Category: Society

Robert whips out his new essay. Is it bigger than yours?

Thousands of flag-waving, profanity-yelling Chinese soccer fans upset about their 3-1 Asia Cup loss Saturday night blocked Japanese fans from leaving Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium. Chinese fans also pelted a bus that left the stadium with bottles and garbage and prevented Japanese spectators from leaving through a special gate. Several thousand others also blocked streets surrounding…

Long article on when and how Ikea will be making its return to the Japanese market (which seems to be in 2006). It made a retreat in 1986 after completely flopping in Japan.

It used to be fairly rare for Japanese to buy pets, but in recent years even space-crammed inner city dwellers have started buying cats and dogs in droves. Now… condominium resident pet owners are discovering that dealing with their animals’ sexual cravings is a little more difficult than merely hurling a bucket of water when…

‘Risuka’ (wrist-cutting) causes less damage and you don’t ruin your status at school much. Sumire, a “gothic Lolita,” who hangs out at Harajuku on Sundays, on the fascination she and her friends have with near-death experiences. (Aera)

Nao is reading a book by Terayama Shuji (sorry, I don’t have the title), and she was describing to me the following, which I found quite interesting. He writes that although ramen and “curry and rice” are both loved by students and salarymen in Japan, he believes that 2 groups exist. The “curry and rice”…

Quite often, I feel like dying. When I feel that way, I let my cell phone die instead. Mai, a 17-year-old girl who gets a new cell phone every time her boyfriend dumps her, enabling her to “reset” her life. (Japan Today)

They’re everywhere. Young women who couldn’t give a damn about how they look, don’t really care what anybody else thinks about them and are only interested in finding out more about themselves. They’re the Kamayatsu women, according to Sunday Mainichi (7/4). Named after rough-and-ready rocker Monsieur Kamayatsu, who made slobbery and grunge part of his…