This is stippy’s ninth part in a ten part series (yes, that’s right, only one to go! See also parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) about one foreigner’s experience of being put in a Japanese prison (留置場 or “ryuchijyo”, a prison for locking up people for as long as 23 days until they are convicted, or cleared of a crime).

Below is the continuation of George’s story that he wrote in his diary while in the Japanese ryuchijyo. He goes into the final stage of his story, telling us when he finally felt wiped out by a wave of emotion in the courthouse, and how eventually after all that he had been though, he was found guilty of only what he had first admitted to when turning himself in to the police. Continue Reading »

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This is stippy’s eighth part in a ten part series (see also parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) about one foreigner’s experience of being put in a Japanese prison (留置場 or “ryuchijyo”, a prison for locking up people for as long as 23 days until they are convicted, or cleared of a crime).

Below is the continuation of George’s story that he wrote in his diary while in the Japanese ryuchijyo. This time George reveals how he got through the hardest part of his imprisonment, the second and third week, and found peace only when reading manga from the prison book shelves. He also tells us more about the driver’s push for a “jidan”, or settlement for money, and how the urge to see his family again forced him to take this path of direct retribution. Continue Reading »

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Is pre-marital counseling for you?

Apparently 1 in 20 of Japanese weddings last year included at least one foreigner. As a recent addition to this growing group, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what it means to be married to a Japanese person (国際結婚, kokusai kekkon) for me – a very stippy gaijin. Having a good time while chatting with Japanese friends is one thing, but living together 24-7 with someone who has grown up with a totally different set of morals, expectations and traditions is a pretty eye opening experience. It is easy to forget but, interestingly, all of my friends at home remind me that it is even pretty hard doing this back home where everyone speaks the same language! After a bunch of long phone calls with friends back home, my wife and I decided to try out pre-marital counseling Continue Reading »

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わかいつばめ (wakai tsubame)

* “J-WOTD” = “Japanese Word of the Day”

Since antiquity the sparrow has always been seen as a bird of love in the west. It was associated in classical mythology with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, and Catullus, the Roman poet, famously used the sparrow as a symbol of true love and spiritual connection to his lover. In Japan the sparrow does not carry the same connotations except in the phrase wakai tsubame which literally means a young sparrow but refers to a younger lover of an older woman, or, 女にとって年下の愛人。 Continue Reading »

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Yet another “Only in Japan” story, but we just had to delve deeper into this one! According to many of the foreign press outlets this week, hundreds, possibly thousands of Japanese women have been conned into buying baby lambs, which they thought were in fact poodles. Coming from a background where an annual highlight is Christmas lamb, this story tested my limits. Continue Reading »

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A Japanese Punch Perm – like the driver’s

This is stippy’s seventh part in a series (see also parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) about one foreigner’s experience of being put in a Japanese prison (留置場 or “ryuchijyo”, a prison for locking up people for as long as 23 days until they are convicted, or cleared of a crime).

Below is the continuation of George’s story that he wrote in his diary while in the Japanese ryuchijyo. Here, he tells us about his “victim” and gives the best insight he can into what sort of man the taxi driver was. It seems the driver’s version of the truth was far from that which George knew to be the facts. For context, you should read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth parts of this series before continuing on with this seventh installment of George’s jail journal. Continue Reading »

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What name will I get?

Although Japan is clearly far behind the west in Women’s lib, the emergence of Doi Takako in the 90s and several female politicians in Koizumi’s cabinet has helped push along the plight of the average Japanese woman. But sometimes there is more to these posts than meets the eye.

Over the past two years, Noda Seiko (one of the old school LDP politicians recently who was targeted by Koizumi’s famous 刺客 assassins) has pushed forward debate about 夫婦別姓 (fufubessei, the right of a husband and wife to have different Continue Reading »

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I have always been a supporter of leaving key services up to the central government to run. Services like the police, prison, schools, universities and up until now I thought the post office of Japan was no exception. In my mind the postal system here in Japan has always provided efficient service, despite being blatantly over-staffed. That was until last week.

I could delve into the standard arguments for privatization. How the post office here has three branches: postage, banking and insurance and how the insurance is over-priced for minimal cover and how the savings accounts of nice little hunched over Japanese ladies earn a meager 0.1% and are used as a private slush fund for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party – but that is old news and fairly standard knowledge here. Continue Reading »

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二枚目 or nimaime is the handsome guy here ↑

にまいめ
(nimaime)

* “J-WOTD” = “Japanese Word of the Day”

For some reason, the Japanese language has many words to describe good looking men. かっこいい, ハンサム, イケメン, 美少年, and Kansai-ben’s 男前 are quite a selection, proving that Japanese can be more expressive that English when it comes to certain things. Continue Reading »

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This article is a rare (for stippy) direct quote from another article on Yahoo but we thought that is is interesting for our readers also, as we have written quite extensively on the Yakuza and their recent dramas in Japan, and given a locals insight surrounding some of ongoings of the Yamaguchi-gumi and Sumiyoshikai in Tokyo.

Well, the Yakuza is back in the news in a way that nobody expected. A senior member of the Yamaguchi-gumi has shot dead the mayor of Nagasaki, for not compensating him when his car was damaged at a public works construction site! This is the forth murder of a politician since WW2, and virtually unheard of in Japan. Continue Reading »

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