Is it time to bid bye-bye to 'haro'?
When was the last time someone Japanese used your presence as an excuse to say "haro" whilst furtively glancing sideways at their companions to confirm they just made the funniest joke ever?
Kyoto and Osaka: What problems have you had with your name in Japan?
Foreign residents and visitors in Kansai talk about their moniker-related mix-ups.
Use them or lose them: There's more at stake than language in reviving Ryukyuan tongues
With the last speakers of the Ryukyuan languages dying out, an identity is vanishing too.
To appear or not to appear on Japanese TV . . .
If you're in Japan long enough, you're bound to get the opportunity to appear on Japanese TV. But you might want to think twice before you make the leap to "TV gaijin."
Unpacking koto: retain, discard and repeat as necessary
Unpacking koto — the intangible baggage — in Japan has proven to be the challenge of a lifetime, replete with enough drama and trauma to keep me knee deep in "think pieces" till I keel over.
Humanize the dry debate about immigration
Lost in the immigration narrative in Japan is the idea that when we import labor, we import people. With lives. And needs. And voices to be heard.
Japanese returnees and others discuss the trials and tribulations facing those educated abroad if and when they attempt to settle back in Japan.
Returnees' experiences drive a will to give something back
The returnees profiled here highlight the potential that can be unlocked within individuals lucky enough to have the chance to live overseas and, crucially, receive the right support on their return to Japan.
Kikokushijo: returnees to a country not yet ready for them
Though the number of returnee students has tripled since 1977, and despite the recent government push to develop "global human resources," the existence of this group of globally educated young people has been largely ignored by policymakers.
Fujisawa: What do you think of the new rules for standardizing English on public signs?
New transport ministry guidelines require that public signs use standardized English words to replace Romanized Japanese words. So what do tourists and residents in Enoshima think of the changes?
With love and Japan, what you get out depends on what you put in
Moving to Japan makes an infant of us all, regardless of race, sex or creed. A major conflict in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" comes from the fact that Prospero knew the language and Caliban the land, but when you first get to Japan, you know ...
Early joys, trials put potter on path to the simple life
Growing up with severe asthma, Australian Euan Craig was acutely aware of the fragility of life from an early age. His older sister inexplicably collapsed and was diagnosed with brain damage at the age of 12. "I was only 8 when she first got sick," explains ...
