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Comedian Made Racist Joke On Tennis Queen

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It might be harder for people that grow up in Japan to have a good understanding about racism, yet it can never be an excuse to make a joke about it: the issue is world wide. Because of the majority of Japan's population having Asian appearances, they have less of a chance to be treated badly. It's a common story that Japanese kids always ask kids with lighter or darker skin why they look different from them, the Japanese. At worse, typical Japanese kids would bully kids that don't look like them. Sadly, this Japanese comedy duo called "A-masso (Aćƒžćƒƒć‚½)" made a huge mistake at an event in Tokyo where they had their performance on September 22nd. The theme of their Manzai (a stage skit by a comedy duo) was "Answering questions with things you can buy at a drug store". During the last half of their manzai, Murakami-san, who was one of two members of A-masso, asked "What does Naomi Osaka (a professional tennis player) need?" then her buddy,

Overworked Teachers

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One of kids' dream jobs has been to become a teacher: Boys and girls at the age of between 15-18 were asked questions about their future, and what they've been doing to become who they want to be later in their life, by AMP . In fact, 12.2% of the boys and 9.2% of the girls answered that their first choice of occupation was teacher. However, now that millennials are in their 20s, there seem to be less and less people who want to become a teacher, because of how much stress the job can offer. Moreover, there're more young teachers quitting after a few months working at school.  "I've been responsible to look after new teachers, but some get angry about little things, some treat kids like trash, some don't come to work, and some quit immediately. Today, it's way easier to become a teacher so that people that aren't really into teaching can even get a job as a teacher. " says an experienced teacher who work at an elementary school. It

Hikikomori - Thousands of Middle-Aged Social Recluses

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Photo:  https://www.businessinsider.jp/post-188725 According to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, over 0.6 million middle-aged (age of 40~64) people are  Hikikomori ; which means a person who withdraws from society. Also, it was found out that many of them are husbands with a wife. - - - You count as a hikikomori  1) if you almost never, or only go outside your room or house for your hobby. 2) if 1)'s situation has been going on for over 6 months. You don't count as a hikikomori 1) if you work as a freelancer, or run your own business. 2) if you're sick. Source:  https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190713-00012115-toushin-life&p=2

What Exactly Is Freedom of Expression?

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Article 21 of Japan's constitution prohibits censorship and protects freedom of “speech, press, and all other forms of expression,” as well as the “secrecy of any means of communication.” It's been a rough few days at an international arts festival that opened in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on Aug. 1. People including Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura are asking to remove some of the exhibits that may have deep association with Japan's history or politics. The exhibition has received some fax messages that danger people's lives "Comfort Women" Statue (pic 1) It represents Korean (and Japanese) women who were raped by Japanese soldiers during the World War 2. Kawamura made the demand in a letter of protest he sent on Aug. 2 to Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura, who heads the festival organizing committee. The Agency for Cultural Affairs, which supports the festival, has suggested it will carefully consider whether to grant subsidies for the event saying, &quo

Dark Side of Japan's Comedy Company

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A couple of Japanese famous comedians were forced to retire their careers by the president of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., one of the biggest companies in the comedy industry. It was because those two had sales associated with anti-social groups without the company's assist: it's called "Yami Eigyo", which means Black Sales in English. After the announcement, those two, Miyasako (left) and Ryo (right) asked to have a press conference to tell the media and public what actually happened, but it took more than enough time to actually make it happened; the president of the company was threating Miyasako and Ryo saying "I have the power to fire everyone." when they were begging him for a chance. On July 20th, 2019, Miyasako and Ryo finally got a permission and told the truth to the media. They revealed some conversations they had with the president, which were eventually considered as harassment. For instance, "Are you recording now?" the president wa

Why Tinder Sucks In Japan

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People on tinder you see are very different depending on where you are. Each place has its own unique feature: from my experiences, you find a lot of people who work in the film industry in LA, and you find a lot of business people in NYC.. How are Japanese people on tinder? 1) They don't show their face Some people don't put a single picture that shows their face in their profile, but they'll send one to you if you match. (I don't understand why they think girls/boys would swipe right without seeing their face.) It's because some of them don't want their friends to know that they're on tinder, which would directly mean they're looking for some sexual attention. In Japan, friends NEVER share their sex life with each other unless they're drunk. 2) Food Porn Japanese guys will take you out to lunch or dinner if you match with one, so the guys want to show that they have a good taste in food.  3) Nerdy Foreigners  One of the

Not Even Soon To Legalize Marijuana

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Marijuana is legal in many places in the world starting from some countries in Europe, to some part of North/South America. In 2013, Uruguay became the first country to fully legalize marijuana. ( Vox ) Then Canada was second. When will Japan be legalizing marijuana..? Maybe never. At least once a year, elementary schools/middle schools invite guest speakers to lecture kids about the effect of "drugs" and how to prevent from getting them without actually knowing what they are. Marijuana is referred as a drug with other pills MDMA, Ecstasy etc. Japanese kids have never been taught about what marijuana actually does to you: That's why most of people in the country think that marijuana is bad. These are some impressions Japanese people have: "Marijuana kill people's brains." "Don't smokers see or hear things?" It'd be a lie if I say that there're no marijuana or no smokers in Japan, however it is not easy to get it. The