HeyJaredUnpacking Japan
Unpacking Japan explores Japanese arts, culture, and business through the lives of foreigners who have made this amazing country their home.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 19
- Latest publication
- Sep 8, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 3, 2026
Latest episodes
Should non-residents be allowed to buy Japanese homes? (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Meet Derek, co-founder of YukiHomes, a service that helps people overseas buy cheap homes in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about his own journey buying an akiya in Japan and running a business from overseas, as well as how YukiHomes fits into Japan's problems with depopulation and gentrification. -- 0:00 Intro 0:50 Buying their first home in Japan 7:14 Skiing in Japan vs. the U.S. 12:28 Why Japan? 14:18 Discovering akiya 18:49 Regulations on rental properties 26:36 Why buy property in Japan?
The problem with Japanese mainstream media (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Meet Martin Fackler, a journalist and author based in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about his career in China and Japan, what went into reporting his biggest stories, and the problems with Japan's kisha club system. -- 0:00 Intro 0:50 Meet Martin 8:50 Advantages of a foreign journalist 15:48 Journalistic autonomy 29:20 Japanese bank extortion story 37:42 Managing information as a journalist 44:23 The Hainan incident 49:15 Running from the Chinese police 55:08 Responsibility to international
Why Japan's jazz cafes are more important than ever (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Meet Philip, an author and photographer who's spent years documenting Japan's jazz kissa, who sits down to talk to us about his work and the cafes he's explored in his book. He tells us about the history and culture of jazz kissa, and the growing interest in analogue culture. -- 0:00 Intro 0:50 Coming to Japan on JET 10:40 What he learned as a JET teacher 19:54 Starting photography in Yokohama 22:39 The importance of Bebop Square 32:02 Next photography projects 36:05 Documenting jazz kissa 45:25
What it's like to live with invisible illnesses in Japan (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Meet Hanna, an activist who has been living with chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as PTSD. She sits down to talk to us about her experiences living with invisible illness in Japan, and her views on Japan's medial and social welfare systems. -- 0:00 Intro 0:26 Some context from Tobi 2:32 Meet Hanna 3:14 When her pain started 5:13 Response from doctors 7:40 Realizing her situation is not normal 9:39 Breaking free from her family 12:27 What are Hanna's illne
How did anime get so popular overseas, when Japanese companies did not care? (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Meet Roland Kelts, an author known for his book Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. He sits down to talk to us about the anime industry and the spread of Japanese pop culture overseas, as well as his work on the upcoming documentary Tezuka: God of Manga. -- 0:00 Intro 0:50 Meet Roland 4:29 Building a stronger connection to Japan 8:55 Joining the JET Programme to write about Japan 15:20 Living alone in Japan 24:04 Leaving Japan to build a career 29:43 Writing Japanamerica
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.