Japan’s carbon neutral pledge looks like a load of hot air
Suga may have opted for airy rhetoric as he has limited options
Meet Japan’s new PM — installed by a gray coup of party insiders
Yoshihide Suga’s victory was a stitch-up of staggering brazenness for a law-governed democracy
Who could replace Shinzo Abe as Japanese PM?
Abe had hoped that 2020 would be his year
What lies behind the Japanese obsession with face masks?
No one in Japan is checking whether you are wearing a mask or not, and there are no penalties for not doing so
Can tourism subsidies save Japan’s coronavirus-blighted economy?
This is not the first attempt by the Abe government to get people moving around Japan
Is the handshake ready to bow out?
The advantages of bowing, apart from the public health benefits, are that it is dignified and solemn
Even Japan could be about to embrace remote working
Office workers in Japan are renowned for their quasi-devotional relationship with their employer
Why doesn’t Japan take child abduction seriously?
Accusations of institutionalized racism abound
Can Shinzo Abe’s COVID bung save him?
The Japanese still view dependence on the state with great suspicion
The mystery of Japan’s COVID success
Yes, there was a lockdown, of sorts, but it was all a bit phony
Coronavirus is revealing uncomfortable truths about Japan
The rise of ‘Corona rikon’
Japan’s ‘state of emergency’ is anything but dramatic
The move runs counter to the general mood in Tokyo, where it remains quiet but calm, with no sense of impending doom in the air
Did the people of Tokyo ever really want the Olympics anyway?
The Japanese are a very polite people, and disinclined to express their true feelings in public
Has Japan cracked coronavirus?
After a brief flurry of postponements and cancellations, life seems to be going on pretty much as usual
Why ‘safe spaces’ are nowhere to be seen on Japan’s college campuses
Japan is like Switzerland in the culture wars, a safe haven where the hostilities raging elsewhere can be observed but avoided
