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September 16, 2025
 

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HARASSMENT

Hideo Kojima, a former mayor of the town of Ginan in Gifu Prefecture who resigned over 99 sexual harassment allegations, has been elected as a town councilor, officials said Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2025
Ex-mayor in Gifu with 99 harassment complaints wins town council seat
The election of Hideo Kojima, who stepped down last year after an official investigation, has sparked anger and outrage online.
Then-Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe speaks during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22. Freixe was fired this week over an undisclosed romantic relationship with a subordinate.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2025
From Coldplay kiss cam to Nestle, office romances are costing CEOs their jobs
The firing of Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe this week puts the spotlight on office relationships, and their ubiquity.
A boy looks at samples of Pokemon toys available with the McDonald's Happy Meal set in Tokyo earlier this month.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 28, 2025
How to complain politely: Lessons from the McDonald’s Pokemon debacle
In Japan, the right phrasing can mean the difference between a request and harassment.
Fuji TV headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward. Fuji TV came under fire over the manner in which it handled a case of “sexual trouble” involving former boy band member Masahiro Nakai and a female announcer.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2025
How the Japanese TV industry is changing
After a series of major scandals in recent years, Japan’s TV industry appears to be growing more sensitive to issues of harassment and misconduct.
A recent case involving teachers sharing voyeuristic images of schoolgirls has sparked national outrage.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2025
Teachers sharing illicit student images raises question of systemic failure
Japan’s sluggish policy response and deep-rooted cultural resistance to the concept of consent sets it apart from other countries.
The leading cause of workers experiencing work-related mental health issues was power harassment, or an abuse of authority from superiors, which accounted for 224 cases.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2025
Work-related mental health cases hit record high in Japan
The leading cause of such cases was power harassment, or an abuse of authority from superiors.
A criminal complaint was filed Tuesday against Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito and two others over the leak of private information relating to a whistleblower.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025
Hyogo governor slapped with criminal complaint over information leak
The complaint also targeted former Vice Gov. Yasutaka Katayama and Chiaki Inomoto, former head of the prefecture's general affairs department.
Women aspiring to enter politics attend a class at a school for future female politicians in Gifu Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2025
Over half of local assemblywomen suffer harassment, survey shows
Specifically, "verbal abuse" was cited by both male and female members as the leading form of harassment.
Fuji TV in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The company has also demoted the then-head of programming for his alleged secondary harassment of the victim as he delivered cash and other consolation gifts from the TV idol to her while she was in the hospital.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025
Fuji TV to sue former executives over their response to Nakai scandal
The company also demoted the then-head of programming for his alleged secondary harassment of the victim, a former Fuji TV announcer.
Harvey Weinstein, accused of three sex crimes, appears for his retrial at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan on May 9.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2025
'No means no,' prosecutor tells jurors as Harvey Weinstein trial wraps
The cinema magnate's retrial follows the overturning of his 2020 convictions on rape and sexual assault charges by an appeals court.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito speaks to the press following the opening of the prefectural assembly's June regular session on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito to take 50% pay cut over info leak
The leak concerned the personal information of a former prefectural government employee who distributed a document alleging harassment by the governor.
The third-party committee, chaired by Ryoji Kudo, announced the results of the investigative report at the Hyogo Prefectural Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 27, 2025
Hyogo governor likely behind whistleblower info leak, says panel
Saito told the third-party panel that he thinks he was informed of the whistleblower's personal information but did not issue any instructions on how to handle it.
The "customer harassment" rate for officials of prefectural and municipal governments shown by the internal affairs ministry's first-ever survey on the matter far exceeded the 10.8% for private-sector employees found by the labor ministry in its survey in fiscal 2023.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025
'Customer harassment' faced by 35% of local government officials
A survey found that 17.5% of cases were prompted by officials' work at customer service counters, such as mistakes.
Comedian Takaaki Ishibashi
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2025
Comedian Ishibashi apologizes over sexual harassment dinner incident
The scandal has been compared to the Fuji TV sexual harassment case involving former television star Masahiro Nakai.
Overcrowded trains and a lack of legal consequences for groping in Japan have led to a rise in "chikan," or groping, which has been linked to a mental condition and compounded by cultural stigmas.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 13, 2025
'Chikan' incidents rise as Japan grapples with mental health and cultural challenges
The governments of the U.K. and Canada have warned their citizens traveling to Japan that they could experience inappropriate physical contact — or "chikan" — on crowded trains
Fuji Television Network President Kenji Shimizu (center) visits the communications ministry in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2025
Japan's government warns Fuji TV over handling of scandal
Dalton Investments, a major shareholder in Fuji Media, said Thursday that it has demanded the resignation of executives at the media group over the scandal.
Lawyer Akira Takeuchi (center), the head of a third-party panel commissioned by Fuji TV to investigate a series of scandals at the broadcaster, fields questions along with other panel members at a news conference on Monday in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
JAPAN / Media / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2025
What the Fuji TV third-party probe uncovered
The panel concluded that TV personality Masahiro Nakai committed "sexual violence" against a female newscaster and that there is a culture of harassment at the broadcaster.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito bows during a news conference at the Hyogo prefectural government building in Kobe on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 26, 2025
Hyogo governor apologizes over harassment but denies breaking whistleblower law
Motohiko Saito denied the illegality of the actions to identify the whistleblower, saying that they were appropriate.
A Self-Defense Forces officer speaks during a news conference Friday at the Tokyo District Court over a power harassment lawsuit he filed against the state earlier in the day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2025
SDF officer sues the state over alleged power harassment
The officer is seeking more than ¥14 million in damages after being transferred to a post completely different from his field of expertise, which led to mental illness.
Tokyo will soon require all companies in the city to make efforts to stop harassment by customers, such as by creating a manual on how to handle suspected cases.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 17, 2025
Tokyo gears up for April launch of law against harassment by customers
All companies in Tokyo must make an effort to eliminate such harassment, such as by creating a manual on how to handle suspected cases.
SDF spots China’s biggest aircraft carrier for first time
The Fujian aircraft carrier is seen in Shanghai in May 2024 as it leaves for its first sea trial.
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
Is America ready for Japanese-style 7-Elevens?
Convenience stores are a fixture of Japanese life and 7-Eleven, a chain that began in the U.S. in 1927, opened its first store in Japan in 1974 — and then became wholly Japanese-owned in 2005 through parent company Seven & I Holdings.
Final weeks of World Expo in Osaka likely to see large crowds
With one month left to go, crowds are expected to swell at the World Expo in Osaka during its final weeks.
Japan's elderly population down at around 36.2 million
The estimated number of people age 65 or older in Japan stands at 36.19 million as of Monday, accounting for record 29.4% of the country's total population, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Strikes on Qatar and Poland shake U.S. sway among friend and foe
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Sept. 8. Israeli strikes in Qatar and Russian drone incursions into Poland have challenged the U.S. leaders claims of global respect.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

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