The weekly magazines that went on sale over the past week were the final regular issues for 2015, and, beginning Monday, most — easily recognizable by their ornamental cover designs with gold trim, and referred to in Japanese as gōbengō (combined issues) — will feature extra pages, with sales extending through the first week of January.
Aera (Dec. 21) ran a three-page article titled "Continuing to step on [women's] skirts," about why more females aren't being elected to the Diet. At a panel discussion held at Tokyo's Sophia University, three well-known female parliamentarians — Kiyomi Tsujimoto, Seiko Noda and Renho — aired their views on gender equality and the difficulties women encounter in Japan's male-dominated politics.
Shukan Asahi (Dec. 25) takes a different tack, raising the possibility that Tomomi Inada may become Japan's first female prime minister. Inada, 56, currently heads the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council. A graduate of Waseda University with a degree in law, her political and historical views are said to be closely aligned with the current PM, Shinzo Abe.