A new study found that unless Japan revises its laws to permit separate surnames for married couples, every Japanese citizen could have the surname “Sato” within the next 500 years, the Guardian reported. Led by Hiroshi Yoshida of Tohoku University, the study projects a concerning trend...
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A Japanese high court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a move that has divided the country’s judiciary and could pressure the conservative government to act, Reuters reported. The High Court of Sapporo, on northern Japan’s Hokkaido Island, said that rules in Japan’s...
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Japanese authorities issued a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across the country Monday after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook the country’s western coast, sparking fears of a repeat of 2011’s disaster, the Washington Post reported. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake erupted off the...
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned as chief of his faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday, following a political fundraising scandal that has further tarnished the prime minister’s already sinking popularity and prompted questions about his staying power, Kyodo News reported. Kishida,...
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Japan’s supreme court ruled Wednesday that the government cannot require transgender people to undergo sterilization in order to change their legal gender, a ruling that places the country in line with other developed democracies on LGBTQ rights, Bloomberg reported. The case centered on a Japanese man...
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The Japanese government will ask a court to order the dissolution of the Unification Church over allegations that the fringe religious group’s activities led to the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Bloomberg reported. The request comes more than a year after Abe’s assassination by...
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Chef Kazuyuki Tanioka owns a sushi restaurant called Toya in the Chinese capital of Beijing. Life hasn’t been easy for him in the past few years. China’s coronavirus restrictions nearly ruined him. Now he’s worried about another existential threat to his business: Chinese restrictions on...
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Japan’s Supreme Court ruled this week that it was illegal to restrict a transgender person from using certain bathrooms, the country’s first verdict on LGBTQ people’s rights in the workplace, Bloomberg reported. The case centers on a transgendered woman working for Japan’s trade ministry, who was...
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Japan will soon start releasing more than one million tons of treated radioactive water after the United Nations’ nuclear safety watchdog gave the country its approval this week, Axios reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted a review and found that Japan’s plan to release...
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Japanese authorities sterilized children as young as nine and used deception to carry out procedures on individuals with disabilities, according to a new parliamentary report on Japan’s now-scrapped eugenics law, Kyodo News reported this week. The 1,400-page document was released last week following a parliamentary investigation...
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Japan raised the age of consent from 13 to 16 and broadened the definition of rape, measures many sexual assault victims have argued are long overdue, the New York Times reported. Lawmakers in the upper house approved a new sexual crimes law that will define rape...
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Japan approved the sale of an abortion pill for the first time, a move many medical professionals and supporters see as a major milestone for reproductive and women’s rights in the socially conservative country, the Independent reported over the weekend. The health ministry said the medication...
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Japan is running out of land to bury culled chickens, as the country experiences a record outbreak of avian flu that analysts say will put a strain on the supply of poultry and compound the global spike in the price of eggs, CNN reported Thursday. Japanese...
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Japan’s Foreign Ministry ordered a popular social media personality and lawmaker to turn in his passport, a week after lawmakers ousted him from parliament for never showing up for work, Kyodo News reported Thursday. Last week, the upper house of the legislature voted to strip Yoshikazu...
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Japan and South Korea pledged to improve military and economic ties after a Thursday summit as they aim to mend relations strained by long-running historical disputes in order to shore up a united front against North Korea and China, the Wall Street Journal reported. South Korean...
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Police in the Aichi prefecture arrested three young people in connection with cases of sushi terrorism that have been rising in Japan and threatening the iconic conveyor belt sushi culture in the country, NBC News reported. The three youngsters, who are aged from 15 to 21,...
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Japan is planning to raise the country’s age of consent from 13 years old to 16, as part of a major overhaul of sex crime legislation, Agence France-Presse reported. The country has currently the lowest age of consent among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, which...
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A Japanese court acquitted three former Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) executives, who were charged with negligence in the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns, the first criminal prosecution related to the incident that occurred more than a decade ago, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. The three...
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Japan and the United States are planning to strengthen their defense alliance and upgrade the US military’s posture in the country, moves aimed at countering China’s influence, CNN reported Thursday. Officials from both countries announced the plan during the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting on Wednesday,...
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Japan introduced new monetary incentives this week to urge families to move out of Tokyo, a move aimed to address decades of demographic decline and economic migration to the capital, the Financial Times reported Monday. Officials said the government will offer families up to $7,600 per...
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