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Melanie Brock

April 2024

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Turning 60 feels like 40 in Japan’s certain age crisis

Japan’s ageing population means you’re still young at 60. That’s great if you’ve just celebrated that birthday. For the country, it’s a problem.

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October 2023

The referendum on the Voice to parliament will be on October 14.

From afar, the Voice debate is not our finest hour

Australia could lose the moral high ground to speak out on issues on the global stage if the Voice referendum is defeated.

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August 2023

Japan’s Saki Kumagai in action in last week quarter-final against Sweden in Auckland.

Why we need a bit of Matildas magic in Japan

The Japanese women’s team were undefeated in the heats and played beautifully. But support for them, and women’s sport more generally, still leaves a lot to be desired in Japan.

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June 2023

Kimono-clad women, who have just turned 20, take part in a “coming of age” ceremony in Yokohama.

Japan seeks to end ‘missing women’ in boardrooms

Postcard from Tokyo. Japan is a laggard and the lowest-ranking G7 country in terms of gender equality, but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants to turn that around.

December 2022

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Snow in winter, hammer bans in summer: How to go bush in Japan

How hard can it be to build your dream mountain home to escape Tokyo’s summer heat? Long-time expat Melanie Brock got a little more than she bargained for when she set out to do just that.

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May 2022

Anthony Albanese and the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo for the Quad meeting.

Australia’s new-look leadership plays well in Japan

The change of government in Australia presents the perfect opportunity to work on making our relationship with the land of the rising sun deeper and richer.

No democracy sausage for expatriates this year as the AEC goes postal.

Expats deserve their democracy sausage too

Campaigning can be a noisy affair in Japan, while in Australia the electoral commission may end up quietening a few expatriate voices.

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March 2022

The division between those who are vaccinated and those who are not is something unseen in Japan.

Return to Oz an eye-opening reality check

An extended visit to her birthplace gave this Tokyo resident much to ponder on the pandemic’s lingering impact on the Australian psyche.

October 2021

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the hustings this week. Voters don’t expect much to change.

Contenders stifle smiles as Japan tiptoes around gender issues

Candidates are largely masked and have been instructed not to smile too much in campaign posters, in deference to pandemic suffering. Aside from that, it’s tough enlisting change as Japan votes.

September 2021

The four candidate for leadership of the LDP, from left, Taro Kono, Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda.

Will Japan’s new optimism survive PM choice?

Japan is on the mend and the vibe is upbeat. Who knows – the country’s governing party may even elect a new leader who is prepared to tackle desperately needed reforms.

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August 2021

Rayssa Leal of Brazil, 13, and Momiji Nishiya. also 13, during the women’s street skateboard final in Tokyo.

Japan deserves a medal for the games

One of the strangest games in history is nearing a close and the successful delivery of the world’s major sporting event through the pandemic is a remarkable achievement.

Emma McKeon is congratulated by Cate Campbell after winning gold and breaking the Olympic record in the women’s 100m freestyle final. Watching the women has been one of the highlights.

A social media fracas left me a little stunned

A social media fracas left me a little stunned and concerned about my own part in these most unusual of Games.

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July 2021

Nishiya Momiji won gold in the street skateboarding on Monday.

Olympic Games are a welcome distraction for Japan

While the country celebrates its success in the medal tally, it is also dealing with an unwelcome rise in the number of COVID-19 case, writes Melanie Brock.

Staff work on the BMX track at Ariake Urban Sports Park on July 22, 2021 in Tokyo.

Strangest Olympics takes Tokyo’s joy behind closed doors

Japanese people, like Australians, love sport. Yes this Olympics will be ‘like no other’, but the joy will still be there when a Japanese athlete does well and gets a medal.

June 2021

Masks back on in Sydney, but Australia generally has fared well in the pandemic. It will still have to re-open to the world, however.

Beware the hubris of a holier-than-thou virus stance

Notwithstanding a few outbreaks, Australia may have been too successful at keeping the virus at bay. Here’s hoping our leaders work to shift fear into understanding, and our true outward-looking spirit prevails.

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March 2021

Fish and chips by the water: one of the great joys of Australia.

The joy, guilt and anger of a returned Australian

There is one case of coronavirus’ news flash makes me want to buy a truckload of perspective and hand it out when I am released from quarantine.

Fishing boats are moored in a small harbour built alongside a huge concrete tsunami wall in Rikuzentakata where 1554 people were killed in the 2011.

Postcard from Tohoku: lessons to learn 10 years after tsunami

In my quest to find a way to help the communities of the tsunami-ravished north-east of Japan, I discover a lot about community and perseverance.

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February 2021

Yoshiro Mori’s apology wasn’t convincing.

Mori is simply the latest face of Japanese sexism

The former prime minister’s comments about women have stirred up passions around the world. But will the controversy bring meaningful change in Japan where social progress rarely comes easily?

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December 2020

An unusually subdued Kagurazaka neighbourhood of Tokyo. Partying is largely off the agenda in Japan this Christmas and New Year.

Virus has last laugh as end-of-year party pooper

The final cruel irony in 2020 is that a rotten third wave of virus infection means we cannot even have the forget-the-year parties we desperately need.

November 2020

We can learn a lot from Tokyo which is pushing ahead with climate policy in the midst of the pandemic.

Santa ScoMo could learn a lot in Japan this week

Sometimes Australians are so busy telling our stories that we forget to pay attention to our neighbours. And at the moment, Japan has plenty of interesting stories to tell.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/melanie-brock-p4yvlf