Tag - human-rights

 
Menu
Search
 
October 21, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

HUMAN RIGHTS

The Tokyo District Court building. The court ordered the government to pay damages over verbal abuse by prison guards against an inmate at Nagoya Prison.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 20, 2025
Government ordered to pay damages for verbal abuse of inmate
The ruling came after the bereaved family of the inmate sued the government for some ¥40 million, accusing it of failing to offer proper medical treatment to him.
Young people from Okinawa in the Kansai region dance during the first Eisa festival in Osaka’s Taisho Ward in September 1975.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Oct 20, 2025
Taking pride in its Okinawan roots, Osaka’s Eisa festival marks 50th year
The festival celebrating the traditional Okinawan summer dance was created for young workers to resist discrimination and reclaim pride in their roots.
The spread of discriminatory expressions through social media has emerged as a new concern.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2025
Japan to conduct survey on online hate speech
The Justice Ministry will analyze discriminatory expressions posted on X and other major social media platforms.
As governments race to deepen ties with Vietnam for strategic and economic gain, they must not ignore the country’s escalating human rights crackdown, which threatens both its people and the long-term sustainability of its growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025
Vietnam’s rights suppression carries a heavy price
Some Vietnamese say, "The government allows freedom of speech — just no freedom after you speak."
In the latest survey, many opponents of the dual surname system expressed concerns about parents and their children having different surnames, and about family breakdown.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2025
Government flooded with public comments against dual surnames
In a survey, many opponents of the dual surname system expressed concerns about parents and their children having different surnames.
Protesters rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on the second anniversary of the Gaza war on Oct. 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2025
The U.S. is losing hearts and minds in Southeast Asia over Gaza
For the first time, more respondents among the 10 ASEAN nations said they would align with China (50.5%) over the U.S. (49.5%) if forced to choose.
Amina (L), a household helper, sits beside her mother as she speaks during an interview in Karachi on July 31.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 14, 2025
'I know it's immoral': Child workers still common in Pakistan
One in four households in a country of 255 million people employs a child as a domestic worker, mostly girls aged 10 to 14.
Jin Mingri, the head pastor of the Zion Church in Beijing, has been detained by Chinese authorities on "suspicion of the illegal use of information networks."
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 14, 2025
China detains prominent underground pastor in crackdown
Jin Mingri, who founded the unregistered Zion Church, has been detained on "suspicion of the illegal use of information networks."
Eduardo Santoyo stands by his family's tamales stand in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago on Saturday. Santoyo's mother, Maria, was tending their business on Friday morning when she was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2025
Snatched: How ICE raids are shattering Chicago's immigrant world
Families are left to pick up the pieces as immigration agents swoop in without warning, often in broad daylight, snatch unsuspecting residents and drive off.
A teacher hands out a "defend your rights" flyer to a parent outside Nash Elementary School, amid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's increased presence in the Chicago area on Sept. 4.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2025
Chicago ICE raids and national guard troops prompt new school leaflets: ‘Know your rights’
U.S. President Donald Trump's deportation drive has induced fear in immigrant communities and protectiveness from educators.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi addresses the media at the White House on June 27 as President Trump listens following a Supreme Court ruling that limited federal judges' power to block presidential orders.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2025
Global lessons from a press in peril
A democracy cannot survive without a free press. There has never been a democracy without a media that is free and independent.
The government's revised action plan for preventing human rights violations linked to corporate activities is likely to focus on small companies as a "priority area."
JAPAN / Society
Oct 7, 2025
Japan's revised corporate action plan on human rights to prioritize small firms
The government aims to accelerate efforts across entire supply chains by encouraging small businesses, which have been slower to adopt human rights measures, to make improvements.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new Pentagon policy mandating pre-approval for unclassified information threatens to reverse nearly a century of First Amendment protections.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2025
Hegseth tries turning back 94 years of press freedom
The history on his side has been discredited by the Supreme Court for a century.
Articles in World War II-era women’s magazines emphasized their responsibilities in supporting soldiers and their roles at home bearing and rearing children.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Oct 6, 2025
Lingering ‘Showa Model’ gender roles keep women sidelined
The idea of husbands working while women stay home goes back to the prewar Civil Code, which stated that women were subordinates who required their husband’s permission to work.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on the BBC's "Sunday Morning" political television show in Manchester, England, on Sunday. She will give police new powers to place limits on repeated protests
WORLD
Oct 6, 2025
U.K. to introduce limits on protests after synagogue attack
The move comes a day after police arrested nearly 500 people in the latest protest in Trafalgar Square in support of the banned Palestine Action group.
Hong Kong has already installed almost 4,000 CCTV cameras under a police crime-fighting program. That number will increase to a total of 60,000 by 2028, according to documents submitted to the legislature.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2025
Hong Kong to install surveillance cameras with AI facial recognition
The Chinese finance hub has already installed almost 4,000 CCTV cameras under a police crime-fighting program.
Venezuelan migrants who had been detained in El Salvador walk up stairs to the terminal after disembarking from a plane at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, in July.
WORLD
Oct 4, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump strip temporary status from Venezuelan migrants
The court's ruling came at a time of simmering tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
Members of a forensic team work outside a Manchester synagogue on Friday where multiple people were killed a day earlier.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2025
U.K. police may have accidentally shot dead victim in synagogue attack
The attacker, whom armed officers shot dead at the scene, was not carrying a firearm, though one of those killed suffered a gunshot wound.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a meeting in Tianjin, China, on Aug. 31.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 3, 2025
Myanmar's reclusive general turns jet-setter in quest for election backing
Min Aung Hlaing's travels are part of a diplomatic push to win support for a controversial December election.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said "unjust human rights violations" were committed when sending tens of thousands of children overseas for adoption.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 2, 2025
South Korea president apologizes for overseas adoptions failures
International adoptions began after the Korean War as a way to remove children born to local mothers and American GI fathers from a society that emphasized ethnic homogeneity.
Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
Path clears for Takaichi to become PM as LDP and JIP agree to form coalition
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi (right) reaches out to shake hands with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing a coalition deal Monday evening in Tokyo.
EV battery race heats up among Japanese automakers
Japanese EV production is focusing on batteries as automakers compete for the lightest, most durable models and the longest driving range.
LDP and Nippon Ishin no Kai to form coalition government, report says
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin no Kai have agreed to form a coalition, paving the way for the country's first female prime minister, Kyodo reports.
Suntory and Sapporo to halt gift beer sales after cyberattack against Asahi
Suntory will gradually suspend the sale of 13 beer sets for winter gifts, including a set of Chinese zodiac-themed cans of The Premium Malt's.
What does Jimbocho think of its unexpected ‘cool’ status?
Tokyo's Jimbocho neighborhood is a haven for book lovers, its rows of secondhand bookstores spilling over with printed materials.
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
New film explores how Japan and the U.S. found common ground through baseball
Masanori Murakami became the first MLB player from Japan when he made his debut with the Giants on Sept 1, 1964.
As they wrestle for power, Japan’s political parties must remember their base
Rengo's head Tomoko Yoshino speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Oct. 8.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER