MILES WHITTINGHAM WRITES — Baseball, widely regarded as America’s favorite pastime, has seen a definite upswing in several Asian countries over the years. First brought to Japan by Horace Wilson- an English teacher at the Kaisei Academy in Tokyo in 1873- a couple of other Asian countries have shown great…
CLAIRE GUTE WRITES — The highly anticipated 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan, following the postponement last year due to Covid-19. The games are set to occur between July 23 to August 8, with the first ever surfing competition at Tsurigasaki Beach in Ichinomiya, just 62 miles…
NICOLAS PAPA WRITES — The launch of Japanese tech giant Sony’s newest video game system, the Playstation 5, in November of last year was quite possibly the most eagerly anticipated console launch in video game history. Sony’s Playstation console series dominates the video game market, with its previous four iterations…
CADY ABE WRITES- On Sunday, March 28th, MAPPA animation studio released the last episode of the first half of Attack on Titan’s fourth and final season. Attack on Titan, a manga (comic book) turned anime that first aired in 2013, is currently the best-known anime in Japan. In addition, it…
JAMES HANSON WRITES — Despite being an important industrial nation and beacon of democracy in Asia, Japan still does not recognize same-sex unions. Since 2019, 13 same-sex couples have filed ongoing lawsuits against Japanese city governments, including Tokyo, Sapporo and Osaka. These cases triggered a wave of same-sex couples in…
CLAIRE GUTE WRITES — Ten years later, the effects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan are still evident. Recent seismic activity has led scientists to believe that radiation levels in damaged cooling tanks at Fukushima’s nuclear plant are higher than previously believed. The damage is creating new issues for…
GREGORY BENNETT WRITES — Hockey, in Japan? Never heard of it. Until now, the sports scene in Japan has been mainly dominated by baseball and soccer. Yet with the possibility of an NHL star being drafted to the top junior league in the United States, ice hockey in Japan is…
SOPHIA JARAMILLO WRITES — In a tweet that sent shockwaves through the internet, conservative commentator and author Candace Owens jabbed at British singer/songwriter/actor Harry Styles, who donned a dress on the cover of American Vogue- the first male to appear on its cover. Specifically, the tweet reads: “There is no…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES – China began rolling out 5G (fifth generation wireless technology) services in 50 cities at the end of 2019, so people assumed that information could be spread rapidly and that people would be more connected. The current Coronavirus outbreak proves otherwise. Technology certainly has been…
TALIN DEROHANESSIAN WRITES— Women in the Japanese workforce are required to wear high heels in the office, and they are finally speaking out about it. In some work environments, this is an unwritten rule; in others, it is written in the company handbook. The 2-3-inch heel requirement at work has long…
MICHELLE DOR WRITES– A 34-year- old man in Tokyo named Yusuke Taniguchi with something of a genius memory allegedly stole credit card information from 1,300 customers to enrich himself. While the total amount of loot didn’t actually make him rich, the amazing way that he did it has made him…
