Nipponica

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is scheduled to hold a summit meeting with Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit, which is set to begin Tuesday in Washington, a U.S. government official said Friday.

NATO and the four countries are expected to discuss cyber affairs, countermeasures against false information and Ukraine aid, while keeping China and Russia in mind.

"Japan and Britain are important partners sharing values and principles. We will further promote the bilateral relationship with the new administration," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a regular press conference.

The aim is to utilize the know-how of Japan and the Southeast Asian country in removing mines and help other nations struggling with the issue, including Ukraine.

Partnerships like this are a great way to move forward to use the mistakes and wars of the past to help alleviate suffering in the conflicts of today. Cambodia had a dark history with landmines and now has a large share of knowledge of the damage they cause and how to eliminate them.

The SDF has acknowledged that the force's Sapporo Provincial Cooperation Office was involved in such activities, describing them as being "unique to Sapporo." Children's cafeterias are eateries or facilities that provide free meals to kids including those from families that have trouble putting food on the table.

Under an April 2003 notice from the vice defense minister, the then Defense Agency (now the Defense Ministry) stated that recruitment activities targeting junior high school students were to be carried out through their parents or school officials in charge of career guidance. One expert who spoke with the Mainichi Shimbun pointed out that if the Sapporo office were recruiting children directly, they may be running afoul of the notice.

The SDF is really taking this strategy from the US military in American schools. Can think of several shadow recruitment events that occurred in my schools in the past.

Japan will need 970,000 more foreign workers than it will have in 2040 to meet the nation's economic growth target, a new estimate shows, highlighting the country's challenges in attracting and retaining overseas talent.

The cultural and monetary barriers in place that keep workers from coming to Japan are working. Incentivizing pregnancies isn't working so Japan either needs to make the country more welcoming for immigrants or double down on robotification and hope Snatcher isn't brought to real life.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference it was "regrettable" that China has set up a small buoy in the waters off Japan's western main island of Shikoku and north of the southernmost Okinotori Island "without explaining its purpose and other details."

The article later says that the alleged purpose of the buoy is for tsunami monitoring but an email or two to Tokyo would have been a nice gesture. A similar buoy was installed around the Senkakus last year.

Taiwan Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu on Wednesday called for stronger relations between the island and Japan during his meeting with a group of Japanese parliamentarians in Taipei, emphasizing that lawmakers on both sides have the "responsibility" to maintain exchanges.

An official of the prefectural government in charge of the issue responded to the question, saying, “Indeed, as you have pointed out, I feel it is very difficult to convey the message of how serious the harm is with the poster. I will consider fixing the matter.”

Click through to see the curious looking bear that does seem too tame to maul you. Good boy.

In the lawsuit, the man argued that his fear of persecution could be sufficiently recognized, and that he couldn't hope for protection in his home country. The government denied the credibility of his claim, and stated, "It cannot be accepted that there are fears he would be persecuted immediately," and called for his case to be dismissed.

While I am happy for this person for winning his safety in court, it is frustrating that the government, who is trying to boost immigration, fought so hard to send him back to his country of origin. While it is never cited which country he is from, homosexuality in many African countries is illegal and punishable by prison time or worse. Japan should be a beacon for the oppressed, not a wall to climb over.

Japan's top court has ruled as unconstitutional a defunct eugenics law which saw 16,500 disabled people forcibly sterilised between the 1950s and 1990s.

The Supreme Court also ordered the government to pay damages to 11 victims, who were involved in five cases that were heard on appeal.

Wednesday's landmark ruling brings to an end a decades-long fight for justice by victims who have been demanding compensation and an apology.

It took almost 30 years from when this horrendous law was repealed for the victims of this tragedy to get some kind of reparation for what was taken away from them. One of the worst crimes of post war Japan.