Hard Sell: Japan’s Retail Sector May Need to Reinvent Itself In the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shifting buying habits at the country’s famous convenience stores and department stores hint at possible permanent changes in consumer behavior, favoring cooking at home, telecommuting, and online-shopping. This would be a profound change in Japan, where many people buy groceries fresh every day, department stores sell the pleasure of shopping as much as they sell high-end products, and public transportation supports shopping centers.

Source: The Japan Times
Published: May 9, 2020
Length: 8 minutes (2,080 words)

Just for Kicks: Japan’s Sneaker Obsession Rebounds

Interest in Japan’s limited edition shoes has crossed from Japanese collectors into the global mainstream, but a lot has changed about the original sneaker culture of the 1990s.

Source: The Japan Times
Published: Mar 1, 2020
Length: 9 minutes (2,271 words)

Throwaway Society: Rejecting a Life Consumed by Plastic

Japan is the second-biggest producer of plastic waste per capita, after the US. One journalist tries to spend a week without using single-use plastic and discovers how dependent Japan’s food system has become on disposable plastic.

Source: The Japan Times
Published: Jan 10, 2020
Length: 9 minutes (2,465 words)

Lost: Struggling to Cope with Millions of Unclaimed Items in Tokyo

When things get lost in the world’s largest city, they often end up at the Metropolitan Police Department’s lost and found center. So which one of these 3,000 umbrellas is yours?

Source: The Japan Times
Published: May 27, 2017
Length: 7 minutes (1,837 words)