Visible Minorities: Japan’s Cult of Miserable Happy
This column marks one full year of writing a monthly column for SNA, so let’s take a break. Instead of writing about current events, let’s focus on something more cultural about life in Japan. T…
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Articles from shingetsunewsagency.com
Browse articles from shingetsunewsagency.com in the Akihabara archive.
Real Life Stories from Japan's Coronavirus Economy
SNA (Tokyo) — The arrival of the Covid-19 coronavirus on Japanese shores is having dramatic effect on people’s lives, as it is in most of the world. But beyond the macro trends and economic…
Boba Boom! The Taiwanese Origins of Japan’s Latest Craze
Bubble tea, also known as tapioca tea, pearl tea, and boba, is one of the few examples of a Taiwanese craze hitting Japan. Add powdered milk or fresh milk and you get bubble milk tea, which has …
Osaka Forces English Teachers to Reapply for Their Own Jobs
But judging by Osaka Prefecture’s grossly inept handling of changes to its Native English Teacher (NET) Program and its treatment of its foreign workers, grave doubts are warranted. Osaka Prefec…
Marubeni Building Japan’s First Major Offshore Wind Farms
SNA (Tokyo) — The trading company Marubeni Corporation will build Japan’s first large-scale commercial offshore wind farms in Akita Prefecture in an initiative that may help the nation reduce it…
Unscrupulous Japanese Companies Seizing Foreign Workers' Passports
The company, Advanceconsul Immigration Lawyer Office, is actually listed as a registered support organization, and is therefore supposed to aid foreign workers when problems like this happen. Ho…
Bread and Roses: Challenging Japan's Rampant Housing Discrimination
Some agencies welcome foreigners, then bring a special box full of units available to outsiders. Ms. X speaks passionately about the TV drama Winter Sonata and Yon-sama (Bae Yong-Joon)…
Visible Minorities: Racial Profiling at Japanese Hotel Check-Ins
Given the tourism boom and hosted international sports events, racial profiling and discrimination have become widespread in Japan’s hoteling industry. This is particularly insidious because it’…
Visible Minorities: Educating the Non-Japanese Underclass
The results were striking: Non-Japanese children were found to have “developmental disorders” at more than double the rate of the general Japanese student population. They also considered a…
The $500 Grape
SNA (Kanazawa) — Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture has been developing the high-quality Ruby Roman Grapes for fourteen years. This year, a single bunch of grapes sold for 1.2 million yen, working…