by carterjmrn | Aug 15, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
You can knock on the doors of millions of residences in Japan 24/7—especially out in the countryside—and get no answer. That’s because these places are akiya, a term usually translated as “abandoned houses” but which also applies to properties that are simply...
by carterjmrn | Jun 4, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
In the land of Japan Tobacco, is the smoky air clearing at last? Japan’s cities and office buildings have been gradually squeezing smokers into smaller confines, forbidding puffing away while walking on the street and creating smoking rooms that serve as havens and...
by carterjmrn | May 21, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
It really shouldn’t be this way, but the lives and careers of Japan’s highly educated and capable women are still dictated by how the country’s grey patriarchy thinks and acts. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2018 shows just how wide the gulf...
by carterjmrn | Feb 25, 2019 | Carter Group Viewpoints
I must admit to witnessing the recent KonMari phenomenon with some bemusement. Like millions of others I did indeed buy Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up some time ago. Since I read the book I have tried to be mindful of its...
by carterjmrn | Nov 19, 2012 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Top chefs from around the world predicted that vegetables and “fabulous experimental vegetarian food” would catch a wave in 2012, along with the use of pure and natural ingredients from ethically produced, sustainable farming. The uptake on this trend in Tokyo...