It's pretty common to see blog posts and polls asking what are the best things about Japan, but over at Inside-Japan.com, they've put up a poll asking about the WORST things in Japan.
What are the choices? How about the Culture of uber-cute girls, McDonalds on every corner, Drunk salarymen everywhere, and more.
And here I thought those were some of the best things about Japan.
Check it out on their homepage: www.inside-japan.com
4.24.2010
Japan ages, Altas shrugs
I've spent a lot of time outside of Japan lately, but on returning last week I realized something about Japan that I've long known but rarely noticed: this country is old.
I'm not referring to the temples or the shrines, the castles or the art, but the people. Spend any time in Japan these days more than a stone's throw from the big cities, and the large white elephant looming is the obvious fact that young people getting hard to find.
Even in the cities, jobs that used to be dominated by girls just out of high school (I'm referring to handing out packets of tissue on street corners, in case you were thinking something else) are now held by women in their mid to late thirties just as often.
Got to an onsen or public bath in Japan, and the sound of children is rarely heard. Schools that once thrived with kids now sit shuttered and abandoned.
This is nothing new, and I've written about Japanese population aging many times before, but it's never been so obvious--never felt so impending--as it does now.
Japan is geriatric, slowing down, aging fast, and in many ways...running out of time. The connection to history one feels in Japan is quickly being replaced by the obvious fact that you're living in history.
I'm not referring to the temples or the shrines, the castles or the art, but the people. Spend any time in Japan these days more than a stone's throw from the big cities, and the large white elephant looming is the obvious fact that young people getting hard to find.
Even in the cities, jobs that used to be dominated by girls just out of high school (I'm referring to handing out packets of tissue on street corners, in case you were thinking something else) are now held by women in their mid to late thirties just as often.
Got to an onsen or public bath in Japan, and the sound of children is rarely heard. Schools that once thrived with kids now sit shuttered and abandoned.
This is nothing new, and I've written about Japanese population aging many times before, but it's never been so obvious--never felt so impending--as it does now.
Japan is geriatric, slowing down, aging fast, and in many ways...running out of time. The connection to history one feels in Japan is quickly being replaced by the obvious fact that you're living in history.
10.28.2009
More on Japanese Culture
I'm not sure if this is culture or pop-culture, but Inside-Japan.com has posted the second part of their question-and-answer guide to Japanese culture. And yes, it has robots!!
Japanese Culture Guide - Part 2
This is really a Japan FAQ in progress, and it's a great idea. I hope they keep going because if the content and topics keep expanding, it could become one of the most comprehensive and easy to use Japan culture guides around.
Japanese Culture Guide - Part 2
This is really a Japan FAQ in progress, and it's a great idea. I hope they keep going because if the content and topics keep expanding, it could become one of the most comprehensive and easy to use Japan culture guides around.
9.03.2009
Japanese Politics: Off to an early start
Perhaps much sooner than many expected, the pro-LDP Japanese political establishment has already started the long and undoubtedly relentless campaign to smear the incumbant Deomcratic Part of Japan and its leader.
What I wrote only yesterday ("the vengeance the LDP will surely unleash in their attempts force another election and regain power.") seems to have begun today:
What I wrote only yesterday ("the vengeance the LDP will surely unleash in their attempts force another election and regain power.") seems to have begun today:
While I think anyone who claims to have been abducted by aliens is a little off their tatami, it's clear the battle for political surpremacy is far from over in Japan.
And someone should tell Mrs. Hatoyama: we know Venus ain't green. If you're going to be spiritually abducted by aliens, at least have them take you somewhere far, far away--not to areas of space we are all already aware of (it makes it look like your flight of fantasy is constrained by your own imagination: never a good thing when it comes to aliens).
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