Lifestyle
Savings in Japan: How to get smart with your yen
Picture this: You’re living in Japan—maybe even far away from your family and friends back home. You have a wonderful life now, a stable partner, a job with the right income, security, and fulfillment. Not to forget: access to every seasonal Starbucks or Tully’s latte you’d ever want. But you… Read
Kinko’s Japan to print free social distance measuring banners
Many companies around the world are doing their best to contribute to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Manufacturers capable of converting their production line to make masks (such as electronics maker Sharp in its factory in Mie Prefecture) or ventilators (such as Ford and GM in the US and Suzuki, in… Read
Summer-only special options available at Temple University, Japan Campus for students returning from overseas
In consideration of the global impact of COVID-19, Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) is now making special arrangements for summer semester-only visiting students to accommodate students (Japanese or otherwise) returning from overseas. As an American university in Tokyo, TUJ is extending its summer program to students who may have had… Read
Free counseling and therapy available online in Japan
It can be increasingly difficult to deal with what is currently going on around us due to the ongoing crisis of the coronavirus. With the government asking individuals to stay at home, public entertainment venues closing their doors, supermarkets running low on stock and many countries shutting off their borders… Read
Send cookie messages to loved ones you can’t meet with new Japanese service
In the midst of the coronavirus, some companies in Japan have been making employees work from home, and local governments like Tokyo have also been advising residents to avoid social outings and to stay at home instead. This method of limiting unnecessary interaction is called “social distancing” and is a very necessary… Read
Communist Party fights underwear color rules in Japanese schools
Japanese society is orderly, governing citizens via established norms and prescriptive customs. Nevertheless, progressive residents are increasingly pushing back against excessive guidelines constricting their freedom of expression. The latest battleground in this revolt against the rules are policies specifying students’ underwear color. “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”… Read
Nextdoor, the network for neighbors, grows in age of social distancing
There are offers to pick up groceries or medicine for neighbors, to share supplies, or walk people's dogs -- and even intel on where to find scarce items like toilet paper. For people forced to stay home to ride out the coronavirus pandemic, Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social network, has found… Read
Pachinko parlor has weird way of combating COVID-19 that does nothing about swarms of customers
As threats of novel coronavirus become more alarming in Tokyo and other large cities in Japan, local governments have laid out recommendations for businesses and individuals to practice jishuku or “self-restraint from going out/doing business”. While some have really taken those recommendations to heart and have been staying home (in the case of… Read
How is Japan coping with telecommuting? Survey asks for the good and bad of working from home
Japan has never really been big on telecommuting. The culture’s group-oriented values insist there’s an intangible benefit to having all staff members sit in on face-to-face meetings (regardless of whether they need/are allowed to contribute their own ideas), and so even as technology has brought welcome advancements to the way the country… Read
Cherry, peach and plum blossoms: Can you tell them apart?
Spring is slowly but surely sweeping across Japan. And every year it brings...well hay fever for the unlucky. But also FLOWERS! According to government data, last April saw a record high of almost 3 million foreign visitors. And from January to April of 2019, 10.9 million foreign tourists spent some… Read
