Nipponica

A source close to the matter said the cyberattacks are believed to have been perpetrated by Chinese-affiliated hackers, adding a huge number of files may have been viewed, including information on external companies and organizations under nondisclosure agreements with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Friendly reminder to change your passwords regularly.

Moves are underway to introduce a lodging tax on hotel and inn guests in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island and home to many spots popular with international tourists, including renowned ski resorts and hot springs.

Unlike the temple tax that I wrote about the other day in Himeji, I think this is a more appropriate way to profit off of tourism, especially for the smaller towns like Kutchan and Niseko.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that the government will compile fresh inflation relief steps around this fall, providing cash handouts to low-income households struggling to weather the cost-of-living crisis.

I know Japan isn’t known for being speedy when its bureaucracy is involved, but saying we will get around to helping you out in 3 to 4 months is just another nail in the coffin of the Kishida administration.

Japan's top court on Friday recognized a transgender woman as the "father" of her 3-year-old daughter conceived using her frozen sperm and born to her female partner after legally transitioning, in the first such ruling.

One step closer.

The Nippon Foundation and the University of Tokyo together found deposits of some 230 million tonnes of manganese nodules on the seabed around Minami-Torishima, located roughly 1,900 km southeast of Tokyo, in a survey conducted between April and June.

European countries are sending more air and sea forces to Asia for defense exercises with Japan, bringing them closer to what remains a distant security challenge: China.

A destroyer from Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force held an exercise with a Turkish navy corvette on Sunday. Earlier this month, a Dutch frigate participated in the Netherlands' first joint exercise with an MSDF destroyer before heading to the upcoming U.S.-led international Rim of the Pacific exercise off Hawaii.

Regardless if anyone will say it out loud, but Japan is clearly a hub for a greater Pacific alliance of western nations against China, Russia, and North Korea. The real question is if Abe's dream of expanding the SDF into a military will become reality within this framework.

Argentina has decided to withdraw its participation in the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka, the third country to do so among those who were set to build their own pavilions, Japan's minister in charge of the global event said Friday.

This is following Estonia and Mexico’s withdrawal to build pavilions previously. As a fan of World Expos, it is disappointing to see countries pull out, but things like this are huge investments with no guarantee of return. Still though, the soft power gains could have been worth it. Osaka EPCOT will still live on.

A Tokyo gubernatorial candidate has been warned by police over his election posters displaying an almost naked woman, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned from sources close to the investigation.

Stay classy.

It is the first time since June last year for Japan to be on the "monitoring" list. In its biannual report to Congress, the department also placed six other economies on the list -- China, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Back on the naughty step.

On this week’s Deep Dive, we speak to Alex K.T. Martin who has done a series of pieces exploring what lies beneath the surface of Tokyo. Hidden rivers, ancient artifacts and crumbling infrastructure are just a few of the discoveries he made during his reporting. And while it’s important to know how we’re going to manage these things as climate change — or more importantly, the possible flooding that comes with it — worsens, sometimes it’s just fascinating to learn about the world under our feet.

Very interesting episode on one of my favorite subjects: urban infrastructure. To keep a city the size of Tokyo running (mostly) smooth, a lot of systems are needed to manage the services we all take for granted.

A group of four high school students recently received letters of thanks from police here after helping a woman who was being harassed by a stranger.

According to the students, they spotted what appeared to be a couple arguing on the street at the JR Kisarazu Station east exit on the evening of May 26. Because the 20-year-old woman appeared bothered, they asked her what was going on, to which she replied that she didn't know the man. They intervened between her and the man to stop her from being harassed. The group also surrounded the 38-year-old man so that he would not run off and asked a passerby to call the police. The man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of engaging in indecent acts without consent.

This is just one of those stories that you need to see more of in a country (or world, for that matter) that seems to encourage people to ignore those around us. Good that they stepped up and hope their actions spur others to help those in need.

In simplest terms, Japan’s problem is sclerosis. The country’s economic policymakers have opted for stability, halting the “creative destruction” that promotes innovation and delivers prosperity. “Among all rich countries, it is Japan where new companies find it hardest to get the external funding that is needed for growth. Consequently, the birth and death rate of companies has plunged and is now one of the lowest among 27 rich countries.”

A book review of The Contest for Japan’s Economic Future by Richard Katz. In my own personal experience in the country, this tendency towards risk-aversion and stability is very real.

The leaders of Japan and New Zealand effectively agreed Wednesday on a pact to enhance their classified information sharing, as the regional security environment becomes more severe amid China's growing military assertiveness.

