Articles

A selection of my published articles:

Climate change

Can Netherlands’ ground-shifting plan prevent flooding? – The Financial Times

What would an entirely flood-proof city look like? – The Guardian

Can bringing back starry nights stimulate the climate movement? – Citylab

Harnessing the power of community to drive an energy revolution – On the grassroots energy initiatives going against the grain post-Fukushima, in The Japan Times

Urban issues and housing:

Bike-dominated Amsterdam is not a walker’s paradise – Citylab

Muji is redesigning Tokyo’s cheap estate housing as a hip lifestyle choice – Quartz

Tokyo designers push the boundaries of wooden skyscrapers – Financial Times

A house for all seasons – Financial Times

Amsterdam’s incubator bureau is working with former squatters to create low rent studios for artists and entrepreneurs – Quartz

Where are the world’s most elderly cities, and how are they coping with ageing populations? – The Guardian

Japanese prefab tiny homes could change the way we think about disaster housing – Quartz

A greater share for the Japanese sharehouse – Nippon.com

Review of Tokyo Totem, a guide of how to find one’s rhythm in Tokyo’s urban sprawl – TimeOut

Feminism:

My Husband Paid Me To Do The Chores – Gender inequality is still stark in the home — and contributes to the pay-gap. Could a wage rectify the imbalance? – The Atlantic

Japan has a cute problem – Why “kawaii” culture holds women down, in Matter

The vagina, in all its ‘obscene’ glory A review of artist Rokudenashiko’s manga, which is about being arrested for making controversial art based on her genitalia.- The Japan Times

Culture, politics, and society:

White apologies are almost as bad as the crimes that sparked them – Medium

What Pokemon, Japanese schoolgirl punks, and cocaine have in common – A look at the psychological response to cute objects that makes Pokemon so addictive as an escapist pleasure in dark times.

Under the ‘Orientalist’ kimono – Exploring Japan’s “orientalisation” of the kimono, in The Japan Times

Asylum seekers find little refuge in Japan – Originally in Metropolis magazine

How Japan’s election could change the shaky balance of military power in Asia – Quartz

Novelist Mizumura fights to arrest fall of Japanese literature, Review of “The Fall of Language in the Age of English” in the Japan Times

A minicar named Hustler? Japan’s brand names raise eyebrows – On inappropriate Japanese brand names, for Reuters