Category Archives: Media

The Passion of Shiori Ito

Posted on December 16, 2025 by philipbrasor

I first saw Shiori Ito’s documentary, Black Box Diaries, about her struggle to bring the man who raped her to some kind of justice, in Oct. 2024 at the Busan International Film Festival. At the opening night reception, the American … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Welfare recipients have to choose between benefits and cars

Posted on October 27, 2025 by philipbrasor

In June the Supreme Court ruled that government cuts to welfare carried out between 2013 and 2015 were unlawful in a decision that undermined much of the welfare ministry’s rationale for how it determines benefits. The court ruled in favor … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Citizens demand end of immigration policy that doesn’t exist

Posted on October 22, 2025 by philipbrasor

One of the two women that Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has appointed to her cabinet is Kimi Onoda, who will be in charge of promoting “orderly coexistence with foreigners.” Onoda, who was born in the U.S. to … Continue reading →

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Media watch: School teacher pedophile group seems to have been around a while

Posted on September 1, 2025 by philipbrasor

In early July, the education ministry called an emergency meeting with local school superintendents asking them “to strictly enforce teacher discipline and eradicate sexual violence against students.” The meeting was called in the wake of media reports that two public … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Loan or lease, you pay for it all in the end

Posted on August 24, 2025 by philipbrasor

Earlier this month Asahi Shimbun reporter Yotaro Hamada, whose specialty is social welfare, commented on an editorial he had written in July about Japanese opposition parties’ campaign pledges to reduce the consumption tax and social security premiums. Hamada insisted that … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Former maiko reveals a dark side of traditional Japanese arts

Posted on July 31, 2025 by philipbrasor

One of the aspects of the Johnny & Associates sexual abuse scandal that made it even more disturbing was the notion that the media knew for years about the abuse and said nothing. It almost seemed as if most media … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Sanseito’s draft constitution a blueprint for repression and control

Posted on July 19, 2025 by philipbrasor

The Upper House election campaign has been dominated by an unusual issue: foreign residents of Japan. The upstart Sanseito Party, whose motto is “Japanese People First,” has made it one of the planks of their platform, saying that foreign residents … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Candidates won’t be talking about caregiving

Posted on July 8, 2025 by philipbrasor

Right now the issue gaining the most media attention leading up to the Upper House election later this month is the status of foreigners in Japan, owing mainly to controversial remarks made by the new opposition party Sanseito. It’s hard … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Court lets government discriminate against sex workers because of feelings

Posted on June 28, 2025 by philipbrasor

On June 16 the first petty bench of the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit brought by a business in the Kansai region against the government for denying it COVID-19 cash grants, which were distributed to companies during the pandemic so … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Koreans reconsider unwed parenthood

Posted on June 1, 2025 by philipbrasor

Last Friday, the Japanese Diet took up the issue of separate names for married couples for the first time in 28 years. Though the debate about bessei—allowing partners who wed to retain their individual birth surnames rather than forcing them … Continue reading →

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