Nipponica

Currently, the Justice Ministry only allows online birth registration when submitted with a digitally signed birth certificate. Due to the additional complexity of processing documents with digital signatures, no municipalities have accepted digitally signed birth certificates, effectively requiring all birth registration papers to be submitted or mailed to local government offices.

Under the new system, local governments will be able to receive birth certificates in a digital form directly from medical institutions starting as early as fiscal 2026.

While I hope that this system will launch without issue, a rush of fake births registered to this system could be the solution to the population crisis.

The minor "NHK Party" allowed anyone who donated to the party to use their space on the campaign boards for the July 7 election. The group's leader Takashi Tachibana stated in a regular press conference on June 21, "We were able to raise a very big issue. I consider it a great success."

I do find the large poster boards that go up at every election to be a bit archaic, but in their defense, it does give equal footing to all candidates in a contest. Perhaps it could be done better using a different medium while still maintaining the uniform presentation for each contender.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.