Kuchikomi
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
Trio of alibi specialists runs afoul of the law
The businesses collectively known as alibi-ya, were originally conceived to assist women in concealing their employment in less-than-respectable professions by providing them with an alternate identity. In the past the service was mainly used to conceal knowledge of the women's employment from their families living in rural areas, as well as to avoid exposure of their previous activities when undergoing… Read
Why does Kyotango boast Japan’s highest proportion of centenarians?
There are numerous reasons to visit Kyotango but few to write about it. Yet here is Shukan Bunshun (Feb 27) writing about it. It’s a small city nestled between sea and mountains in the rural Tango Peninsula of northern Kyoto Prefecture, an hour and a half’s drive from Kyoto City.… Read
Like it or not, the 'immigrants next door' are coming to Japan
"Japan’s immigration policy is... restrictive because it is reluctant to accept foreign nationals who intend to stay, possibly with their families, for unlimited period of time.It is the reason why it tries to avoid using the term ... 'immigration' because the term is considered to include acceptance of such permanent immigrants. The basic policy... is… Read
Company employees who are the terror of corporate life
Imagine the following beasts as office workers. Better yet, imagine office workers as the following beasts: brown bears, white sharks, bloodsucking ticks, herbivorous rhinos. The imagery we owe to Spa (Feb 11-18). This doesn’t exhaust its menagerie, which includes alligators, piranhas, even a toxic mushroom, but suffices to convey the general… Read
Without a trace: The unknown fate of Japanese female sex workers who vanish overseas
Since the end of the COVID pandemic, articles have been appearing sporadically in the tabloid press about Japanese females who embark on short sojourns overseas for the purpose of prostitution. Following the recent arrest of four individuals on charges of operating a site recruiting women to work as hookers in… Read
