Woke up in Tokyo on February 2nd, 2018 to snow falling down from the sky. Since it only snows a few times, if that, in Tokyo, I packed up my camera and headed out to capture it before it was gone. I visited one of the biggest tourist traps in Tokyo, the oldest buddhist temple the city has, Senso-ji. (more…)
This is the 5th and final part of a series of videos on homelessness in Japan. In this episode we explore the current state of homelessness in Japan and discuss whether it’s a solvable problem. (more…)
I’ve finally caved and made a video about how to get by in Japan when you first step off the plane. The fact of the matter, is that if you’re coming to Japan, you’ll probably be arriving at one of Tokyo‘s two international Airports: Narita or Haneda. For that reason, and the fact that I live in Tokyo, I’ll be covering this from the perspective of landing at those airports.
Here’s the things you’ll wanted to get sorted in your first 60 minutes. (more…)
I was listening to a Freakonomics podcast and the topic was what it was like to be a CEO. It explored what people thought a CEO did vs. what they actually do. It got me thinking not only about my days being a boss (I was one at one point, I swear), but also the differences between what I learned about Japan and what I actually experience.
Currently it’s completely legal to smoke indoors in many places in Japan, such as restaurants, cafes, and bars. The national Japanese government did start working on a bill to introduce partial indoor smoking bans, but those have been abandoned for now. Local governments can also introduce smoking laws and the Tokyo Metropolitan government has started working on one that it’s hoping to implement it in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and especially before the 2020 Olympics. (more…)
This is part 4 of a series of videos on homelessness in Japan. In this episode we get together with Sanyukai (http://sanyukai.or.jp/english.html), which is a non profit organization dedicated to helping the homeless and former homeless.
Part 1Part 2Part 3Initial video
Special thanks to my wife who assisted with the interviews, interpretations, translations, and editing. I’m hoping that by putting the thanks here, instead of in the video, she’ll be less likely to notice (she doesn’t like attention). Also a shoutout to Michael Goldberg, thanks for your help!
This is part 3 of a series of videos on homelessness in Japan. In this episode we talk once again with Professor Tom Gill from Meiji Gakuin University as well as take a tour of a doya (flophouse) and doya-gai’s (skid rows) in Tokyo (San’ya) and Yokohama (Kotobukicho). (more…)
