The long-awaited rise of China has arrived, and with it, geopolitical concerns. Japan and the United States have been the principal victims of this rising. Both countries, allies since 1945, now face tough competition in light ...
Japanese law requires that public venues be licensed to permit dancing. Clubs and dance halls that are unlicensed can be – and are often – raided by the police. The Entertainment Business Act [ja] (“Fueiho” in Japanes...
Less than thirty years ago, much of the world was divided into two power blocs who were diametrically opposed to each other in both ideological and economic terms. On one side, the communist governance and command economy of th...
At the end of World War II vast swathes of Europe and Asia had been reduced to rubble. Borders were redrawn and homecomings, expulsions, and burials were underway as life goes on for those who survived the Great War. When the w...
Women and men have different requirements in public space and transport. Which cities out there are acknowledging that? I love British headlines. More often than not, they scream blue murder about something which would seem qua...
August 9, 1945. The day the “Fat Man” atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki, and the day that – keeping his promise to the Allies – Stalin entered the war against Japan, creating a territorial dispute lasting to this day. Sovi...
This past week has only reinforced the idea that central banks are becoming increasingly active in trying to halt the slide towards stagnation in several major economies. This is because their nations’ fiscal policy remai...
Not a lot of people have ever heard of Taiji, a small town nestled in the Southern-Central region of Honshu, Japan. The name certainly does not cross the minds of a lot of people who take their kids to watch funny flippered ani...
Grudges can last for a long time. The one held between China and Japan, the two traditional adversaries of the Far East, however, has been particularly lengthy. Since 1895, when China suffered a bitter defeat to Japan in the Si...