July 31, 2025 Kanon Kito Osaka-Kansai Expo, started in April 2025, will focus on big global issues like climate change and aging. Its theme is “Designing a Future Society that Shines with Life.” It sounds exciting and full of hope. Recently, however, the organizers announced that pets would not be allowed inside the Expo site. This leads us to an important question: If animals that live closely with us are left out, can we really call it a society of coexistence? They’re Part

June 31, 2025 Chisato Nakatsugawa What do you think about Osaka Expo’s theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” In general, EXPO is an opportunity to present and exchange state-of-the-art technology and knowledge among many countries and areas. Although the term “Live” seems far from the latest technology, we can find a good connection between them. Through EXPO, we can find some challenges and problems in Japan related to “Lives”. Japan Is Facing Challenges of “Liv

July 24, 2025 Rino Furuya The Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan aims to create a “super smart venue” incorporating the latest technologies such as AI, automatic translation, and advanced reservation systems for pavilions, with the goal of creating an “Expo without queues.” Has this goal been achieved? 〇Official Charactor “Myaku-Myaku” https://bestcalendar.jp/articles/press/43929　　 Truth Behind the Booking System At the Expo, many major pavilions have adopted an advanced reservat

July 24, 2025 Sora Matsuo At the Osaka Expo in 2025, various companies exhibit products that contribute to society through the “Co-design Challenge program.” Edish, which is Marubeni Corporation’s recyclable tableware focusing on ocean issues. Edish establishes an upcycling process and has the advantage of being ecological. Edish is not the first eco-product, rather similar goods were created back in 1998. The core issue is whether people actually use these products. Environm

July 24, 2025 Sayaka Nakamura When you hear the word “Expo,” what comes to your mind? Cutting-edge technology? Global cuisine? Or perhaps a moment to reflect on the future? For me, it was a powerful moment of connection between the world and myself when I visited the Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 on May 25th. When the Future Starts with a Queue It took much longer than expected to get inside. The gates were crowded with people. Even before experiencing “the society of the future,” I

July 24, 2025 Saki Wada About three trillion yen. That’s the estimated economic impact of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, according to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. It sounds like a huge amount of money, and it seems like it will really help Japan’s economy. However, who exactly benefits from this economic effect? Big companies? The tourism industry? Or us, the people living in Japan? It's easy to get excited about big numbers and futuristic ideas. However, when we

January 27, 2024 Fuka Arai Japanese companies tend to ask job seekers to wear “recruit suits” with a black jacket, skirt/trousers, pumps, and white shirt during job hunting while companies also ask them to show their individuality and personality, which is one of the contradictory cultures in Japan. Japanese “Unique” Recruitment System Are you familiar with the Japanese recruitment method called “ikkatsu saiyou”? In the United States, for instance, companies recruit employees

July 27, 2023 Kiwa Tomonari A Japanese cosmetics brand called Canmake Tokyo has changed their jingle from "Girls are very enjoyable!" to “You can meet KAWAII!” And the new jingle was highly praised especially by men who wear makeup. However, as of this writing, their website still carries their slogans "Girly, Pop & Shiny” and many people do not realize it. Japanese Cosmetic Brand Changed Their jingle Canmake Tokyo is a very popular brand among the younger generation in Japa

January 27, 2024 Momo Muraki There is no standard definition of "beauty." If it is truly so, you can define it whatever you like. But have you ever adjusted yourself to other people’s standards of beauty? In recent years, lookism, “prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance,” has prevailed in Japan due to the spread of social media. Lookism has affected not only young people's appearance but also their minds. Japanese Diversity and Lack of Confidence in Appearan

July 2, 2022 Saki Nakamura Do you like your face? Do you like your shape? In Japan, a lot of young women seem not to be confident in their appearance. It affects their daily life and even harms their health when they conduct the excessive diet or unbalanced diet. It seems to closely related to the spread of “lookism.” What is Lookism? Lookism is to judge a person simply by the appearance or to discriminate on the basis of appearance. For example, it is still common in Japan t

