Fleeing Japan may be more common than many think
Having fled Japan while awaiting trial for alleged financial wrongdoing, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has probably become the most famous foreign national ever arrested in the country. For a while after his initial detention in November 2018, the media discussed Japan's so-called hostage ...
Japan Post Holdings drags its heels on insurance sales scandal
On Dec. 27, the top three executives of Japan Post Holdings Co. announced they would be resigning on Jan. 5 over the insurance sales scandal that first came to light more than a year and a half ago. The announcement comes on the heels ...
Japan's bureaucrats take top news honors in 2019
A year ago, the big news story in Japan was former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn languishing in a jail cell while the media discussed whether he should be there, thus sparking an overdue discussion about the country's so-called hostage justice system. It was a ...
Tetsu Nakamura's death in Afghanistan exposes a gap of perception in Japan
Following the assassination of Dr. Tetsu Nakamura in Afghanistan earlier this month, the government of Afghanistan held a memorial ceremony for him as his body was delivered to the airplane that would take it out of the country. President Ashraf Ghani was one of ...
Japan's treatment of freelancers comes under the microscope
Veteran British filmmaker Ken Loach's latest work, "Sorry We Missed You," which opened in Japan recently, is about the gig economy, the new employment environment surrounding companies like the ride-sharing service Uber that don't so much hire people as give them access to users. Loach's ...
News outlets miss pivotal factor in decision to shift 2020 Olympic events
When the International Olympic Committee announced that the marathon and race walk competitions for next year's Olympics would be moved to Hokkaido due to fears that the summer heat in Tokyo might be too intense, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike had no choice but to ...
News outlets take time to connect the dots in Kepco gift scandal
In September, media reported that 20 executives of Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kepco) had, for a decade or so, received almost ¥320 million worth of cash and gifts from Eiji Moriyama, the former deputy mayor of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, who died in March at ...
Taro Yamamoto blurs the popular line on climate change
Climate change is not much of a social issue in Japan. Even in the wake of three recent weather-related disasters, there has been little discussion across the political spectrum that climate change contributed to them. In Europe and the United States, left-leaning groups demand ...
Overuse of Japan's medical system may be complicating treatment
One of the criticisms of the “Medicare for All” government-run health care scheme proposed by U.S. Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren is that eliminating all limits to treatment would lead to "overuse" of the medical care system, meaning people would be ...
Public divided over treatment of the homeless during Typhoon Hagibis
When Typhoon Hagibis struck Tokyo on Oct. 12, news emerged that three homeless people had been turned away from an emergency evacuation facility in Taito Ward. As the story spread, it varied in tone and content on social media. Some thought the persons refused ...
Exploring the artistic subtleties at play behind the controversial Aichi Triennale exhibition
The Aichi Triennale arts festival closed on Oct. 14, and, along with it, a controversial exhibition titled "After 'Freedom of Expression?'", which had been temporarily shut down following threats of violence and complaints. The main point of contention was a statue of a Korean ...
Questions raised over disaster preparedness in wake of Typhoon Hagibis
A remark commonly heard in Japan in the wake of a natural disaster is, “We couldn’t predict such a thing.” In the case of Typhoon Hagibis, which ravaged the eastern and northern parts of the archipelago in mid-October, the unpredictable thing was the amount ...
