Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Omote (the public face) and ura (the private face) are twin concepts that are applied to almost any aspect of Japan or life in Japan. Omote refers to the image... Read more...
Kyoto Development Issues

Kyoto holds a unique position in Japan as the ancient, imperial capital and the cultural center of the nation. It was because of these reasons that the Japan specialists who... Read more...
Castle Towns

At the time of the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, some 250 castle towns (jokamachi) formed the core of a well developed urban network in Japan. Although constructed primarily as defended... Read more...
Landslides

The mountains in Japan are very steep and the rocks unstable due to weathering. Landslides are common whenever there are heavy rains. Many rural villages have established themselves along the... Read more...
Namiki

The idea of planting trees along the roadside to provide shade for travelers had occurred to the Chinese when they developed their highway system more than 2000 years ago. Almost... Read more...
The Ashita Honjin

Although only a small town, Ashita boasts the oldest surviving honjin on the Nakasendo. It has also been owned by the same family since its' original construction in the late... Read more...
The Shinkansen

The Shinkansen is commonly known outside Japan as the 'bullet train' but the word actually means 'new trunk line'. It is a high-speed passenger train system which now stretches from... Read more...
Pilgrimage

The idea of making a pilgrimage to visit religious places is present in nearly every culture and religion. In Japan, it is typical of both major religions, Buddhism and Shinto... Read more...

Rural Problems

The Graying of Japan

In many parts of the world today the main population concern is that there are too many people and not enough resources to support everyone. In Japan there is also worry that with a population in excess of 123 million, the number of people is too high for a resource-scarce country with little flat land… [Read more]

Rural Depopulation

Among the many images of the 1950s held by elderly Japanese people today are those of school-leavers boarding trains for the cities. This image is not just that of one family wishing farewell to a son or daughter, but of a whole village turning out to wave good-bye to a newly graduated middle school or… [Read more]

Sagawa Kyubin Scandal
Sagawa Kyubin, a trucking company, was growing quickly in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s. In 1992, it was revealed that the company had made massive donations to politicians and that it used and made available to the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party the services of organized crime, the yakuza. The scandal forced the resignation of the party’s kingmaker, Kanemaru Shin, who was arrested in 1993 for possessing millions of dollars of unexplained assets. The size of the scandal could force fundamental changes in political fund-raising. Opposition parties, however, have not addressed the issues effectively, underlining opinions that they are not to be trusted with control of the government. For example, the day Kanemaru was arrested, the major opposition party, the Japan Socialist Party, spent their time discussing whether it should shift recognition from North Korea to South Korea.

Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Kyoto Development Issues

Castle Towns

Landslides

Namiki

The Ashita Honjin

The Shinkansen

Pilgrimage

The Graying of Japan

Rural Depopulation

Manga (Cartoons, comics)

Ichirizuka

Haiku Haikai Poems

17th Century Travel

Lake Suwa

Rural Problems

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