REI KITAGAWA WRITES – Japan Rearmed, authored by the renowned Sheila A. Smith (and recently published by Harvard University Press), offers an extensive and intimate account of U.S.-Japan relations, arguing that the Japanese government is reconsidering its dependence on the United States amidst increasing threats from North Korean missiles and…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE POLITICS OF MILITARY POWER
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Grave of the Fireflies, one of those works of art that will never die, nonetheless is a film that lacks concrete resolution – there is no main lesson to be learned at the end. The audience is instead left with the understanding of the ephemerality of…
Full Article CLASSIC FILM IN RE-REVIEW: IN LIGHT OF THE FIREFLY
TAYLOR BOSVELD WRITES – Why is there a war memorial in the middle of Tokyo honoring people who committed wartime atrocities? Why has the ex-Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, recently visited the war memorial for the second time in as many months since stepping down? The first visit drew…
Full Article JAPAN: WHY SHOULDN’T THE EX-PRIME MINISTER HONOR THE DEAD?
Ella Kelleher is a current senior at Loyola Marymount University, where she majors in English and specializes in multi-ethnic literature. During her college experience, she studied abroad in Japan and contributed to the exchanging of cultures. She has also volunteered at the Honorary Consulate of Kazakhstan in Los Angeles, where…
Full Article JAPAN: HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF CHINA AND THE WAR
MATEO VALLES QUINTANA WRITES — No one can question her athletic achievements, but her actions off the court have brought her even more media attention. Naomi Osaka, the 22-year-old Black and Japanese athlete who quickly became one of the top tennis players in the world, has a remarkable WTA player…
Full Article JAPAN: NAOMI OSAKA, THE TENNIS SUPERSTAR WITH A HEART AS BIG AS HER SERVE
SOPHIA JARAMILLO WRITES — As the curtains closed on Paris Fashion Week 2020, so did the life of one of Paris’ own: 56-year-long fashion designer Kenzo Takada passed away on October 4th due to complications of coronavirus. Even at the age of 81, the Japanese-born Parisian expatriate Takada’s vividly bright…
Full Article JAPAN: KENZO TAKADA’S FASHIONS WILL LIVE ON AFTER HIS DEATH
MATEO FERNANDEZ WRITES — Anime is deeply rooted in Japanese culture and has been around for quite some time now. That’s why characters often display traditional Japanese kimonos. Yes, there are Chinese and Korean anime-like shows, but typically anime is Japanese. Anime fans come from all corners of the globe,…
Full Article JAPAN: IS ANTI-ANIME SENTIMENT RACIST?
MALCOLM KAM WRITES — Japan’s criminal conviction rate of roughly 99.9% is nothing new, but many people seem to misinterpret this as a sign that the judicial system is doing a good job of keeping criminals off the streets. The truth is that Japan’s conviction rate is so high because…
Full Article JAPAN: WHERE YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THE CRIME TO DO THE TIME
MALCOLM KAM WRITES – Standing at 18 meters tall, Japan’s 1:1 scale animatronic Gundam is now fully assembled. The animatronic is modeled after the Gundam RX-78-2, a giant bipedal mech that made its debut in the 1979 anime Mobile Suit Gundam. Since then, Gundam has remained wildly popular, both in…
Full Article JAPAN: THE GUNDAM GLOBAL CHALLENGE HEATS UP POP CULTURE AND ‘COUNTRY COOL’
LILLY WEBBER WRITES – The long-awaited Japan 2020 Olympics is finally in full swing— or it would be if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t forced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone the event to 2021 (hopefully). The Olympics would have brought renowned athletes and thousands of tourists to the East…
Full Article UNDER OLYMPIAN PRESSURE: LGBT RIGHTS IN JAPAN
KISHORE MAHBUBANI WRITES — No one knows what the post–Covid-19 world will look like. But we know it will be very different. Many countries are likely to suffer from low growth and high debt, the “Japanese disease.” Poor developing countries will certainly suffer from this condition. Yet for developed economies, the…
Full Article THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY: IS THE WORLD STILL AT RISK OF THE “JAPAN DISEASE” ?
SARA SHARPE WRITES — Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, countries have been scrambling to create effective and realistic economic stimulus packages. China has promised a year-long fiscal stimulus package amounting to 3.6 trillion yuan ($500 billion USD) in an attempt to continue its strong rate of economic growth,…
Full Article CHINA: UNCERTAIN COMMITMENT TO COVID-19 STIMULUS PACKAGE
DANIEL ZAND WRITES — Fake Wagyu beef, also known as Kobe beef, is commonly sold throughout Japan. Having expensive value, Japanese restaurants and butchers are selling other types of beef claiming it to be Kobe Beef. For this reason, Japan is now finally conducting DNA testing that uncovers beefy imposters. Kobe…
Full Article JAPAN: WHERE PEOPLE HAVE A FEW BEEFS ABOUT A LITTLE BEEF!
NATHAN RIVAS WRITES – Recently, the California legislature formally apologized for the state’s role in the incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent in internment camps during the second world war. Now, a recently uncovered artifact reveals that Loyola University, (so-called before its merger with Marymount college in…
Full Article JAPANESE INTERNMENT: AT LMU, COUNTERING INJUSTICE ONE PERSON AT A TIME
LILLY WEBBER WRITES – While Japanese animation has become popular in mainstream American culture and internationally as a result of the rising accessibility of anime, this has not always been the case. Due to the previous lack of access to options of watching anime in America, purchasing bootleg VHSs from…
Full Article JAPAN ANIME: WHY NETFLIX IS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE SHOWDOWN