Residency rules impoverish Kurdish refugees as pandemic strips away support
Many who seek asylum in Japan, and are released from detention on condition that they do not work, now find they can't afford medical care or food.
Japan maker of animal ventilators asked to up output for virus-hit humans
A medical equipment maker said it was recently approached by the government to mass produce veterinary ventilators to treat human coronavirus patients and that dozens of other countries have expressed interest as well. Metran Co. Chief Executive Kazufuku Nitta said the government officials came calling ...
In the shadow of giants: Are high-rise condominiums in Japan destroying local communities?
Tsukishima is among many districts being gentrified by giant condominium projects popping up in the most populous city in the world.
Osaka, Okawa at the forefront of demographic changes altering power structures
On the surface, former Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and Kazuhito Wada, the head of Okawa village, Kochi Prefecture, have little in common. Hashimoto is brash, confrontational and more interested these days in getting rich as a private citizen than in being a politician. Wada ...
Lessons learned from the failure of the Osaka Foreign Settlement
This year, Osaka is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of its port to the outside world. Numerous events, lectures and symposiums on how Osaka developed from 1868 to the present have taken place or are planned between now and early next year. Many ...
Even discarded crusts can go a long way in feeding the needy
It all began with bread crusts — lots and lots of bread crusts. Tatsuya Sakamaki, owner of bread manufacturer Bongout in the Saitama city of Kawaguchi, was troubled by the bags of crusts that would accumulate from the 50 loaves of white sandwich bread he ...
Saitama assemblyman apologizes for remark about number of registered dogs, foreigners
An official in Saitama Prefecture apologizes after pointing out that the non-Japanese population of city of Kawaguchi is larger than the number of registered dogs.
