NEWSWORTHY
Lacking direction from Tokyo, Japan's municipalities struggle to implement anti-hate speech law
With Thursday marking two years since the enactment of a law against hate speech targeting ethnic Koreans and other minorities, local governments — required to take action under the legislation — called on Tokyo to present clear standards on how to eliminate racist propaganda. Some ...
Japan's courts are being asked to define the role of the SDF
As discussed in Media Mix last week, news organizations are on the lookout for signs of whether the country’s Self-Defense Forces are becoming politically active. There have been indications the SDF wants to be the conventional military that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has ...
Tokyo High Court upholds ruling calling city of Saitama's refusal to publish pacifist haiku 'unfair'
The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld a district court ruling that called "unfair" the city of Saitama's refusal to publish a haiku which referred to the Constitution and carried a pacifist message in its local newsletter . The high court ordered the city to ...
Fumio Kishida to make decision on LDP presidential election after Diet closes for summer
Fumio Kishida, the Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief, said he will make his decision on whether to run for party president, and thus prime minister, after the Diet closes for the summer. "The time is now for the government and the ruling coalition to unite ...
In a recent video message the prime minister spoke about the need to revise the top law, but does he still have the public support to do it?
More than half of Japanese oppose any constitutional revisions under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — though a majority do see a need for some changes in the future, a Kyodo News survey showed Wednesday. Revising the Constitution has been a long-held goal of the conservative ...
Peacekeepers were given the orders following a July 2016 outbreak of fierce fighting, despite government claims the area was devoid of armed conflict.
Massachusetts top court rules stun gun ban violates Second Amendment
The top court in Massachusetts on Tuesday struck down a state law that banned civilians from possessing stun guns, saying the law violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which protects Americans' right to bear arms. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in the case of ...
Abe's right — it's time to codify the SDF
The importance of providing legal clarity to decision-makers — especially during times of crisis — cannot be overstated.
Key LDP panel agrees to pursue Abe's proposed amendment of Japan's pacifist Constitution
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has decided to pursue a plan proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to amend Article 9 of the nation’s war-renouncing Constitution and add an explicit reference to the Self-Defense Forces. Abe, who is eager to make the first-ever revision to ...
LDP panel fails to form consensus over revision of war-renouncing Article 9
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's panel on constitutional revisions failed to reach a consensus Thursday over how the war-renouncing Article 9 should be revised, facing resistance from rank-and-file members calling for more radical revision than the ideas proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Those lawmakers ...
