Autumn in Japan: School Sports Festivals!
Autumn is upon us, and in Japan that means one thing: School Sports Festival, a special event held at all ...
Tag: Sony
Is Japan Behind the U.S. and Europe?
I write often about how Japanese consider themselves to be a decade or so "behind" the U.S. and Europe, and ...
Gaijin Leading Companies in Japan
There have been a lot of changes in Japanese society since we started J-List in 1996. First, the old concept ...
Employment at Japanese Companies is Down
I caught a report on TV the other day about a unique problem Japanese companies are facing. It seems that ...
Sony Life Insurance? Panasonic Home? Kanebo Gum?
One thing you get used to when you live in Japan is companies selling products that are, well, unexpected from ...
Having fun with perceptions, all about Japanese steak, and my trip to a Caribbean Beach
Perceptions are funny things, and it's surprising how easily they can be wrong. One day a student of mine asked ...
My weekend trip to Akiba, times when Japanese do or don’t apologize, and the history of the stapler in Japan
I took the train into Tokyo on Sunday to meet a friend in Akihabara, the area of Tokyo famous as ...
Interesting foods Japanese eat in the summer, a Japanese gadget that washes your butt for you, and why Japan might need more lawyers
Japan is a country that's definitely in touch with its seasons, and they celebrate each time of year with many ...
Thoughts on e-books and other “revolutions,” the worst-run government program in history, and why you don’t want to be in a car in Japan now
Imagine what would happen if a quarter of all Americans lived in the Washington D.C. area instead of spread out ...
The needless tragedy of ‘ijime,’ what’s easy and hard about learning Japanese, and the Japanese as the most expressive people on the planet
The other day I went to my son's school to watch the various end-of-year performances the students had prepared for ...
Being an American in Japan during Thanksgiving, subtleties of Japanese pronunciation, and a cultural lesson for PSP owners
By and large, an American expat living in Japan has two choices when it comes to celebrating Thanksgiving: completely forget ...
What Japanese think of foreigners who learn their language, odd ways to get cell phone customers, and American politics seen through Japanese eyes
I'm often asked what the Japanese think of foreigners who go out of their way to learn the language. I ...
American-style shopping in Japan, the shadow of MC Hammer in TV commercials, and what does baseball have to do with ham?
Last weekend my son and I decided to stop by Aeon, a sprawling American-style shopping mall that recently opened near ...
Japanese tricks to memorize anything, fun with “companions” in Tokyo, and thoughts on evangelical Buddhism
Hello again from Japan, where it's believed that only good things happen on Friday the 13th. There was a lot ...
Benefits from Japan’s homogeneous culture, drawbacks to living in Japan, and the Japanese futon defined
Japan is, by and large, quite a homogeneous place. I've travelled from Sapporo to Hiroshima and have seen much of ...
The subject of international marriage in Japan, how foreigners live in Japan, and fully perceptions of other countries
One subject of interest in Japan is kokusai kekkon, or international marriage involving a Japanese and a person from another ...
Language reflects on culture, fun with kanji and English words, and the mysteries of April 1 in Japan
I've always thought that language both reflects culture and influences it, and part of the reason the French are so ...
The buzz around Horie’s arrest, Horie as a “standing nail,” and info on Japanese names
Japan is all abuzz about the arrest of entrepreneur Takafumi Horie and his staff on investor fraud charges. A highly ...
Japanese aesthetics not found in Vegas, how computers display Japanese, and bilingualism
We're on our way back from Las Vegas, tired but sated from our time here. The AVN show was good ...
Japanese concepts of friendship, my life as “Santa-san” and phone straps from the Edo Period
It's funny how how tenuous the meanings of seemingly basic words can be. In English, the word "friend" is pretty ...
Japan’s addiction to construction, and why this sometimes is a Good Thing
Japan is a highly developed nation, almost a case study in what happens when industrialization is taken too far. Asphalt ...
How corporate brands work differently in Japan, and on a “super-brand” you’ve probably never heard of
Hello again from Japan, where the Disney film Lady and the Tramp is known as Wanwan Monogatari or "The Tale ...
Ah, Sunny San Diego
Hello all. I am still in San Diego, enjoying the January warmth, which until I got here was the January ...
Greetings from J-List July 28, 2004
Hello and Happy Monday from your friends in Japan!It is interesting to observe the differences between Japan and the U.S. ...
