Many of my friends who have been to Japan multiple times (hence seen Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima and other world-famous destinations) have been raving about cycling along the Shimanami Kaido that run through dotted islands in the Seto Inland Sea...
The Japanese food situation continues to puzzle me. On the one hand, we have amazingly healthy eating habits – wonders of dashi, umami and fermented products from tofu to a variety of pickles – and yet, the Japanese are oblivious to the continued...
The number of working women in Japan reached a record high of 30 million in 2022, but it is still second last among developed countries after South Korea. Moreover, half of these women are employed on a part-time basis. There is still a conventional...
The summer is in full swing, and once again, we find our beaches littered with plastics. There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, of which 269,000 tons float on the surface. We have seen how these plastics kill mammals (e.g...
Giving birth remains expensive in Japan. Pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum costs are not covered by health insurance, and parents have to pay up to approximately 520,000 yen ($ 5,000 USD) on average unless complications warrant medical...
The summer of 2023 has just begun, but heat waves and excess rains have already destroyed communities in the northern hemispheres, be it Shizuoka and Wakayama in Japan or Texas and Boston in the United States. More are surely on the way, with El...
“Free schools” are on the rise in Japan, as the number of k-12 students with extended absence from classrooms (futoko) continues to grow, reaching the record high of 200,000 in 2022. Often triggered by bullying, the ratio of truancy is highest in...
By this time of the year, parents in the United States have planned out what their children could do for three months of summer break, with their jaws clenched over how much it will cost. Summer camps in the US are almost cultural phenomena: the...
Japan is endowed with greenery as 67% of its land is covered with forests. Yet it ranks 50th in the Climate Change Performance Index, below countries such as Egypt, Colombia, South Africa and Belarus. The low-level rating stems from insufficient...
In 2018, I spent a year in Tokyo with my then 3-year-old son. At first, it was a breeze, coming from New York City. Train stations have an elevator, and bathrooms are clean and everywhere. Over time, though, I began to sense unspoken social...