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July 08, 2025
 

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A victim of forced sterilization (second from right) reacts Tuesday as the Upper House unanimously passed a bill into law to compensate victims of the practice.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 9, 2024

Informing forced sterilization victims of new law remains challenge

Some victims said that they did not want to remember the sterilizations, and others said that they had not told their families about their past.
Discriminatory remarks against the Ainu people by Lower House lawmaker Mio Sugita (center) have prompted calls for introducing penalties under the Ainu policy promotion law.
JAPAN
May 14, 2024

Calls grow for penalizing discriminatory remarks against Ainu

Calls strengthened after a series of discriminatory remarks by Mio Sugita, a House of Representatives lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party.
A building in the city of Osaka housing the Osaka District Court
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 8, 2024

Court orders deletion of disparaging portrayal of Osaka area

The comments were targeted at a "dowa" district — an area designated under an assimilation project to help integrate marginalized communities.
The plaintiffs' lawyers hold paper with phrases such as "unjust verdict," after the appeal court ruling in the second-generation hibakusha lawsuit, in Hiroshima Prefecture on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2024

Second-generation hibakusha's appeal for state compensation rejected

The 27 children of survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima have demanded the government pay for damages under the atomic bomb survivors support law.
Ai Narabayashi, a member of the editorial department of Iwanami Shoten, the publisher of dictionary "Kojien," speaks during an interview in Tokyo in February. Narabayashi said the dictionary has the duty to record the Japanese language without hiding anything and accurately explain the meaning behind words and phrases.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 7, 2025

Why an iconic Japanese dictionary chooses to retain misogynistic words

Publisher Iwanami Shoten considers it a duty for its "Kojien" dictionary to record and accurately explain the meaning and background of words and phrases.
A line of children's clothes featuring slogans about lazy, uninvolved fathers have sparked an online backlash.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Japan store pulls 'lazy dad' kid clothes after backlash

Some commentators called them an affront to hard-working fathers, while others said they highlighted the country's childcare gender gap that weighs heavily on women.
Plaintiffs filing damages lawsuits over forced sterilization under the now-defunct eugenic protection law head to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 2, 2023

Grand Bench of top court to rule on forced sterilization damages

Five district courts have found the old law to be unconstitutional, but all rejected damages claims citing the statute of limitations.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024

Supreme Court may review judgement against benefits for same-sex partner

The review would mark the first time the Supreme Court makes a decision regarding the issue of public benefits for a same-sex partner.
A bill to grant compensation to victims of forced sterilization clears the Lower House on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2024

Parliament clears bill to compensate all victims of forced sterilization

With the latest legislation, all victims — whether or not they are plaintiffs in related lawsuits — will be compensated, paving the way for resolution.
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2025

Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist

The guesthouse said the purpose of the document was to ensure a safe stay for other guests and not due to discrimination.
A woman with HTLV-1 from Okinawa Prefecture talks about her experience of being turned away at a clinic outside the prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 25, 2023

Website aims to shed light on little-known blood cancer virus

Awareness of HTLV-1, a virus that causes adult T-cell leukemia and other diseases, is low in Japan. A website called Hot Lives aims to change that.
Actress Yumi Ishikawa speaks during an interview on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2024

'KuToo' campaign leader wants to bring attention to sexual abuse

Ishikawa believes that behind the issue of sexual abuse is the unspoken assumption within Japanese society that there is no such thing as discrimination.
Since moving to Tokyo from New York City in 2014, Hiraku Morilla has been promoting Keith Haring’s legacy in his professional life and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 6, 2025

Hiraku Morilla: ‘Pride means respect for those who walked so we could run’

The New York-raised director of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection reflects on his queer, multiracial identity and LGBTQ+ rights in Japan.
Team France celebrates after winning gold in the judo mixed team event at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in July 2021.
OLYMPICS
Jul 25, 2024

Is it too early to celebrate gender equality at the Olympics?

In both Japan and abroad, women are far from achieving equality in the ranks of coaching and at the administrative level.
Social activists and artists remove graffiti from the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on June 10, after days of protests against federal immigration sweeps.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2025

Japanese American museum criticizes Trump order

U.S. authorities issued orders to put up notices for exhibitions, movies and others that are deemed to disparage U.S. history.
Shurei Sasai in Nagpur, India, on Oct. 13
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2024

Monk from Japan works to lead people in India to Buddhism

Shurei Sasai has been devoting his life to freeing people from discrimination based on the Indian caste system for more than half a century.
Maurice Shelton (left) and his lawyer Motoki Taniguchi spoke about alleged racial bias on behalf of the police at a recent press conference.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Feb 29, 2024

Making Japanese history by being Black history

Three individuals have stepped up to try and make a difference in the country we live in. They should be applauded.
Rainbow flags were flown through the capital's busy Shibuya and Harajuku areas for Tokyo Rainbow Pride events this weekend as organizers hailed 30 years of one of Asia's largest LGBTQ celebrations.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 21, 2024