Japan is very much becoming the sixth eye in the Anglosphere alliance.

Regarding the expulsion, the university stated that the students had "disturbed university order and acted against the duties of a student." The administration explained that "participating in the anti-war protest with a banner without submitting the required event notification and off-campus name usage permission created the appearance of an official university activity." Concerning the tuition fee protest, the university stated that "despite clarifying there would be no fee hike, the protest caused unnecessary anxiety and confusion among students and their guardians."

Typical Japan, death by bureaucracy. The student's argument is much more tangible.

One of the former students remarked angrily, "Is it the role of an academic institution to use authoritarian power to suppress inconvenient truths? This is an unacceptable act of censorship." Nishizawa explained, "For university administrators to tamper with mail addressed to individuals undermines the reliability of the postal system. It constitutes censorship and infringes on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression." The ex-students are considering filing criminal charges, including violation of Article 263 of the Penal Code for concealment of letters.

This is the first bank note update since 2004. Now adorning the 10,000-yen (about $63) notes is Shibusawa Eiichi, an industrialist considered to be the father of capitalism in Japan. On the new 5,000-yen (some $32) notes is Tsuda Umeko, founder of Tsuda University in the Japanese capital. Lastly, honoring the 1,000-yen (roughly $6.30) notes is Kitazato Shibasaburo, a microbiologist who established a treatment for tetanus.

This is very much an "evolution, not revolution" design change for the yen banknotes as they still maintain the general look of the previous set while incorporating new imagery and security features.

The Lower House voted down a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday amid widespread disaffection with the Liberal Democratic Party-led government and dismal approval ratings.

The motion — submitted earlier in the day by the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan — was voted down by the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito, which, combined, hold a supermajority in the chamber.

There was no chance this would pass but it is still one step closer to the cliff for Kishida.

Australia's Qantas Airways has joined a number of carriers forgoing scheduling flights to and from regional Japanese airports as Japan faces a ground airport staff shortage and an acute fuel shortage also looms.

Earlier this year, Qantas had been assessing recommencing seasonal flying to Sapporo for the next ski season in Hokkaido in the north. But a specific plan did not materialize due to supplier constraints at the airport, including labor shortages. Qantas had discussions with local airport stakeholders but did not enter the government filing process, and thus did not schedule any flights.

The article cites closing domestic oil refineries and trucker shortages as the reasons for these decreases in service. Once those are addressed, one would hope that these carriers return, but there is no guarantee. For Sapporo and other destinations in Hokkaido especially, it would be a huge blow to tourism and connectivity for residents.

A psychiatric evaluation of the man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has determined him mentally fit to be held criminally responsible for his actions, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

He had a clear stated motivation to commit the murder from the start and never wavered from it. He knew exactly what he was doing. And the government actions against the Unification Church after the fact also show that his motivation to commit this crime was based in some realm of reality.

The Japanese health ministry announced that it found no substantial proof of "black rain" that dozens of people reported witnessing in the area around this southwest Japan city shortly after it was hit with an atomic bomb in August 1945.

The national government defines Nagasaki's "hibakusha," or atomic bombing survivors, as those who were in a specified zone within a 12-kilometer radius of the blast, and provides them with relief. Those who were outside the zone, but still within the 12-km radius, are considered "hibaku taikensha" -- people who "experienced the A-bomb," but who are not certified as hibakusha.

Who exactly wins by denying these already elderly people with extra benefits? It seems quite petty to be so strict about who can be hibakusha or not. These people, regardless of them being within 12km of the blast or not, were witnesses to one of the worst atrocities in human civilization. That alone should merit some compensation.

Google LLC said Wednesday it will collaborate with the University of Tokyo to launch an initiative that uses generative artificial intelligence to address challenges faced by local communities in Japan, such as a shrinking workforce, with successful models to be rolled out nationwide by 2027.

This reeks of a solution looking for a problem. AI is not going to be the savior for anything issue that society face. Could it help in very specific ways, sure. But these collaborations and announcements are for the press releases only.

In Osaka, the focus will be on resolving employment mismatches due to skews in the types of professions that job seekers prefer. A successful model, for example, would be able to suggest positions that job seekers themselves may not have realized were suitable, or illustrate ideal career paths leading to a desired job.

Replacing the job counselor and recruiter, the true scourges of society. I'm sure the usefulness of this program will definitely offset the environmental damage training this AI model will take.