitfalls for visitors to the Osaka Expo, which is scheduled to open from April… Read
Ghosn says all his work wasted at Nissan; says Musk could fix automaker
The ancient Greek tragedians would have made much of this character – or Shakespeare. Maybe no less a hand can do him justice. Macbeth, Oedipus, Ghosn. Few have risen higher, few fallen lower. That’s tragedy. Greatness is self-destructive. Carlos Ghosn was a corporate wizard, a magician. One failing company after… Read
Is your employer teetering on the edge of bankruptcy? Look for these telltale signs
Hard times are indeed upon us. The number of business firms filing for bankruptcy in Japan has shown an increase for the past 33 consecutive months. When the 2024 figures are finalized, it is anticipated that the number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan will surpass 10,000 for the first time… Read
'Hidden criminals' behind soaring price of rice
“It’s as if six billion bowls of rice went missing.” What’s happening with rice? Its price is a raging fever. Five kilograms of Niigata Koshihikari brand sold for 2,490 yen last May, 3,285 yen in September, 4,185 yen in January. Other brands: similar – the sharpest spike since 1975. Strange: Farm… Read
