Issues | LAW OF THE LAND Mar 25, 2021

Privacy or rehabilitation? How criminal records are treated in Japan

With background checks unobtainable and information about lawbreakers kept under wraps, dealing with a person's past can be tricky.

Commentary / Japan Oct 2, 2020

Tats not all, folks: Behind the Supreme Court's tattoo ruling

Supreme Court ruling in tattoo case can be seen as a rare example of Japan’s courts second-guessing a regulator as to the interpretation of regulations.

Issues | LAW OF THE LAND Aug 12, 2020

Citizen or not? A conditional love story

Japan's COVID-19 shutout of long-term foreign residents reflects a fundamental dichotomy in how the nation treats Japanese and non-Japanese.

Language | BILINGUAL Aug 10, 2015

Japan's military that isn't: a short primer in self-defense doublespeak

Article 9 of Japan's Constitution, which renounces war, has been interpreted as permitting the maintenance and use of military force for self-defense, but this has led to some interesting linguistic gymnastics.