If you were asked, "Which period between 1940 and now led to the largest loss of male workers from Japan's economy?" You probably would answer World War II, since during the period 1939 through to the surrender in August of 1945, around 2,000,000 soldiers, over 3% of the population, perished in the pursuit of Emperor and empire. However, in fact the period of greatest loss (but not necessarily loss of life) of males from the Japanese workforce is...

Yes, today is Broadcast Day. It marks the day in 1925 when the Tokyo Central Broadcasting Corporation (NHK's predecessor) began broadcasting from a temporary radio studio in Shibaura, Tokyo. Broadcast Day was established by NHK in 1943. On March 22 NHK awards the 'Broadcast Culture Prize' at NHK Hall. Can't make it to NHK Hall? Well...

Ever since the Chinese overtook Japan as the largest holder of foreign reserves, the US in particular has started to realize that having a bunch of foreign governments you're not necessarily friendly with holding your debt isn't such a good idea. While only Hillary Clinton has so far come out and said that the foreign holdings are a risk, perhaps she should have gone further and said...

Japan is rightfully known as the land of vending machines. It's hard to say why there are so many, given that there are already plenty of little specialty shops down every alley. But perhaps one reason why there are no fewer is the simple fact that this relatively law-abiding society doesn't see vending machines as...