Paving Over the Kansai - On Dango: The Famous "Yokosuka Navy Base Toilet Job" - Two short essays on Japanese construction, including the corruption among Japanese corporations and obstruction of US firms resulting in the fleecing of American taxpayers. The Rise of Japan - The Vocabulary of Control - Examines a few social characteristics of Japanese. Robert Fulford's Column About Japanese Identity - Personal musings about how the Japanese identify themselves. Defining Japan's Role in the Post-Taliban World Order Tokyo's Path to Great Power Status - An essay addressing how Japan has responded and changed through the War on Terror. Maintaining Identities: Discourses of Homogeneity in a Rapidly Globalising Japan - Looks at the ideological tools that maintain the idea of Japan as a mono-cultural, homogeneous society and investigates multiculturalism and internationalization in Japan. Media Intimidation in Japan: A Close Encounter with Hard Japanese Nationalism - Documents a close encounter with hard Japanese nationalism. Japanese Gun Control - An article in the Asia Pacific Law Review, analyzing Japanese gun control laws and history of firearms in Japan. Japan's Neo-Nationalism: The Role of the Hinomaru and Kimigayo Legislation - Essay on the growing friction in the Japanese government's directives to use wartime nationalist symbols to bolster student patriotism, and their possible connotations and effects. Christian Science Monitor - Japanese Man Publicly Fights Grope Charge - Documents how after women started speaking out, some men now fear false accusations of groping women on trains. Explores Japan's legal system and culture of losing face. Asia Times Online - In Japan, The Crime Rate Also Rises - Examines Japan's rising crime rate, as well as various misconceptions about it. New York Times - Outcast Status Worsens Pain of Japan's Disabled - Article on how severely disabled in Japan are often treated as something shameful and as social pariahs. The Japan Times - Is 'Disability' Still a Dirty Word in Japan? - Describes how mainstream society is slowly opening up to the physically or mentally impaired. The Japan Times - No-tell Love Hotels Cash In Catering to the Carnal - Describes the history, workings, and economics of Japan's love hotel industry.