July 3, 2022 Momoho Kumekawa Kim Kardashian, a celebrity and business person in the U.S., has launched a brand Skims, which sells underwear, loungewear, and shapewear for all women. A concept of the brand is “Solution For Every Body.” Its product line can suit changing shapes of women’s bodies. She focuses on a very unique point because such adaptive clothing has not been developed well in the underwear market yet. Although her brand has a good concept for diversity and, in f

July 2, 2022 Kiho Taguchi Motherhouse is a Japanese fashion brand that has strong capacity of product design and planning, manufacturing, and quality guidance in developing countries, as well as selling their products in developed countries. The brand originally started in Bangladesh in 2006, and now expanded in a total of six countries; Myanmar, Indonesia, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka now. Products made in these countries are marketed in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapor

July 3, 22 Arisa Yajima On April 4, 2022, a full-page advertisement for the comic Tawawa on Monday ( Getsuyo-bino Tawawa) published in the morning edition of The Nikkei Shimbun lead a big controversy online. The advertisement was to announce the release of the new comic book with a big illustration of a high school girl, the main character, smiling at the reader was posted along with the words “I hope you have a wonderful week.” The main problem was the illustration of this g

July 07, 2022 Hikari Ishikawa Is a spouse’s consent necessary for an abortion? In Japan, the curettage method accounts for 80% of all abortions. In developed countries, including Europe and the United States, this method is rarely performed. Also, the abortifacient which WHO recommends has not been introduced in Japan and abortion costs are expensive. There are a lot of problem in Japan. Furthermore, spouse’s consent is even required. Trends of Abortion in Japan In Japan, fir

May 30, 2020 Misato Sasaki Johnny & Associates, the top agency of Japanese entertainment, started their social contribution to counter the spread of COVID-19 in Japan. They have produced many artist groups to the public, made them appear to many exciting TV programs and produced many wonderful concerts. Currently, the number of Japanese artists are contributing to COVID-19 in the Japanese entertainment industry, but Johnny & Associates was the pioneer of social activities.

August 9, 2019 Misaki Nishi Have you ever witnessed or been bullied by your classmates, friends, or yourself being bullied? Currently, there is a lot of bullying among young people in Japan. This is about bullying cases and the current situation, and prevention of bullying. What is bullying? Since when has this word existed? Bullying means that a person who is bullied feels mental pain against psychological and physical attacks. Bulling includes speaking ill of the victim

August 8, 2019 Aoi Kojima How many hours do you use the smartphone in a day? Can you live without a smartphone? Smartphones are very useful and italways help us. However, they can be dangerous if you use them inappropriately Currently, smartphone addiction is a serious problem in Japan. It means the situation of a person who is mentally dependent on a smartphone and cannot stop using it even if various problems occur, and get frustrated and uncomfortable without smartphone. S

Saori Kikutani February 27, 2019 Do you think how many animals are euthanized per year in Japan? Unfortunately, euthanasia is the only option for many animals in Japan. According to a survey by the Animal Welfare and Management Office, a not-for-profit animal rescue organization survey, the number of killed dogs was 10,424 and that of killed cats was 45,574 in 2016. The total number of the killed dogs and cats was 55,998. About 155 animals are being killed per day, or one ani

Sae Kanazawa February 27, 2019 In Japan, poverty level of single-mother family is one of the serious social problems. There are about 52 billion households in Japan. Among them, about 1.24 million are single-mother households. “Poor family” here means a household with less than half of the average-annual family income. The Causes of Poverty Why does single mother family become poor? Why can not they earn enough income to maintain their living? The reason lies in the differ

Erika Iijima February 27, 2019 Do you like yourself? Do you take care for yourself? A lot of Japanese teenagers have low self-esteem. Low self-esteem could lead some problems such as a suicide and bullying. In Japan, lots of teenager commits suicide every year. Is this the sad tendency unique to Japanese? Current Situation in Japan According to a survey on self-esteem by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2016, most of Japanese t