Heisei's legal legacies include greater civic participation
With Emperor Akihito abdicating on April 30, the Heisei Era that began Jan. 8, 1989, after his father's death will also come to an end. With this column I'd like to look back at some of the noteworthy changes that occurred to Japan's laws ...
Why Japan's poor media grade matters
Japan has a media problem, and it's holding back the economy and undermining Abe's goal of raising Tokyo's global status.
Japan's Board of Audit: unlikely guardians of the Constitution?
As well as uncovering government waste, the bean counters have pushed back — politely — over state secret exemptions.
Defense Ministry warned about misuse of state secrecy designations
The ministry has been advised to lift its secrecy designation for a file that an oversight body says contains no applicable restricted information under the secrecy law, the Cabinet Office said.
Letters: Snowden and the sheeple; 'U.S. Marines culture' was once like Japan's
A couple of readers' responses to recent Community Page articles.
Who's watching whom in Japan? It's a state secret
Contentious law has been cited in two recent cases, including one over the mass surveillance of resident Muslims.
Freedom of speech and of the press, a key democratic right, is increasingly under threat around the world.
The Diet boards trying to oversee the designation of state secrets under Shinzo Abe's new laws are running into significant problems — as expected.
The background check required of people who are going to handle state secrets is overly intrusive in some areas.
The controversial state secret law that took effect last year has already had a chilling effect on the media: no one is even talking about it anymore.
The Abe administration must not be allowed to use "the war on terror" to enact sweeping security laws.
A political turning point for Japan's youth
July 15, 2015, will go down in Japanese history. As what, though? The day democracy's decline became irreversible? Or the day democracy's decline was reversed? The Wall Street Journal covered the core event of the drama in these terms: "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a ...
