According to a report in Japan Today yesterday, suicides in Japan have increased 4.5% over last year for the January to August period, amid concerns that this could pass the record figure of more than 34,000 set in 2003. Some 22,362 people committed suicide in the first 8 months of the year, [...]

The ratings are almost a week later than usual due to the 5 day ‘Silver Week’ holiday. Here are the top 10 non-news programs for the week of September 14-20.

Week of Sept 14 to Sept 20

(Program, Channel, Time & Date, Rating)

1. Drama: Tenchijin, NHK, 20:00-20:45, Sept 20, 20.0

2. Drama: Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji, Fuji, 21:00-21:54, [...]

If the LDP were looking to re-invigorate themselves, and show that they had learned something from the recent thrashing, you wouldn’t know it. The vastly depleted party today chose 64 year old Tanigaki Sadakazu, a 26 year veteran of parliament, as their new leader. Tanigaki was formerly Finance Minister in the Koizumi administration, serving in [...]

The other day a student asked me a question about the use of the word ‘ashi’ (足, 脚). This is a seemingly simple word, which is probably one of the first that any child or any Japanese learner will learn. But it does come with a few quirks…

First of all, the word ‘ashi’ roughly translates as [...]

Australia’s booming resource sector continues to power ahead, with news that several massive LNG fields will be developed, including a gas field known as Gorgon which will begin construction within weeks. Australia exports much of its resources to Asia, with Japan accounting for 20% of the country’s A$200 billion or [...]

50 years ago today, Japan experienced its second worst post war era natural disaster, the ‘Ise-wan Typhoon’ (also known as Typhoon Vera) of Sept 26, 1959. 5,098 people died or went missing, and a further 38,921 people were injured as a result of the typhoon, especially in and around Nagoya. It also caused an estimated US$2 [...]

I was wondering where all the traffic was coming from today, and I found that one of my articles had been picked up by the Searchina news portal site. Searchina describes itself as a site for the encouragement of understanding through Asia, and the editors there have translated some key points from my September [...]

On Thursday (US time), Prime Minister Hatoyama addressed the General Debate of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The text and video links (great chance to see the Prime Minister speaking English…) are below:

Prime Minister Hatoyama’s Prepared Speech to the UN [...]

I just read an interesting editorial at Japan Today, which apparently first appeard at Metropolis (although I was unable to find that link). The writer, CB Liddell, argued that the emergence of a two party system in Japan would raise new dangers. He claims that:

“As we see in the West, it is likely to lead [...]

Honda are developing a new ‘personal mobility device’, which looks like a unicycle, yet maintains stability internally and moves by leaning your weight in the direction you wish to go – similar to the Segway.

Honda says that the device is still in development, and there are not yet any firm plans for when it will [...]