The rise and fall of the yakuza
For the first time in history, an organised crime ‘yakuza’ boss has been sentenced to death in a Japanese court.…
Is Japan about to enter a 'London-style lockdown'?
Just like the Olympics, which ended a fortnight ago, the Paralympics is set to commence amid a drumbeat of doom.…
Was the Tokyo Olympics a success?
Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Prime Minister, is a hard man to read. He has a sum total of one facial expression…
Why do the Japanese still seem so ambivalent about Naomi Osaka?
It had all started so well for Naomi Osaka. Dressed in the colours of the Japanese flag, the tennis star…
Are the Japanese finally embracing the Tokyo Olympics?
Such gloom and negativity has surrounded the Tokyo Olympics that cynics were suggesting that, when the grand Olympic countdown clock…
Tokyo's doomed Olympics could be the worst yet
The Tokyo 2020/2021 Olympics, which begins on Friday, looks set to be one of the worst in the event’s history. A…
Have Southgate’s England lost their moral compass?
Back in the 1980s the BBC Match of the Day opening credits featured a clip of Manchester United winger Mickey…
Japan's punishing workplace culture
Are the world’s hardest workers about to get a well-earned break? That seems to be the hope of the Japanese…
Even a robot assistant can’t help you make sense of Japan
Understanding Japan is a life’s work
In defence of Naomi Osaka
‘Kawaisou’ or ‘wagamama’ (poor thing or spoiled brat)? That’s the question Japanese tennis fans have been asking ever since world number…
The strange truth about Japan’s climate change target
Japan has just raised its target for reducing carbon emissions from 26 percent to 46 percent (by 2030 from 2013…
Olympics' organisers could regret banning 'taking the knee'
Knee-taking and fist-raising protests have been banned at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, with the International Olympic Committee warning athletes who flout the rules…
What Yoshihide Suga wants from Joe Biden
Age matters in Japan, so when Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (73) sat down for talks with President Biden (78), deference…
Will the Tokyo Olympics go ahead?
Tokyo This week was the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in…
What's behind Japan's vaccine scepticism?
Japan finally began its Covid-19 vaccination programme this week after a consignment of 60,000 vials arrived by charter flight from…
Japan Olympic chief resigns over sexism. But did he have to go?
Yoshiro Mori the 83-year-old former Japanese prime minister has resigned from his position as president of the Tokyo Olympic Organising…
Is it all over for the Tokyo Olympics?
Any long-term resident of Japan will know that ‘reading the air’, as the locals put it, is an essential skill…
Why lockdown scepticism is growing in Japan
‘We all know it’s bull and we’ve had enough.’ This is not the kind of language I have come to…
Nike Japan’s lecturing was bound to backfire
David Ogilvy once said that ‘a good advertisement is one that sells the product without drawing attention to itself’. If…
Why academics hold Thatcher and Trump in such contempt
‘Has that orange baboon gone yet?’ asked a senior professor in the teacher’s room at my university yesterday. The remark…
Japan's carbon neutral pledge looks like a load of hot air
Japan’s new prime minister Yoshihide Suga is talking tough on climate change. Suga has promised that Japan will become carbon neutral…
Meet Japan's new PM – installed by a grey coup of party insiders
There’s a good chance that nothing that occurs in the new Japanese PM’s tenure will be nearly as interesting as how…
Who could replace Shinzo Abe as Japanese PM?
Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, has announced that he will step down, as soon as his replacement is selected.…
What lies behind the Japanese obsession with face masks?
If there is one country where the wearing of face masks in response to the coronavirus outbreak has caused no…
Can tourism subsidies save Japan's coronavirus-blighted economy?
In a striking contrast of priorities, as the UK government offers discounted fast food vouchers to revitalise the restaurant and…
