It was Koichi Takahashi's dream to create a sustainable society through recycling and regeneration. His dream came true when he built a company that turns food waste into high-quality pig feed. In his company, Japan Food Ecology Center, Takahashi made use of the popular Japanese practice, "fermentation".
Disney is expanding its cruise business by adding a new ship in Tokyo. The new ship will go on it's first trip in 2029. Families with children will be able to enjoy Disney activities and characters on the ship.
Currently, Disney has five ships and this ship will be similar to Disney Wish. It will carry 4,000 passengers and it's expected to cost between $600 and $2,000 per person.
Watch this video and discuss it with your teacher.
Japan's population has been decreasing for the last 15 years. In 2023, it dropped by more than half a million to 124.9 million because of low birth rates and high death rates. However, foreign residents increased by 11% to more than 3 million.
The government has tried to increase birth rates by allocating a $34 billion budget for childcare incentives. This is because many young Japanese are unwilling to marry or have children.
Skateboarding became a part of the Olympics for the first time in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Amazingly, Japan's skateboarding team won three Olympic gold medals that year. After this, skateboarding became very popular in Japan.
The team is now bigger and ready to compete in this year's Paris 2024 Olympics*. As a result of their commitment, the young athletes have successfully blended traditional techniques with innovative styles.
The 19 year-old Japanese gymnast, Shoko Miyata will no longer be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics as she was sent home for smoking and drinking alcohol. Not only is this a violation of the team's code of conduct, but it also goes against Japan's legal drinking age of 20.
Moshitora, a Japanese word that had slipped into the background has re-emerged as Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail. The word moshitora which means "what if Trump", was first used during the 2016 election. It reflects Japan's concerns about the implications of a potential second Trump term for US-Japan relations.
The story that had taken many twists and turns since March finally came to an end as Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud. He admitted that he stole nearly $17 million from the baseball star to cover illegal gambling debts.
Mizuhara also confessed that he evaded tax of more than $1million in 2022. He is yet to be sentenced, but it's said that he is likely to spend about 30 years in prison for bank fraud, and additional time for tax fraud.
Japanese people often apologize to maintain harmony, regardless of fault. This is seen as a way of improving the atmosphere and maintaining relationships, not an admission of guilt. In contrast, Westerners often seek to identify the cause of a problem first. This can be seen as making excuses in Japanese culture.
When working with the Japanese it's advised to apologize first, then propose a solution or workaround, and finally, discuss who was at fault. The person in the wrong also has to explain what steps they have taken to prevent a recurrence.
Microsoft is planning to put a lot of money, about 2.9 billion dollars, into Japan to make their computer systems better. They want to improve their Artificial Intelligence (AI) and build more data centers. These data centers are like big buildings where lots of computers are kept and they store all kinds of information.
Cherry blossoms are a sign of spring. There are festivals in many countries to celebrate the bloom of these flowers. The flowers don’t last long and fall off after a week. In Japan, people have picnics under the cherry blossom trees. This is called hanami.
The US also has this tradition because Japan gave them cherry trees in 1912. The flowers mean new beginnings. Now, people sell things that taste like cherry blossoms, such as ice-cream and cookies. They also watch the weather to see when the flowers will bloom.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised its main interest rate from -0.1% to between 0% and 0.1%. In 2016, the BOJ made the rate less than zero to help Japan’s economy.
The decision to raise rates depended on big companies increasing their workers’ wages to deal with the higher cost of living. Recently, Japan’s biggest companies agreed to increase wages by 5.28%, the largest increase in over 30 years. Wages had not increased since the late 1990s as prices rose very slowly or even fell.
Big companies in Japan are giving their workers the pay raises they asked for. Some companies are even giving more than what was asked.
Suzuki, Toyota, and Honda, among others, agreed to give raises. Those in the retail and food service are also increasing wages. However, it's still not clear if small and midsize companies will follow suit.
Because wages were low, people were saving more and spending less. Now that many will be receiving a pay raise, it's expected that people will start spending more.
Kobayashi Shinichiro from Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting thinks Japan's economy is still not doing well. People are trying to spend less money because prices are going up.
Kobayashi says, "For the economy to get better, people need to spend more money. For that to happen, companies need to pay their workers more. The results of the wage talks will decide a lot about how the economy will be in the future."
In the work environment, unexpected misunderstandings often arise as a result of cultural differences in leadership styles. Americans, for example, see themselves as egalitarian and think of the Japanese as hierarchical. But American leadership seems to be unclear. This is mainly because American bosses are outwardly egalitarian—relating with subordinates on a first name basis and encouraging them to participate in meetings—they can be extremely top-down in the way they make decisions.
According to Executive Sushi Chef Kazunari Araki, sushi is not originally Japanese.
He says the combination of rice and fish began in the 3rd century along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. It was cleaned, gutted and finally covered in a salt and rice mixture for several months in order to preserve it. When the fish was ready for consumption, the rice would be thrown away as it would have become too salty to eat.
Shoji Morimoto is 38 years old and lives in Tokyo. He has a unique job: people pay for his companionship.
Morimoto charges 10,000 yen per booking. People have hired him over 4,000 times in the last four years. He has nearly 250,000 followers on Twitter, and he finds most of his clients there. He also has many repeat customers.
In 1939, the typical Japanese person only ate 4 grams of meat per day. Today, the average person eats 130 grams, and their favourite meat is pork, not fish as one might expect. One of the reasons for this significant change was the rise of Western influence in Japan.
Japan has more old companies than any other developed nation. A study of 41 countries shows Japan has more than half of the companies older than 200 years. As a matter of fact, the oldest company still in existence is Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd., founded in 578 A.D. It was in operation under its own name until 2006, when it became a subsidiary of Takamatsu Construction Group
National Geographic answers the question: what is forest bathing? The term emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise called shinrin-yoku. It can mean “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere”. The purpose was to offer an ecological antidote to tech-boom burnout and to inspire residents to reconnect with the country’s forests.
