Downsized dwellings: Inside Tokyo's tiny living spaces
Twenty-five-year-old Sotaro Ito lives in a 9.46-square-meter apartment with a loft in the capital's retro-hip Koenji district. His apartment looks more like an office cubicle, with a desk and computer chair dominating a third of the room. A reading pillow is propped up against one ...
Few fictional characters in Japan are as laid-back in their overall approach to life as Rilakkuma, which has attracted a loyal following over the years, rising through the ranks to sit alongside such established characters as Hello Kitty and Doraemon.
Tokyo Big Sight: Japan's biggest convention center all set for Olympic duty
One thing you notice pretty quickly when you spend some time attending events at Tokyo Big Sight is that there is a lot of esoteric language on display. "Higher yield with improved juicing screw," reads one sign visible among the labyrinth of booths filling the ...
Defining the Heisei Era: Japan deals with death, disasters and a feeling of insecurity
Post-disaster Tohoku has been rife with supernatural sightings. Hauntings have been reported at homes and workplaces, in ruined towns and on beaches devastated by giant tsunami that crashed into hundreds of kilometers of Japan's northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, following a magnitude 9 earthquake ...
It's 2:30 a.m. and dark outside. Tsuyoshi Hirasawa can see his breath in the February chill as he turns the key in the ignition of his white Honda minivan. The large hands gripping the steering wheel are rough and leathery from years of working ...
Irish eyes are smiling in Japan
The first ever St. Patrick's Day parade in Tokyo made history for a number of reasons — least of all for the fact that it was the first such parade in Asia, and it unfolded on a sidewalk in Roppongi. On March 15, 1992, a ...
To wear or not to wear: Okayama police in showdown with teen rebels sporting rebellious uniforms
Japan has its share of rebellious teenagers and one of the most popular ways for youth to demonstrate their edginess is for them to deck themselves out in provocative uniforms. Over the years, the practice of junior high school students sporting modern-day incarnations of tokkōfuku ...
Unlocking Japan's geothermal energy potential
The public and private use of hot springs is leaving a significant imprint on the environment.
'No one wants to be homeless': A glimpse at life on the streets of Tokyo
Seventy-year-old Yoshitomo Hara now lives in a housing facility, but he is well-versed in strategies to deal with sleeping rough in Tokyo during winter. "If you have ¥100 or ¥200, McDonald's stays open until about 3 a.m.," Hara says in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district in late ...
Defining the Heisei Era: Women in Japan speak out on inequality
Last April, a female reporter from TV Asahi accused Junichi Fukuda, the top bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry, of sexual harassment. The woman recorded the conversation, excerpts of which were later published by weekly magazine Shukan Shincho. The magazine also released an edited audio clip said ...
Embracing a buraku heritage: Examining changing attitudes toward a social minority
When Chie Takaiwa struck up the courage to reveal a family secret to her colleague some years ago, she was met by an unexpected response. The 37-year-old coffee stall worker's father hails from a riverbank community in Fukuoka Prefecture that is known as a buraku, ...
Plastic fantastic: Examining the obsession over Japan's soft vinyl toys
It's a cold afternoon in mid-January and, inside a factory operated by Maruyama Toys in a quiet residential area in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward, Cory Privitera is making sofubi (soft vinyl toys). In a cramped workspace surrounded by machinery and long sinks, the 33-year-old begins by ...
| Party Name | Total (pre-election seats) |
Electoral districts | Proportional representation |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDP | 316 (198) | 249 | 67 | |
| JIP | 36 (34) | 20 | 16 | |
| CRA | 49 (172) | 7 | 42 | |
| DPP | 28 (27) | 8 | 20 | |
| Sanseito | 15 (2) | 0 | 15 | |
| Mirai | 11 (0) | 0 | 11 | |
| JCP | 4 (8) | 0 | 4 | |
| Reiwa | 1 (8) | 0 | 1 | |
| Tax Cuts | 1 (5) | 1 | 0 | |
| CPJ | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | |
| SDP | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | |
| Minor parties | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | |
| Independents | 4 (10) | 4 | 0 |
