Category Archives: Media

Media watch: Is Japan bankrupting itself just to make the U.S. happy?

Posted on January 11, 2023 by philipbrasor

We’ve already written about the huge amount of money that Japan plans to spend for defense in the coming years. We’ve also written about how Japan will acquire all the new hardware it says it needs. What we didn’t write … Continue reading →

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Media watch: You can’t pay people to have kids

Posted on January 8, 2023 by philipbrasor

On Jan. 4 during his New Year’s press conference, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to implement measures to increase Japan’s low birth rate. In 2022, the number of babies born in Japan went below 800,000 for the first time, and … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Even celebrities die alone

Posted on December 28, 2022 by philipbrasor

On July 25, the Japanese actor Yoko Shimada died in a Tokyo hospital. She was 69 years old. Some older people may remember Shimada as the female lead in the 1980 American TV miniseries Shogun, which was based on James … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Kishida’s kid not cut out for Nagatacho

Posted on December 26, 2022 by philipbrasor

If you have access to Japanese Twitter you may have noticed some Tweets about a certain female reporter who works for Fuji TV. The posts invariably link to tabloid news articles that describe the woman as being involved in some … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Is Japan’s new defense posture vis-a-vis the U.S. a case of the tail wagging the dog?

Posted on December 24, 2022 by philipbrasor

Though the Japanese government’s intentions to double the defense budget over the next five years has caused some controversy here, in the U.S. it has mostly met with unequivocal support. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Welfare payments decrease despite inflation

Posted on December 21, 2022 by philipbrasor

The welfare ministry’s main task with regards to public assistance is to make sure individuals who receive government funds due to financial difficulties are not taking undue advantage of the system. Consequently, the rationale behind public welfare in Japan isn’t … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Bad conditions for technical interns persist

Posted on December 18, 2022 by philipbrasor

Despite the negative press that Japan’s overseas technical interm program has received in recent years, nothing about it has changed in any way. According to NHK, in fiscal 2021 there were more than 23,000 formal complaints made to the Organization … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Starting deadline for paying back COVID loans approaches

Posted on December 5, 2022 by philipbrasor

One of the government’s countermeasures to address the economic hardship caused by COVID-19 was interest-free loans, called tokurei kashitsuke, for households whose income had dropped appeciably due to the pandemic. Though these kinds of loans have always been available, the … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Death row inmates question the way they meet their ends

Posted on December 1, 2022 by philipbrasor

Several days ago, most major media outlets reported on a ¥33 million lawsuit filed by lawyers for 3 inmates on Osaka Detention House’s death row to change their execution method due to the cruel nature of the way those executions … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Is Japan ready for uterus transplants?

Posted on November 28, 2022 by philipbrasor

According to an article published by Asahi Shimbun on Nov. 25, Keio University has applied to the health ministry for permission to carry out uterus transplants. If permission is granted, the ministry will start screening applicants for the procedure early … Continue reading →

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