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New Post: A woman who suffered sexual assault in Japan's JET program found a lack of accountability across the entire system. @farrahakase interviews SaseboAnon on her four-year legal battle and on what JET must do to ensure the safety of future participants.
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The (over?) use of "yabai" in Japanese isn’t something everyone here celebrates. There are those sounding the alarm about the perceived diminishment of Japanese youths’ vocabularies; in other words, some people think things are getting quite yabai out there.
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Kira kira names (キラキラネーム) in Japan can be divided into a few categories. They can be concepts (Beauty, 美) or pop culture references (Pikachu, 光宙). They’re also commonly ateji names where the phonetic reading has no relation to the kanji’s meaning (Maria, 真理亜).
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Some clever kids made a randoseru (backpack) that was a little easier to handle. Sadly, a bunch of grumpy "I walked four miles in the snow to school uphill both ways" adults had some insulting words for the inventors of the "samposeru".
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Earlier this year, a maiko (apprentice geisha) spoke out about abuses within her community. Her tale went beyond the difficult stories of isolation and confinement one might expect - they revealed an upsetting trend of sexualizing pressure placed upon a then-underaged girl.
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With some on Japan's right applauding the "non-wokeness" of their soccer team, let's note that some companies in Japan are making major strides toward treatment of LGBTQ+ workers. A good example is Pixiv, which recently revised its anti-discrimination policies.
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Yesterday we wrote about how the records of several prominent juvenile court cases in Japan had been expunged. Today it's come out that the records related to the dissolution of Aum Shinrikyo, the cult behind the Tokyo sarin gas attack, have also been permanently deleted.
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Also ironic given that we just wrote yesterday about a temple bathroom that had to be demolished because people kept trashing it out.
Japan’s like any other country on Earth, folks. Let it go.
twitter.com/unseenjapansit…
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Truly do not understand this obsession with promoting the idea that everyone in Japan is somehow cleaner than everyone else on Earth. Have these folks ever tried to find soap in a public restroom in Tokyo? twitter.com/JoePompliano/s…
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In that moment, with thousands of lives on the line, Sugihara Chiune was no average man.
With Yukiko’s agreement, he made his decision. Under his own authority as Japanese vice-consul to Lithuania, Sugihara would issue thousands of Jewish refugees visas written by his own hand.
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AKB48 member Okada Nana has "graduated" from the group for the crime of falling in love. This after group General manager Mukaichi Mion said "the time's come to rethink" the rule against members having relationships.
AKB48's parent company denies any such rule exists.
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In Nagoya, two large boars barreled down on a group of 10 people. They were saved by a cop who shot his gun in the air and shouted, “I’ll shoot!” (撃つぞ！).
The boars, who’ve obviously been practicing their Japanese, stopped & sauntered off to less gun-filled pastures.
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A 32yo Tokyo man will not be tried for sneaking into a woman’s apartment and installing a camera to spy on her. No reason was given for refusing to prosecute him.
Women in Japan often don’t come forward when they’re the victims of such crimes. This is why.
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New Post: Japan's aging population has some unexpected consequences. One is hunting. Fewer and less-mobile hunters mean fewer people to control Japan's wild animal population. Japan's deer and wild boars are taking that as a sign that it's time to revolt against human rule.
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The hottest new product in Japan is...hot water? Sayu is water heated to between 50 to 60 degrees and sold from the warm drink section of stores. Asahi was unsure it would sell but it's being snapped up by young consumers who drink it for its supposed health benefits.
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Elon Musk's recent comment that Twitter is "Japan-centric" is drawing interesting comments from JP users on Twitter's appeal. Many cite the service's character limit as working well w/ the Japanese language, while others say it's where they always go for info during earthquakes.
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What appear at first to be photographs of Japanese urban spaces are actually highly-detailed pieces of paper cut art. Impressive work by artist Saito Hiroki.
twitter.com/kiriehiro/stat…
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“Found a store where the price changes based on how you order”
The sign:
“Yo, beer” - 1000 yen
“Grab me a beer will ya” - 500 yen
“Excuse me, one beer please” - 380 yen twitter.com/etoriasan/stat…
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Can you huff Japan's red spider lily? Survey says...you probably shouldn't. An eye-catch in the anime Lycoris Recoil ended up being pulled because it showed the characters doing exactly that. More background on higanbana and the controversial image below 👇
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Takahashi Matsuri started working at Dentsu in April 2015. Nine months later, she took her own life. Her tragic fall brought forth cries for reform. But it’s also brought criticism that neither the government nor Japanese corporations are doing enough.
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It was perhaps Japan's most horrific murder. So why were all the offenders given such light sentences - and why do they walk free today? A look into the case of Furuta Junko and how it shocked Japan - and the world.
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Zainichi Koreans are the descendants of forced laborers from Imperial Japan and face ongoing hate and discrimination. Some cities in Japan have enacted hate law ordinances primarily aimed at curbing anti-Korean hate. See @ForeignAffairs for more.
foreignaffairsreview.com/home/a6bbgslau…
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Japan’s right wingers are after actress Maki Yoko after she told a South Korean magazine she was “embarrassed” to be Japanese after learning how the country had treated Zainichi Koreans. Supporters are trending #真木よう子さんを支持します (I support Maki Yoko) in response.
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Melonpan, the sweet baked good that delights people across East Asia, was the creation of one Armenian man living in diaspora in Japan. This is his, and his diaspora's, story - as told by our incredible @riversidewings.
unseenjapan.com/melonpan-armen…
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"Younger sister: He never opens his eyes all the way - could he have an eye disease?💦
Doctor: Nothing wrong with him. He just doesn't feel like opening them.
Sis: doesn't feel like opening them
Doc: He lacks motivation
Sis: Lacks motivation..."
twitter.com/NaGi_12_NK/sta…
The Japan you don’t learn about in anime. Staff account.