Living Japan

It is Episode 81 and the Living Japan crew are fired up to talk about the most recent Sumo controversy, shed some light on the troubles the sport has had in the past decade and then wrap it all up by discussing some ongoing gender issues in our home of Japan! Thank you for listening! […]

On Episode 80, the Living Japan crew discusses about the call for volunteers to work at the Tokyo Olympics, asking for high skills professionals not only to donate their job, but to also cover all their expenses to work at the event. Is the organizing committee asking too much from these medical and language professionals? […]

Hello Everyone! We are back for a whole new season of Living Japan Podcast. This year we made the commitment to at least do 25 new episodes! On episode 79 Motoi, Brent and Edgar discuss the Coming of Age ceremony that usually takes place during the first month of the year, the different styles of […]

The Living Japan got together one last time before the end of the year to share some of the latest news that have been happening in Japan. Motoi, Brent and Edgar discuss about the accusations against the author of the famous manga Rurouni Kenshin as well as the recent problems that companies like Subaru and […]

We look in depth at the recent incident where a high school student in Osaka was not allowed to attend class for having different hair. We also talk about single families. Kind of a somber episode all things considered.

Edgar is off to his homeland living Brent alone to edit and put out this episode. That can’t be good. But there is good news! A new episode!! The three of us got together and had a nice chat that went from the use of bicycles in everyday life, what to do if a bike […]

Ohisahiburi! Long Time no see! We have been very busy in the last month, but we finally have a new Episode! This time, Motoi, Brent and Edgar discuss different topics, from the launch of a North Korean missile that pass over Japan; a scandal involving a female politician with a progressive agenda, and the recent […]

Hello everyone!!! We have a new episode for you! Finally, after almost 6 months (more or less) we get back to our original format, commenting on three different news that caught our eyes. First, we talk a little bit about the Onsen Theme Park in the city of Beppu, which this month show a little […]

Hello everyone! It’s already been two weeks from our last Episode and we are back! On Episode 73 the Living Japan crew talks about two very important topics: vending machines and sexless Japan. How many vending machines are there in Japan? Are all as crazy as it looks on the internet? Are there vending machines […]

Greetings Everyone! Apologies for the long wait! Today’s episode is a especial two parts, the first half we have the presence of Brent’s son while the gang talks about the new Live Action series of Cowboy Bebop and some the Konami-Kojima drama which still continues. This starts a debate about the different changes that some […]

Brent opened this week’s conversation by asking Motoi and Edgar about their thought’s on the recent arrival of Carl’s Jr. to Japan, specially because their presentation is very different to the image this fast food chain has in Japan. Next, we talk about our main topic, the engagement of Princess Mako and the debate about […]

Greetings from the Living Japan Crew! Apologies for being late to upload this new episode. This week, Motoi, Brent and Edgar discuss about what they did during the Golden Week, the different celebrations for Children’s Day that exist in Mexico and Japan, as well as explain a little bit of the folklore behind this celebration.  […]

It’s time for a new episode of Living Japan. On today’s Episode, Motoi, Brent and Edgar talk about the reactivation of the nuclear plants that were closed after the Fukushima disaster. Join us, as we talk about the implications of using and not using nuclear energy in Japan. Join the discussion, let us know what […]

Hello Everyone! We want to apologize for getting behind our schedule, but finally we were able to meet and record a new episode. Today, we have a fun episode talking about a recent trend on Twitter with the hasthag #gaijinconfessions. The Living Japan crew tell us some confessions of their own before moving on to […]

As every two weeks, the Living Japan crew is back! Bringing you the latest news on what is happening in Japan. In this week’s episode we talk about MariCar, a company that is being sued by Nintendo for using its characters and the concept of Mario Kart to make business in Tokyo. Later on, Motoi, […]

Welcome to a new episode of Living Japan! As the month of love ends, Motoi, Brent and Edgar discuss about the protest against Valentine’s Day that a cranky group of Marxist had in Tokyo, opposing the discrimination against unattractive men. Later on, the crew talks about our main topic “Train Etiquette.” There are many written […]

Hello Everyone!! On this week’s new episode Motoi, Brent and Edgar talk about some of the latest news, such as the passing away of Masaya Nakamura, who’s company created Pac-Man and the controversy surrounding the APA Hotels’ CEO. Later on we move to our main topic of the day, which is cheating in Japan. There […]

Hello Everyone! We are trying to start 2017 with the right foot and working hard to have a new episode for you every two weeks. Since Motoi had to travel abroad for work, we decided to record a new Nerd Talk episodes, because without her, Edgar and Brent are not cool, just a couple of […]

Hello everyone!! Happy New Year! We start the podcast for 2017 with a very interesting episode. First, we talk a little bit about Brent’s trip with his family to the US for the Holidays, how easy and difficult it was to travel with a child from Japan and coming back, as well as some funny […]

Today Dr. Michael Dziesinski, a visiting scholar from the University of Hawaii, joins us to talk about a social phenomenon of Japan: Hikikomori. Today, they are many different portrayals of Hikikomori on mass media and popular culture, but… are they really as they are showcased?  What is hikikomori? How do hikikomori people behave? Is it […]