Society

An Eye-Opening Surprise about Crime in Japan

Japanese TV treats us almost daily with reports of terrifying crimes that make you check your locks three more times. If we are to believe the Japanese media, we now live in very dangerous times and Japan is far less safe than it ever was in the past. Most Japanese, if not all, believe that the country has become unsafe. Society is falling apart, many think. Oh, those good old times, when you could trust your neighbor and walk the streets safely. Here is some data about those good old days:

Kjeld Duits • Tuesday January 20, 2009 • Society • Add Comment [3]

I am Japanese

Tamarah Cohen of Kansai Gaidai University has created a very interesting, and to many Japanese probably surprising, video series that explores the notion of Japanese identity. Highly recommended.

Kjeld Duits • Monday January 12, 2009 • Society • Add Comment [5]

Japan's 1st Comprehensive Buddhism Museum

Ryukoku University of Kyoto has announced a plan to open a comprehensive Buddhism museum in the spring of 2011 to showcase a wide range of Buddhist cultural assets from Japan and overseas.

KIPPO • Wednesday January 7, 2009 • Society • Add Comment [1]

Looking Back at 2008

It is the end of the year and time to look back at what kind of year it was. This has turned into the most depressing year that I can remember. There is doom and gloom everywhere and it now takes extraordinary amounts of energy and effort to remain positive and optimistic. Crises are times to learn, to reconsider your priorities and options and to start on a new path. They offer infinite pain, but also infinite opportunities. Let’s embrace all what this crisis has to offer so we can re-invent ourselves and our society. To learn our lessons for 2009, let’s look at what 2008 has wrought:

Kjeld Duits • Wednesday December 31, 2008 • Society • Add Comment

Poverty in Japan

With Japan’s frightening economic decline and news of massive lay-offs by the country’s most respected companies in the news headlines daily, this description of poverty in Japan more than a century ago is sobering:

A road, at this time a quagmire, intersected by a rapid stream, crossed in many places by planks, runs through the village. This stream is at once “lavatory” and “drinking fountain.” People come back from their work, sit on the planks, take off their muddy clothes and wring them out, and bathe their feet in the current. On either side are the dwellings, in front of which are much-decayed manure heaps, and the women were engaged in breaking them up and treading them into a pulp with their bare feet. All wear the vest and trousers at their work, but only the short petticoats in their houses, and I saw several respectable mothers of families cross the road and pay visits in this garment only, without any sense of impropriety.

Kjeld Duits • Friday December 19, 2008 • Society • Add Comment [1]

Only Third of Japanese Think U.S. Ties Healthy

Only a third of Japanese think ties with the United States, Tokyo’s most important security ally, are in good shape, according to a poll released just weeks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

The level of Japanese dissatisfaction — the worst since 2000 — reflects unhappiness at Washington’s removal of North Korea from its terrorism blacklist and declining confidence in the U.S. economy in the wake of the global financial crisis, the Yomiuri daily, which published the poll, said on Thursday.

Many Japanese also fear Washington may focus on building stronger ties with a rising China while losing interest in Japan.

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Reuters • Friday December 19, 2008 • Society • Add Comment

Japans economisch stelsel kraakt onder wereldcrisis

A homeless man sells the Big Issue on the streets of Osaka

Een Japanse vakbond demonstreerde afgelopen week voor de poort van een grote Canon-fabriek in zuidelijk Japan. De camera-producent zette 1.100 werknemers op straat. Dezelfde dag kondigde Sony aan dat het 16.000 werknemers de deur gaat wijzen. Voor vele Japanse werknemers, nog gewend aan het idee van lifetime-employment, komt het nieuws als een donderslag.

Kjeld Duits • Wednesday December 17, 2008 • Society • Reageer

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