2021– date –

【The pyramid construction is a public project to create employment】 It only took 20 years to make the pyramid of King Khufu by using many slaves. Is there anyone who still believes all this? Some decades ago, the Japanese biggest const...

Many Japanese people may forget the original meaning of a summer festival, but I don't think that's a serious problem. What is more important is many people gather and enjoy a summer festival. It's a good opportunity to develop relationships.

An office environment well reflects a social structure. A typical Japanese office environment is hierarchical and cooperative (less privacy), which is completely different from the environment provided by remote work. Let's see how it has been changed in Japan in the post-Corona era.

【Japanese natural indigo】 Indigo is a dye extracted from a plant. As Jeans may be a synonym for indigo, it was once used to dye fabric all over the world, not only in Japan. You may think most of the jeans are still dyed in indigo blue...

【The Great Tohoku Eearthquake was like the end of the world】 At the moment, I was in the building of the Ministry of Finance in the middle of Tokyo and thought I was going to die, staring out a window. Street lamp posts widely swang li...

【Speed and quality are not trade-off】 Leap before you look. Haste makes waste. These are famous ancient proverbs, meaning opposite to each other. It seems a speed-vs-quality issue has been long bothering us human beings. Speed, however...

They always bring up a gap in wages between large companies and SME in order to claim the low productivity of SME, but I think the cause and effect are reversed in their argument. Large companies in a better position in competition pay more salaries to their employees. Their better salaries make them look better in productivity. I've worked for large companies before and found SME are more desperate to increase productivity because it's a more serious life-or-death issue for SME.

【Japanese chopsticks are unique】 One of the difficulties I have to face when going abroad is table manners. Among other things, it's difficult for me to eat without chopsticks. How can you eat a lettuce salad only with a fork? I'm alwa...

【Karoshi, death from overwork】 It's very difficult to summarize this problem briefly because it is so deep-rooted. Are you ready to gaze into abyss? The Japan government has started frequently using the word "Work style reform" since 2...

【A hardship destined for Japanese workers】 You won't read to the end of this article because the average human attention span is down to only eight seconds. It's one second shorter than that of goldfish. I remember I read many articles...