Every summer in Japan, something quietly magical happens. Convenience stores fill with colorful paper, shopping streets sprout bamboo branches, and people start pausing, just for a moment, to write down their wishes.
This is Tanabata, or 七夕, the Star Festival.
It comes from the story of two stars, Orihime the weaver and Hikoboshi the cowherd, separated by the Milky Way and allowed to meet just once a year on July 7. If it rains, they cannot cross the sky to see each other, which adds a gentle sense of uncertainty to the tradition.Click below to read more.
There is a moment at summer festivals in Japan when everything becomes very simple. A shallow pool, a paper scoop that feels too fragile to be useful, and a handful of goldfish moving in slow, unpredictable patterns.
Kingyo sukui looks like something you can figure out. That was my first mistake.
I am not a patient person. I like understanding how things work, adjusting quickly, getting to a result. So the first time I tried it, I approached it like a small problem to solve. Watch carefully, pick the right moment, move decisively.
The paper broke immediately.
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There is something surprisingly refreshing about playing tourist in your own city. You think you know it. You think you have seen the highlights. And then someone who has lived its stories for decades takes you by the hand and shows you a completely different layer.
That is exactly what happened to me last week.
I had the joy of exploring San Francisco with a long time local with deep Japanese American roots, and while it did not completely change how I see the city, it added a richness and depth that I had not experienced before. What felt familiar became more meaningful, filled with connections I had not fully noticed.
One of the highlights was visiting the Legion of Honor for the first time.
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For years I walked past this building and never once understood it.
It sits there in Otemachi surrounded by glass towers trying very hard to look modern, and then there’s this thing. Solid, ribbed concrete, barely any windows, just kind of looming like it knows something the rest of us don’t. I always thought it looked completely out of place, like it had been dropped in from a different version of Tokyo.
In my head I called it the Dark Tower. It felt like the kind of place where something important was happening, but no one was supposed to ask questions. Not a normal office, not a hotel, definitely not somewhere you casually walk into.
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The United States turns 250 this year, which sounds both very old and somehow still quite young at the same time.
What I always find interesting, living in Japan, is how that timeline overlaps in slightly unexpected ways.
When the US was founded in 1776, Japan was deep in the Edo period. Closed off, stable, and not particularly interested in what was happening across the ocean. For a while, the two countries mostly existed side by side.
And then Commodore Perry showed up in 1853.
Black ships, a very direct request to open up, and suddenly things moved quickly. What followed was not just the opening of Japan, but the beginning of a relationship that has evolved into something that now feels completely normal.
That is the part that still surprises me.
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This fall, Shoko Kawata, the 35-year-old mayor of Yawata in Kyoto Prefecture, will become the first sitting mayor in Japan's history to take maternity leave. On the surface, that sounds remarkable. Dig a little deeper, and it says a lot about what it is still like to be a working woman in Japan.
What makes her case unique is that maternity leave does not formally exist for elected officials. Because mayors are classified as public servants rather than employees, there was no established framework for her four-month leave. Instead, Yawata had to create a special arrangement, with the deputy mayor handling day-to-day responsibilities while Kawata remains involved in major decisions remotely.
The announcement sparked a national debate.
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Every summer in Japan, you can feel the quiet shift. Jackets disappear, ties loosen, and everyone renegotiates what “professional” looks like in serious heat. Cool Biz has been around for years, but this summer feels different.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has now officially updated its guidance to allow staff to wear shorts and sneakers. Governor Koike positioned it very clearly as a response to extreme heat and a tighter electricity outlook, with rising energy costs linked to the ongoing Middle East war. After last year’s record temperatures and the introduction of a “cruelly hot” category by the meteorological agency, it’s hard to argue this isn’t necessary. They’re also encouraging earlier start times to reduce strain on the grid.
What’s new is that this is visible. There’s already some early media coverage showing government employees experimenting with polo shirts and tailored shorts. If you’ve worked in Japan, you’ll know that crossing that line is not a small thing.
The reactions I’ve been hearing are interesting. Women’s responses in particular are more layered than you might expect.
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A Japanese expat manager recently received a surprise during their annual performance review in the U.S.: a comment from their American team that they were “distant and hard to approach.” The manager was stunned. In Japan, maintaining formality and emotional restraint is often seen as professional. In the U.S., it can be interpreted as cold or disengaged.
This moment revealed a deeper issue: the feedback gap between jinji and U.S. HR.
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In a recent ruling, Mizuho Bank Ltd. successfully defended itself against a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by a former U.S.-based vice president. While the legal outcome favored Mizuho, the case highlights a deeper issue that many global Japanese companies face: the perception of bias and the need for culturally intelligent HR practices. 最近の判決において、みずほ銀行株式会社は、米国拠点の元副社長による差別および報復に関する訴訟に対して、成功裏に自己防衛を果たしました。法的な結果はみずほ銀行に有利なものでしたが、このケースは、多くのグローバルな日本企業が直面しているより深刻な課題を浮き彫りにしています。それは、偏見の認識と、文化的知性を備えた人事施策の必要性です。
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