(This post is far outside my area of competence; for excellent political coverage by people who - unlike me - actually do know what they...

The winter in Osaka is chilly and grey, and the summer is long and hot, punctuated with typhoons. The intervening spring feels neither as lo...

MTC over at Shisaku has a dense, significant, yet pleasantly short post about the reality of work immigration in Japan. No real comment ab...

Japanese health care is generally quite good (Jun Okumura has a good post on it), and my own experiences match that. If you're gainfull...

I started on "Reason", a Japanese crime novel, last December, as I've mentioned previously . It's really addictive - I mu...

Prodded by Shisaku's post on the Tokyo population rebound, I felt a sudden urge (aided and abetted by a too-long to-do list and gloomy ...

Busy days; however, I need to make a followup to my previous post on the instant ramen museum in Osaka. Mainichi Daily News reports (in Eng...