Internet piracy taking major bite out of Japan's famed manga culture
Japan's renowned manga culture is facing a crisis. The spread of smartphones and tablet computers allows people to read e-comics anywhere at any time. According to the Research Institute for Publications, annual sales of digital comics last year grew 17.2 percent from the previous year ...
Abe's route to revising Article 9 crosses minefield of legalese
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is now entering a critical phase of debate on what has been one of the most contentious political issues throughout the postwar years: whether and how the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution should be revised. Masahiko Komura, vice president ...
In Japan's Diet, is there such a thing as too much time for questions?
It may be hard to find a workplace more rife with inefficiency and inertia than the national Diet. After all, it's where the prime minister and other Cabinet ministers sacrifice their time to an extent almost unthinkable in other developed nations, even though constructive policy ...
Japan's staff-heavy banks downsize and turn to technology for survival
These are tough times for banks. As the Bank of Japan's prolonged ultra-easy money policy weighs on earnings, the emergence of technology like artificial intelligence is transforming the mechanics of financing and threatening to replace thousands of roles with automated systems. The nation's major banks have ...
Japan's dramatic surge in syphilis cases, with particularly high incidence in Tokyo, puzzles experts
Syphilis, a classic sexually transmitted disease nearly eradicated decades ago, is seeing a resurgence in Japan, with the reported number of patients in 2017 topping 5,000 for the first time in 44 years. According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the number of people ...
The timely and secure delivery of packages through face-to-face services has long been a source of pride for Japanese couriers. But times have changed. With more women and seniors working and single-person households increasing, face-to-face deliveries to the home are proving more difficult. The rise of ...
Japan set to bank ¥40 billion per year for tourism sector with new departure tax
From January 2019 Japan is set to impose a ¥1,000 tax on everyone departing the country, to secure funding for tourism infrastructure and promotion amid record-breaking arrivals of international travelers. The inbound tourism industry is one of the few growth sectors in the rapidly graying ...
20 years after Kyoto Protocol, where does world stand on climate?
On Dec. 11, 1997, representatives from over 150 nations gathered in Kyoto to hammer out what would become the world's first international agreement to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide. In a marathon nearly two-week negotiating session that ran into the early ...
Flawed Nissan and Subaru vehicle inspections seen as an issue of compliance rather than quality
People's trust in Japanese cars has been questioned following revelations that two domestic automakers that enjoyed strong reputations — Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru Corp. — allowed unauthorized employees to conduct final quality checks on finished vehicles. The scandal has caused Nissan to cut its ...
Rohingya asylum seekers face dim prospects of gaining refugee status in Japan
The plight of Rohingya Muslims has made headlines as the Myanmar military's escalating attacks against the ethnic group, often described in media reports as "one of the world's most persecuted minorities," have captured global attention. Following clashes between the country's military and Rohingya insurgents ...
Is Abe's free day care and kindergarten worth the cost?
Sunday's general election is over and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's gamble seems to have paid off. But politics never stops and Abe is now obliged to carry out what he promised during the campaign. One of Abe's most notable — and probably most costly — ...
Call it worm power. Takaaki Hirotsu is trying to harness the power of the nematode worm — a tiny, transparent roundworm that lives in soil or water — to detect all forms of cancer at their earliest stages. The use of nematodes for superearly cancer detection ...
