Fleeing in Japan may be more common than many think
Having fled Japan while awaiting trial for alleged financial wrongdoing, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has probably become the most famous foreign national ever arrested in the country. For a while after his initial detention in November 2018, the media discussed Japan's so-called hostage ...
Government slammed for singling out 'problematic' Tokyo Shimbun reporter in warning to press club
The government's handling of a Tokyo Shimbun reporter known for her assertive questioning style has come under heavy scrutiny, after it emerged that authorities issued a statement last year singling her out for criticism and urging the Japanese press to keep their questions "accurate" ...
Why do some old men age disgracefully?
It's a universal belief that life is unfair, though there are many ways in which people manifest this belief. Some withdraw from the world, while others engage with it in an attempt to correct imbalances. Sometimes this engagement takes the form of anger. The grumpy ...
Japan's plan to export arms is lacking ammo
When U.S. President Donald Trump was here last month, he said Japan should be buying more military hardware from America, and seemed to believe it would. Trump's penchant for talking off-the-cuff is well-known, but Japan's reluctance to address the matter forthrightly may have more ...
#MeToo movement confuses media in Japan
During a recent discussion on Bunka Hoso's radio talk show, "Golden Radio," about sexual misconduct in the U.S., the participants wondered if the #MeToo social media movement would catch on in Japan. "Me Too" as a movement was started more than a decade ago ...
Public questions Japan's duck and cover drills
On July 7, during a public assembly in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, Shunichi Tanaka, head of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, was asked how his organization would respond to a North Korean missile attack. Tanaka replied that it would make more sense for North Korea to ...
Does Japan really need more veterinarians?
The ongoing scandal involving the private educational corporation Kake Gakuen hinges on whether or not Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indirectly pushed the Cabinet to approve a new veterinary department for Okayama University of Science, a school run by Kake, whose chairman, Kotaro Kake, is ...
Japanese tradition denies surrogacy
Most major media covered the March 22 Tokyo news conference where Sachiko Kishimoto of the nonprofit organization Oocyte Donation Network (OD-Net) explained how a woman in her 40s had recently given birth to a daughter who had been conceived using the woman's husband's sperm ...
Voter apathy can threaten democracy
On April 17 the Asahi Shimbun reviewed the results of various local elections that had taken place the day before. The main story was not who got voted in or out, but whether or not anyone cared. The mayor of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, was returned ...
How the word 'terrorism' can help pass a bill
During the recent Diet grilling over his alleged involvement in the Moritomo Gakuen land purchase scandal, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accused his opposition party tormentors of resorting to inshō sōsa. The most accurate English translation is probably "image manipulation," which, in the age of ...
Waiting for the death-penalty debate that never comes
The media breathlessly cover murder trials and profile suspects who face the death penalty, but once a sentence is handed down, they fall back.
