Nevin Thompson is the Japan Editor for Global Voices. He is a translator, writer, and journalist, and has been connected to Japan for more than twenty years.
Nevin currently lives and works on an island off the West Coast of Canada, and spends about three months each year with his family in Tsuruga, a small city on the Japan Sea Coast, just north of Kyoto.
Profile photo by Jer Clarke.
Latest posts by Nevin Thompson
How Japan followed the US presidential election
In Japan, Trump is not always regarded with the dismissiveness or loathing that is so common in the United States or even in Canada.
Decision to dump radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site into the ocean sparks alarm
About 1.25 million tonnes of contaminated water is currently stored at the Fukushima Daiichi installation.
This beatboxing Buddhist monk from Japan is making music to ‘reduce suffering’
Yogetsu Asakusa combines beatboxing beats with traditional Buddhist sutras.
Japan's ‘least attractive’ prefecture gets a little more love in 2020
After ranking last for seven consecutive years, Ibaraki jumped up five spots on an annual survey ranking Japan's prefectures by "attractiveness."
New literary magazine makes contemporary Japanese fiction accessible to English readers
The literary journal's debut issue translates a plethora of Japanese literature both old and new, and facilitates discussion about the translation itself.
‘Please kill me now': Japanese Twitter reacts to Osaka Expo 2025's unusual new mascot
Japanese Twitter nicknamed the logo "koroshite-kun", which roughly translates as "Mr. Please Kill Me Now."
Japan reacts to tennis star Naomi Osaka’s protest in support of Black Lives Matter
Before I'm an athlete I am a black woman. And as a Black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand.
Hiroshima Timeline project under fire for racism, fabricated history
An innovative project about the August 1945 bombing of Hiroshima has come under fire for using racist epithets to describe Koreans, political interference, and for potentially fabricating historical source material.
‘Hiroshima Timeline’ uses tweets to portray real-time experience of world's first atomic bombing
Three Twitter accounts use an "on-this-day" format to share observations and experiences of daily life from 75 years ago in the months leading up to the August 6, 1945 bombing.
Popular YouTube channel documents what it is like to be black in Japan
Popular YouTube channel and website The Black Experience Japan features interviews with dozens of Black residents of Japan.
As COVID-19 infections surge, Japan launches travel subsidy campaign
Even as COVID-19 cases continue to climb in major cities in Japan, the government launched a new campaign aimed at encouraging tourism in local communities.
COVID-19 outbreak highlights unaccountability of American military based in Okinawa
Since July 11, COVID-19 transmission has been detected at U.S. bases throughout Okinawa.
Short film demonstrates what it can be like to be black in Japan
A boy must endure and somehow learn, own his own, how to deal with the racist taunts of his new classmates.
June 2020, a month of #BLM in Japan
Black Lives Matter rallies and marches were held in cities across Japan throughout June, part of a global display of solidarity with demonstrators in the United States and other countries.
Americans, your fantasies about Canada enable Canadians’ complacent sense of white superiority
When it comes to racism, the United States is far more advanced than Canada. At least Americans can talk about race. Canadians can't.
Tour little-known tourist spots in Japan on YouTube
YouTube channel Anna Film Production produces short videos of interesting and scenic spots in the Kansai region in western Japan.
Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan accused of censorship after taking down Tokyo Olympics parody
The April issue of the club's magazine featured the Tokyo Olympics' emblem depicted in the shape of a coronavirus, which reportedly prompted copyright complaints from the Olympic Organising Committee.
Following COVID-19 closure, Ghibli Museum posts mini-tours online
One of Japan's most beloved tourist attractions is offering short virtual tours on YouTube.
Are Japanese ‘murder hornets’ invading North America?
It's unlikely they will murder you, but they pose a serious threat to apiaries.
Japanese superfood can't combat COVID-19, but may prolong your life
In mid-March, a consumer research company in Japan found that nearly 40 percent of Japanese people they surveyed incorporated special foods into their diet in order to "boost their immune...
