Jeff W. Richards

It’s been a minute since I was last here. A lot has happened since my last update.

There was that little pandemic. That was a hoot.

The company I work for, GPlusMedia, was sold—which is a good thing, considering we were previously owned by Fuji Media Holdings. If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know they and Fuji TV are  currently caught up in a major, industry-shifting scandal. Timing is everything.

On the personal side, two of my nieces left Japan to start university in Canada—one at the University of British Columbia, the other in the design program at Langara College. The youngest is still here (for now), performing around Tokyo as she plots her global takeover. I, of course, am her humble guitar tech and designated string changer.

Work wise, I transitioned to remote work during peak pandemic, and we’re now hybrid—I go into the office once a week.

And speaking of work… “Japan This Week” came back in April last year! I’ve been recording from my home studio and keeping a consistent Friday afternoon (JST) release schedule. I’ll be updating the site soon to publish all the episodes below. ?

Breaking down the Fuji TV scandal on Japan Today Spotlight—talking about Masahiro Nakai, the allegations, and why advertisers are pulling out. This one’s a wild ride.

Then, last month, we took things up a notch with video. I launched a YouTube show called “Japan Today Spotlight,” starting with a deep dive into Donald Trump’s re-election and how his administration could impact Japan. We’re still fine-tuning the writing, workflow, and—let’s be honest—I’m only starting to get used to being on camera. My goal is to develop a stronger on-screen presence, bring out more personality in the writing, and ask sharper, more insightful (maybe even opinionated) questions. There’s always a bigger story lurking beneath the headlines, and that’s where we aim to focus the spotlight.

Originally, we were doing this bi-weekly, which gave us a nice 30,000-foot view of the media landscape. Now, we’re shifting to a weekly schedule—which means keeping that broader perspective while tightening the turnaround time.

We’re also working on a new deep-dive interview podcast with Patrick Parr, the author of our popular Japan Yesterday series. The idea? Explore some of the biggest names who have visited Japan, uncover what made them famous (or infamous) here, and dig up behind-the-scenes details that didn’t make the final article.

To go with that, we’re planning new additions to the series, re-releases of past stories, and—if all goes well—a book.

But that’s a story for another post.