Last time I talked about how Japan functioned pretty well as a modern democracy, despite some irksome problems. One area that’s always struck me as odd is the lack of large-scale domestic organizations in Japan. Groups like Greenpeace, AARP, the NRA or the ACLU work to further the various political or social goals they’ve set for themselves, but when I try to find a similar large-scale national organization that tries to increase the visibility of a particular cause in Japan, I frankly come up short. I can only think of a few national-level groups, such as Japan Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Japan Lions Club, or the Japan Rotary Association, and all of them are imported from other countries. It seems counter-intuitive to say that the group-oriented Japanese aren’t good at making groups, but it does seem that “organic” groups conceived in Japan tend to not grow beyond a certain size. I’m not sure why this is, although the general “top-down” nature of ideas in Japan, with change always emanating out of Tokyo rather than from the outside in, probably plays a big role.
Why Do the Japanese Call Underwear “Pantsu?” A Deep Dive Into the History of Panties in Japan
Have you ever wondered why the Japanese call underwear "pantsu?" It's the English word "pants," but using the British meaning,...
