Tag - human-rights

 
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September 05, 2025
 

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HUMAN RIGHTS

A survey by a private group found that 30% of people in de facto marriages in Japan have not filed for marriage registration because they or their partners do not want to change their surnames.
JAPAN
May 6, 2025
About 30% of those in de facto marriages refuse to marry over surname change
Nearly half of such people are willing to file if a system allowing married spouses to use different surnames is introduced.
Demonstrators with signs stand around the John Harvard Statue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a rally against U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on Harvard University on April 17.
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2025
Trump administration freezes future grants to Harvard
The U.S. president has targeted the university over allegations of antisemitism on campus during pro-Palestinian protests.
U.S. citizen Chrishan Wright from New York after an interview in Lisbon on April 9
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2025
Fearing Trump's policies, some Americans start new lives in Europe
Relocation firms said there has been a spike in interest since Trump returned to the White House, with clients expressing concern over policy and social issues.
With the June 1 reform of imprisonment penalties, Japan will shift the main objective of imprisonment from punishment to preventing repeat offenses.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 5, 2025
Japanese prisons prepare for imprisonment penalty reform
Japan will shift the main objective of imprisonment from punishment to preventing repeat offenses.
Japan climbed four positions from last year, with Reporters Without Borders noting that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
JAPAN
May 3, 2025
Japan ranks 66th in press freedom, lowest among G7
Reporters Without Borders noted that "the principles of media freedom and pluralism are generally respected" in the country.
Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 3, 2025
Supreme Court chief vows to handle retrial requests swiftly
"There have not been many requests for retrial, so it is not easy to share and accumulate experiences," Supreme Court Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki said.
Plaintiffs celebrate the Tokyo High Court's ruling in a same-sex marriage lawsuit in Tokyo on Oct. 30.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 2, 2025
Signs of change emerge in constitutional interpretation of same-sex marriage
In a country often seen as a laggard on the rights of sexual minorities, five high courts all ruled against the ongoing ban on same-sex marriage just in the last year.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
May 1, 2025
U.S. eyes more migration deals, with Rwanda said to be in talks
"We are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries," said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A drone view shows detainees forming the letters SOS with their bodies in the courtyard at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility, where Venezuelans at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling are held, in Anson, Texas, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
May 1, 2025
Abrego Garcia judge says U.S. must give answers on his return
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled Wednesday that the government must answer questions on its efforts to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
A car with curtains drawn, one of two, is seen leaving Hong Kong's Shek Pik prison just before sunrise on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 29, 2025
First batch of Hong Kong democrats freed after four years in jail
Four former pro-democracy lawmakers, including Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan, were driven away from three separate prisons across Hong Kong around dawn.
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.
The badge of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is seen during an operation with migrants being transferred to a plane to be expelled from the United States to their country at the airport in El Paso, Texas, in May 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 26, 2025
2-year-old U.S. citizen appears to have been deported 'with no meaningful process'
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty said the girl, who was referred to as "V.M.L." in court documents, was deported with her mother.
A federal courthouse in Boston where a judge is presiding over a challenge by one of the many international students suing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
WORLD / Society
Apr 26, 2025
Trump administration to restore foreign students' legal status, for now
One international student said they felt relief but were "still very much anxious about next steps."
The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to promote the development of artificial intelligence technology and take steps to mitigate its risks.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 25, 2025
Japan's Lower House passes AI promotion bill
AI "will be the foundation of economic and social development and is an important technology from the viewpoint of security," the bill said.
A protest against Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing's United Front Work Department is charged with managing relations with overseas Chinese, including in Hong Kong, with the aim of mobilizing society to achieve the government's goals.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 23, 2025
China’s catch-22: Rapid growth with tight social control
The Chinese government is locked in the contradictory goals of pursuing economic growth while maintaining strong social control through its United Front Work Department.
The U.S., U.K. and Europe are aligning with China and Russia in their efforts to undermine the encryption tools that millions of internet users depend on.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2025
Don't let governments break encryption
To convince the public that breaking encryption is necessary, governments often rely on technical jargon and emotionally charged anecdotes.
A demonstrators protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's moves to force changes at colleges such as Columbia University and others by cutting grants and imposing various sanctions, at Foley Square in New York on April 17.
WORLD / Society
Apr 23, 2025
U.S. college presidents unite against Trump's higher education policies
They have described the moves as "the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education."
Hungarian Nikoletta Bogadi speaks during an interview in Budapest on April 2. Bogadi's life was turned upside down when one of her four children came out as gay and another one as transgender.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 22, 2025
Trump helps inflame anti-LGBTQ+ feeling from Hungary to Romania
The U.S. president's anti-LGBTQ+ push is emboldening similar efforts in Europe.
People walk past the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
Does Trump's Venezuela deportation notice comply with Supreme Court ruling?
A judge has expressed skepticism that the notice informs Venezuelan migrants of their right to legally challenge their removals.
The first meeting of a subcommittee under the Legislative Council to discuss a review of the retrial system on Monday at the Justice Ministry
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
Panel agrees on need to revise retrial system
Public calls for a review of the retrial system, which has not been revised since the country's criminal procedure law was established in 1948, have been growing.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
Anger in Japan after Instagrammer drinks burial site offering
Foreign tourists visit a park near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in August.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Tropical Storm Peipah forms off southwestern Japan
Tropical Storm Peipah, which formed off southeastern Japan, is expected to travel east off the Tokai area and the Kanto region.
What we know about the supplements scandal linked to Suntory’s ex-CEO
Takeshi Niinami, the former chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings, at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of Joint 3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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