Tokyo Rainbow Pride lights up capital as organizers celebrate 30 years

Under the theme “Until it changes, don’t give up,” this year’s Tokyo Rainbow Pride was held after an eventful 12 months for Japan’s LGBTQ movement.
Emergency personnel and investigators examine the site of a deadly blaze that tore through a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell in Hwaseong on Tuesday, a day after the fire left 23 dead.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 26, 2024

Deadly fire exposes harsh conditions migrant workers face in South Korea

Foreign nationals do dirty, hazardous work, and advocates say the blaze that killed 23 at a battery plant shows that they need better protection.
Yuta Takahashi (back center) with Sunao Tsuboi, former co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo (front, center), in December 2017
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2024

Japanese youth carries on message of prominent atomic bomb survivor

In giving Nihon Hidankyo the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee noted that "new generations in Japan are carrying forward the experience and the message of the witnesses."
Yuki Kondo-Shah beside the U.S. Embassy where she works in London on Dec. 22. As U.S.-China tensions rise, national security employees with ties to Asia say U.S. counterintelligence officers wrongly regard them as potential spies and unfairly ban them from jobs.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024

Asian American officials cite unfair treatment in China tensions

Federal employees say they are being blocked from jobs for security reasons because of their ties to Asia, even distant ones.
Japan's Zion Suzuki (top) and Yukinari Sugawara (bottom) in action with Iraq's Youssef Amyn in Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Friday.
SOCCER
Jan 23, 2024

Japan goalkeeper racially abused online after Asian Cup errors

The news comes after two instances of racist abuse directed at players in Italy and England during matches.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida receives a petition from victims of forced sterilization on Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 17, 2024

Kishida apologizes to victims of forced sterilization

The apology from the prime minister follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month declaring that the now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional.
Hanako and Taro Nomura, who are suing the government over forced sterilization, show their late daughter's birth register issued by a temple, in their living room in a city in Osaka Prefecture. For years, the couple wondered why they could not conceive after the death of their firstborn.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 2, 2024

Seeking justice, deaf couple confronts issue of forced sterilization

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will rule on lawsuits against the government filed by the Nomuras and others who were sterilized under a now-defunct eugenics law.
Koichi Kondo plays the harmonica. Playing harmonica was like life itself for members of the Bluebird Band, according to his words.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 4, 2024

Harmonica melodies of Hansen's disease patients live on

A band featuring the instrument was founded in 1953, at a time when prejudice against the disease was still strong
The Kyoto Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Kyoto. Questioning of a worker with an intellectual disability who was forced into an industrial washing machine has revealed further past instances of abuse, leading Kyoto police to investigate potential bullying in the workplace.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 5, 2024

Kyoto men accused of forcing disabled person into washing machine

They allegedly forced their 50-year-old colleague with an intellectual disability into the machine and turned it on.
Discussions on greater rights for same-sex couples have not deepened at the national level despite recent court rulings saying that said Japan's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2024

Tokyo ward mayors call for greater rights for same-sex couples

Among the wards, Setagaya and Nakano launched initiatives in November to register the relationships of same-sex couples in the same way as for common-law couples.
A recently enacted ordinance aimed at respecting individual differences in Sapporo has not been without controversy.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 28, 2025

Sapporo enacts ordinance to foster diversity and inclusion

The number of foreign residents in Sapporo has doubled over the past decade, despite an overall population decline in the city.
Gigi Chao, vice chair of Cheuk Nang Holdings, in Hong Kong on July 19
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2023

More LGBTQ rights could help Asian financial hubs draw global talent

In Japan, the only Group of Seven nation without legal protection for same-sex unions, corporations are seen as a key driver for change.
Labyrinth organizer Russell Moench sparked controversy with transphobic tweets, leading booked artists to pull out of the highly regarded electronic music festival’s 2023 edition.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2023

Art and politics clash at Labyrinth 2023

A controversy surrounding the prestige electronic music festival sparks an old debate over separating art and the artist.
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
Trump announces new tariff rate on Japan — and extension of deadline to Aug. 1
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a trade letter sent by the White House to Japan during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Lawson to let visitors use larger parking lots as paid car campsites
A Lawson convenience store in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture. A new service from the company comes amid the rise in inbound tourists, making hotels and inns harder to book and more expensive.
The future is bright inside the visionary mind of architect Sou Fujimoto
The exhibition of Fujimoto’s architecture surveys his career to date, as well as looks ahead as shown in his proposal of a future floating city designed in collaboration with data scientist Hiroaki Miyata.
A tiny mountain hamlet keeps traditional log rafting afloat
Once a way to transport lumber from the mountains to the coast, log rafting is now Kitayama's biggest attraction.
A furever friend: Tips for responsible dog ownership in Japan
Dog ownership may seem daunting in Japan, but with the right tools and logistical knowledge, you can ensure a healthy, happy life for your pet.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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