top of page
Tim Odagiri
Oct 13 min read
Is Japan’s Mercari a Secret Government Entity?
The popular auction site Mercari is asking me lots of probing questions. Is it, perchance, a clandestine branch of the Japanese government?
Tim Odagiri
Dec 5, 20233 min read
Toward a Cheese-in Japanese Immigration Policy
Cheese tastes great in a wide variety of foods. But did you know it also works with immigration policies? Well, it does, thanks to that m...
Tim Odagiri
Sep 26, 20233 min read
Into Japan Book Now Available!
When you move to Japan, one of the first things you realize is how woefully unprepared you are for the experience. Naturally, there’s the...
Tim Odagiri
Sep 12, 20233 min read
Japan is the Adult in the Room
The nations of the world recently have been behaving like a bunch of cranky kids, refusing to play well together despite having ample toy...
Tim Odagiri
Aug 29, 20233 min read
Does Japan Have Too Many People?
Anyone who cares about Japan and its people knows that it is going through some demographic turbulence right now. A large baby-boom popul...
Tim Odagiri
Aug 15, 20234 min read
Do Foreign Residents in Japan Have an Obligation to Fit In?
I participate in a variety of online groups where foreigners living in Japan mingle to discuss their experiences. Recently, in one such g...
Tim Odagiri
Aug 1, 20233 min read
Increasing Japan’s Birthrate Through Better English
There is a very amusing skit by the late Japanese comedian Shimura Ken where he plays a befuddled high school English teacher assigned to...
Tim Odagiri
Jul 19, 20233 min read
Why Isn’t Japan Political?
I moved to Japan in part to get away from all the politics. America, in its modern incarnation, is politics on steroids. The old adage, “...
Tim Odagiri
Jun 6, 20233 min read
That Time Some Guy Said, “You’re Not Japan’s Emperor, I Am!”
You history buffs out there might recall that the mid-1940s was a busy time for Japan. With the empire’s defeat at the end of World War I...
Tim Odagiri
May 23, 20235 min read
Making Japanese Babies Great Again
Back in March, I posted an article about Japan’s declining birthrate, identifying the nation’s key demographic concern and offering the k...
Tim Odagiri
May 2, 20236 min read
Making Japanese Immigration Better
Japan is looking for new ways to woo foreigners, hoping to blunt the impact of its declining population and labor pool. Just last week, t...
Tim Odagiri
Apr 4, 20236 min read
Why I Took a Japanese Name
In Shakespeare’s most famous romantic tragedy, Juliet tells her lover Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other na...
Tim Odagiri
Feb 16, 20236 min read
What’s in Prime Minister Kishida’s 2023 Policy Speech – Part 2
Last week, I reviewed the international security and diplomacy elements of Prime Minister Kishida’s 2023 policy speech before the Japanes...
Tim Odagiri
Feb 7, 20234 min read
What’s in Prime Minister Kishida’s 2023 Policy Speech – Part 1
A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio summarized his administration’s policy goals at the opening of the 211th session of the Die...
Tim Odagiri
Jan 17, 20234 min read
What You Need to Know about this Powerful Japanese Diet
Under Japan’s original 1889 constitution, all sovereign power rested in the person of the Emperor. He was the head of the Japanese Empire...
Tim Odagiri
Jul 7, 20227 min read
Renew Your Driver’s License in Japan
When I first arrived in Japan, getting a driver’s license was a piece of cake. I moved from a place that had a full reciprocal agreement ...
Tim Odagiri
Mar 9, 20226 min read
Japanese Income Tax Season is Here
As March arrives in Japan, many people across the country are wishing away the brisk air and looking forward to flowering cherry-blossom ...
Tim Odagiri
Feb 8, 20224 min read
How to Apply for a Japanese Residence Certificate
I can probably count on one hand the number of times I had to visit city hall back in the United States. Not so in Japan. In the few year...
Tim Odagiri
Jan 27, 20213 min read
The Many Political Parties of Japan
Today I am going to introduce you to the major political parties in Japan. Don’t get too excited; as is the case with other countries, th...
Tim Odagiri
Jan 20, 20212 min read
Your Japanese Bank Account and the US Government
You can’t avoid death or taxes, and if you are an American citizen or recognized alien, you can’t avoid reporting your Japanese bank acco...
bottom of page