People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Nov 18, 2017
Takashi Tamai: A never-ending search for the unpredictable
Anthropologist Takeshi Tamami has always had something of an itch for Africa.
National / Social Issues Jun 3, 2017
LGBTQ abuse victims suffering in silence
Ray Tanaka's high-pitched giggle is infectious. Yet the 51-year-old bears visible signs of less humorous times. Scars peaking through tightly cropped hair are telltale signs of severe beatings at the hands of a former partner who had transitioned to male. While Tanaka's raggedy goatee is ...
National / Social Issues May 13, 2017
In Fukushima, a land where few return
The evacuation orders for most of the village of Iitate have been lifted. But where are the people?
National Jan 28, 2010
Victim of Akihabara rampage reaches out to defendant
Until June 8, 2008, Hiroshi Yuasa led an ordinary life, one of thousands of taxi drivers who work Tokyo's streets. But just after noon on that rainy Sunday, as shoppers thronged the streets of Akihabara, he witnessed an event that changed everything. Sitting in his ...
National Dec 18, 2009
Students give job-hunting system a big F
College students habitually complain about being overloaded with study. Not Shingo Hori though, who demands to be allowed to study more. "It's ridiculous. We don't have time to mature as people or as students," says the 21-year-old philosophy major at prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo. ...
National Dec 18, 2009
Demographic crisis leaves universities in financial bind
The first day of the semester should be one of the year's busiest, but it is immediately clear at St. Thomas University that something is badly wrong. Apart from a sprinkling of students chatting near the entrance, the grounds are eerily quiet — the atmosphere ...
National Nov 7, 2009
Speaking out about domestic violence
Just a year into her marriage, Emi Yoshida realized she might not survive it. Her violent, drug-addict husband had tried to strangle her, then beat her unconscious outside their Tokyo home. When she came to, he was threatening her with a knife. Police offered no ...
National Oct 29, 2009
Ibaraki turns matchmaker to curb population decline
NAMEGATA, Ibaraki Pref. — With fat black clouds hanging ominously overhead, a sludgy field of sweet potatoes in rural Japan might not seem the best place for a date with the woman of your dreams. Still, bachelor Naoki Nakai, 33, hopes luck will strike before ...