Kariya Takehiko, Professor, Oxford University Arrival (December 20, 2021) At 15:40, the London to Tokyo direct flight touched down at Haneda Airport after a flight of a little less than twelve hours. When I booked the flight in October 2021, arrivals who had been double-vaccinated were exempt from quarantine at a facility. By December omicron variant infections were spreading in South Africa and there were also signs of the virus in Britain (53,945 confirmed infections on December 2, 2021). So, regardless of whether you were vaccinated or not, arrivals from Britain were required to spend six days in quarantine. Still, I was optimistic that I would clear quarantine in six days. After arrival, we were asked to wait in the cabin for thirty minutes for reasons of coordinating the barrage of formalities about to start. I was a little tense after leaving the plane ... ... [Read more]

Kawai Kaori, Nonfiction writer   Nakane Chie Born in 1926, Nakane Chie was a social anthropologist. She was highly acclaimed for her analysis of Japanese society through her experience of fieldwork around the world. She continued her research after she became the first woman appointed to a professorship at the University of Tokyo in 1970. Nakane died of old age on October 12, 2021. She was 94. Her publications include Mikai no kao bunmei no kao (The uncivilized, the civilized; Winner of the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award), Tate shakai no ningen kankei (Personal relations in a vertical society). Photo: Japan Academy/Creative Commons     About ten years ago, an old lady in her 80s carrying a Boston bag arrived unannounced at a temple stood among the buildings in the Tokyo metropolitan area. She said that she wanted to buy a burial place at the ... ... [Read more]

Toishiba Shiho, Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science What were ancient Japanese tombs like? All sorts of funerals have been held in Japan since ancient times, so the traditional Japanese funeral is difficult to define. One great king built a huge “kofun” burial mound. Another emperor wanted his ashes to be scattered. Before dying, Shinran (1173–1263), founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism, said his remains should be thrown into the Kamo River in Kyoto for the fish to eat. But contrary to his dying wish, his remains are still respectfully enshrined in the Otani Mausoleum. It is thought that aerial sepulture (wind burial) was the norm for the graves and funerals of common people, at least until around the 12th Century. Very few examples of cemeteries for ordinary people have been excavated from Nara and Heian period (8th–12th centuries) ... ... [Read more]

Kariya Takehiko, Professor, Oxford University   Key points Despite higher levels of education, labor productivity is not rising. The closed nature of the human capital market is also affecting non-regular employees. We must increase diversity of human resources, not rest on our laurels here in Japan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries temporarily closed their borders, putting a brake on the free movement of human resources. Bearing in mind the small number of infected people, by refusing entry to foreign students for an extended period, Japan’s response is like its historic “national isolation.” Amid competition for human resources in the global arena, will post-COVID-19 Japan be able to make its human resources more skilled and diverse? The famous French thinker Michel Foucault made a fascinating point in a lecture in his later years. It was that the market, which had long been a place ... ... [Read more]

Hirayama Yosuke, Professor, Kobe University   The popularization of home ownership characterizes the social changes in postwar Japan. The homeowner society was formed when the middle class expanded and more people lived in their own homes as a consequence of spectacular economic growth. Many people enjoyed stable employment and income, and moved from rented housing into their own housing. Aiming to form a society based on promoting home ownership, the government, which formulates and implements housing policies, focused on driving the expansion of the owner-occupied housing sector. It was thought that facilitating home ownership would not only improve housing conditions, but also stimulate economic growth and encourage social integration.  The spread of home ownership into wider segments of society is a phenomenon that became viable under the specific socioeconomic conditions characteristic of the latter half of the twentieth century: population growth and a youthful ... ... [Read more]

Nozawa Chie, Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University   For many years, the dream of owning a plot of land and a home has characterized the Japanese. Nonetheless, we are now faced with a strange situation where the issue of land with unknown owners and the issue of vacant houses is becoming increasingly serious. The underlying factors for these two issues are identical. Not long ago, the norm was for land and houses to be passed from the older to the younger generation. However, in the context of the population outflow from rural to urban areas and the nuclearization of families, land and houses in hometowns are no longer valuable assets. In addition to deficiencies in the real property registration system, there are cases where people who have left their hometowns do not even realize that they have inheritance rights. This ... ... [Read more]

Murai Jun, Distinguished Professor, Keio University   The Digital Agency was launched on September 1, 2021, amid a COVID-19 pandemic that was highlighting the lack of progress on digitalization in Japan. The editorial team of Chuokoron spoke to Professor Murai Jun, Special Adviser to the Cabinet on digitalization policy and Chair of the Digital Agency’s Digital Society Concept Conference, regarding these issues and what may happen next. Strict regulations obstructed IT use and application —During the COVID-19 response, many people became aware of Japan’s lack of progress on digitalization. What do you think are the biggest reasons for that?   I think it’s fair to say that, while in some respects Japan’s digitalization is not going smoothly compared to other countries or it has not made the progress that it should, in other regards, it is going well. Japan’s IT strategy, the IT Basic ... ... [Read more]

Sasao Shinta, Associate Professor, Tokyo Women’s College of Physical Education & Tokyo Women’s Junior College of Physical Education   The Olympic Charter lists “promoting a peaceful society” as its goal. The Host Town Initiative works to achieve that goal by encouraging mutually beneficial exchanges between participant countries and regions and local municipalities. I would like to detail those ideas and their actual implementation, then end by discussing my hopes for the future. Why We Even Have the Olympics This article will review the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games (hereinafter, “Tokyo 2020”) with a focus on host towns, one initiative enacted during Tokyo 2020. What is the purpose of the Olympics? In 2021, with Tokyo 2020 right around the corner, many people in Japan—especially those in Tokyo—undoubtedly thought hard upon this question. I doubt many people knew this before Tokyo 2020, but the goal ... ... [Read more]

Miyata Hiroaki, Professor, Keio University Confusion caused by digitalization delays ―Can you name some issues caused by digitalization delays in COVID-19 measures? Firstly, the operation of COVID-19 measures involves a variety of intertwining elements, so it’s not possible to explain all of it with just digitalization delays. I’d like to talk only about what’s based on facts. I think the first thing many Japanese people felt was strange was the shortage of the face masks. Even with the same volumes in stock, it’s possible that digital management could have kept track of how much is where and distribute it to avoid a situation where those who need it don’t get it. As an example, if they had clearly communicated that “there’s at least one month’s worth for “essential workers and high-risk people with chronic illness and two weeks’ worth for others,” then people would ... ... [Read more]

“The self-cultivation boom in modern Japan was richly varied, ranging from cold-water bathing to meditation, reading, even savings. […] Even though the approaches have changed with the times, self-cultivation emerges out of similar soil and seeds to blossom differently in each age.”   Osawa Ayako, Religious scholar, Research fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science The Roots of Self-Development From day to day, quite a few people harbor the feeling that they want to grow and become a wonderful person. Some people make stoic efforts to turn themselves into the person they want to be, practicing Zen meditation or other behaviors advocated by people they idealize. The thoughts and actions that encourage us to improve ourselves are called self-development. How have these practices and this kind of thinking taken root in Japanese society? The clue is in the idea of shuyo (hereinafter, self-cultivation). ... ... [Read more]