35 five years have passed since Sony launched the first walkman. People in their 50's love Sony, because Sony products have changed our lifestyle. We understand that products of Panasonic have been more reliable those that of Sony, but we …

Before the 70's the top season of beer gardens was mid summer, because it was not as hot as it is in Tokyo and the price of air-conditioners was too high for ordinary family. Most of the department stores ran beer gardens on their roof top…

On June 27th, more than 900 listed companies held their share holder meetings. Why do they hold the meeting on the same day? They want to protect themselves from a 'soukaiya', which is a share holder related to gangstars. A 'soukaiya' is s…

The rainy season has continued, but small fish in Tokyo bay and Sagami bay will be delicious from now on. Due to heavy rain, a lot of water from rivers flows into the bays and a lot of plankton are raised at the meeting point of sea water …

The Ishin party led by Hashimoto and Ishihara announced that the party will be dissolved in a few months. Both leaders are very famous as right wingers, but they can not bridge the gap between their political tactics. The difference of the…

In Japan toppling the dinner table, 'chabudai', means that bosses reverse past decisions angrily. In a past era ordinary families used to have simple dinner at small dinner table 'chabudai' together and fathers had strong power in their fa…

Why do big commercial facilities in the center of Tokyo have beautiful Japanese gardens? Even skyscrapers, for example Roppongi hills, have a beautiful Japanese garden. In the Edo period, lords called 'daimyo' had to live in Edo every othe…

Himeji castle has finished its renovation for the fisrt time in 40 years. The castle is registered as a UNESCO cultural heritage site and it is said that the castle is the most beautiful in Japan. We have called the castle 'Shirasagi Caste…

In Japanese labor law dispatched workers can not continue to work for the same company for more than 3 years; in other words companies have to hire the dispatched workers who have worked for 3 years as permanent staff members or companies …

The contact lens business in Japan is very strange. In the past prescriptions were required to buy contact lens, but now we can purchase contact lenses without prescriptions because of deregulation by the Japanese government. However even …

A lot of food poisoning occurs in Japanese the rainy season. There is a rumor that climbers do not bring home - made rice-balls to mountains. They prefer rice-balls of convenience, because the shelf -life of rice- balls of convenience stor…

JR EAST announced that it would open a new station for the Yamanote line between Shinagawa Station and Tamachi Station. the company has had a huge train base of the Tokaido line, since the Tokaido line is going to connect with the Takasaki…

Haruna Lake in Gunma prefecture is famous for smelt fishing on the ice, but the prefecture has banned people from bringing smelts caught on the lake to their home since the nuclear accident at the Fushima Daichi power plant. Cesium in amou…

The Tsukiji fish market is the biggest in Japan, but the Tokyo government decided to move the market from Tsukiji to Toyosu. There are a lot of good sushi bars near the market and a lot of tourists visits the market, because It takes just …

In Japan lamb and mutton are not as popular as beef and pork. We call lamb and mutton barbecues 'Genghis Khan'. In the 13th century, Japan was invaded by the Mongol, but at that time lamb and mutton were not introduced to Japan. Japanese p…

Japan has had a territorial dispute with Russia since World War 2. Japan has geographically insisted that the northern four islands are part of Hokaaido Prefecture. On the other hand, Russia has insisted that the four islands are part of t…

Why are bookstore's owners tolerant of customers who brows a lot of books for a long time without buying. In the past There were a lot of book stores all over Japan, but the number of book stores has been decreasing year by year due to a l…

Rainｙ season started in Tokyo yesterday. The season continues for a month. It rains heavily and it is humid almost every day in this season. Especially the atmosphere in commuting trains is very uncomfortable. However the rain season is n…

In general, center - right parties aim to establish small governments and center - left parties aim to establish large government. However the Japanese political style is opposite to that. The LDP, which is center - right has made a big go…

Why has Japan sympathized with Turkey? Historically Both Japan and Turkey have been threatened by Russia. Russia wants to gain non-freezing ports. Geographically Both countries are located in risky areas, because Japan has the Tsushima Str…

The young generation in Japan does not know modern Japanese history, which is related to a lot of current diplomatic issues. The reason is very complex, but it is clear that in every high school, Japanese history class is finished at the M…

May 28th is the anniversary day of a Japan sea naval battle against Russia. In 1905, Japan fought agaist Russia for interest in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Russia sent its big fleet to Japan in order to attack a Japanese sea lane f…

Although the eel business is not profitable, a lot of big Japanese restaurant chains specializing in ' kaiten-Sushi' and 'gyudon' are trying their hand at it. This season they serve 'unadon' at a lower price than that of eel restaurants. W…

The price of unadon has been rising year by year, because the number of child eels has been decreasing. It is not difficult to harvest eels from child eels, but we don't know where eels are born. It is assumed that they are born in the Mar…

The eel day promotion by restaurant chains has already started. We have a custom of eating eels late in July. We call the day 'Doyo no Ushi no Hi'. Doyo does not mean Saturday and Ushi does not mean beef. By the ole lunar calendar, the ' D…

It is forecast that real estate prices in Tokyo will go up till the Tokyo Olympic games in 2020. Some people say that a bubble will come again, but we should not have same failure as one of the late 80's. Have you ever heard the Japanese w…

The AKB election season has started. The number of its CD sales with voting tickets reached 1,45 million on just the first day. The quality of its music and dance performance is not so good. However some conservative companies are jealous …

In Japanese politics, the right of collective defense has been a controversial issue since the surrender of Japan of World War Ⅱ. So far it has understood that we needs to amend the article 9 of the Japanese constitution in order to get th…

In the Olmypic games bid, Abe stongly declared that the situation in the Fukushima daichi plant was uncontrolled. However, even now TEPCO is struggling against contaminated water. Every day 400 tons of ground water flows into the under gro…

We have learned a lot of things from Great Kanto earth quake. The cause of serious damage was not the collapse of building. Most of the death toll of 200,000 was caused by the fires after the quake. The quake occurred at 11 50 AM, so all f…