The popular auction site Mercari is asking me lots of probing questions. Is it, perchance, a clandestine branch of the Japanese government?

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...

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...

The nations of the world recently have been behaving like a bunch of cranky kids, refusing to play well together despite having ample toy...

Anyone who cares about Japan and its people knows that it is going through some demographic turbulence right now. A large baby-boom popul...

I participate in a variety of online groups where foreigners living in Japan mingle to discuss their experiences. Recently, in one such g...

There is a very amusing skit by the late Japanese comedian Shimura Ken where he plays a befuddled high school English teacher assigned to...

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, “...

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...

Back in March, I posted an article about Japan’s declining birthrate, identifying the nation’s key demographic concern and offering the k...

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...

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...

Last week, I reviewed the international security and diplomacy elements of Prime Minister Kishida’s 2023 policy speech before the Japanes...

A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio summarized his administration’s policy goals at the opening of the 211th session of the Die...

Under Japan’s original 1889 constitution, all sovereign power rested in the person of the Emperor. He was the head of the Japanese Empire...

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 ...

As March arrives in Japan, many people across the country are wishing away the brisk air and looking forward to flowering cherry-blossom ...

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...

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...

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...