Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday he would resign in a month and not run for reelection as leader of his party, ending a three-year term marred by political scandals, CNN reported. “The easiest way to clearly show that the (Liberal Democratic Party) has...
Read full story →
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off the coast of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu Thursday, prompting authorities to issue tsunami alerts and its first-ever warning of a “megaquake” from a nearby submarine trough, the Washington Post reported. The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the quake...
Read full story →
Japan’s top court on Wednesday ruled that a now-defunct post-war law allowing the forced sterilizations of people with disabilities was unconstitutional, and demanded the government pay damages to thousands of victims, the Guardian reported. The 15 judges’ unanimous verdict brought relief to victims and their relatives,...
Read full story →
Japan and India furiously rejected statements by US President Joe Biden this week calling the two allies “xenophobic” countries for not welcoming immigrants, while also grouping them in with China and Russia, Al Jazeera reported. Biden’s comments came during a campaign fundraiser, where he remarked that...
Read full story →
A recent survey found that more than 92 percent of Japanese respondents held unfavorable views of China, an increase of almost 5 percent compared with last year, reported the Japan Times. The findings hold lessons about geopolitics in Asia, specifically the shift in Japan’s increasingly...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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,...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →
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...
Read full story →