Nipponica

The Japanese government is ramping up efforts to combat foreign election interference after the spread of misinformation by bots on social media became a problem in the recent upper house vote.

"Foreign interference in elections is commonplace around the world, and other countries are responding in various ways," said Masaaki Taira, minister for digital transformation, at a press conference on Tuesday. "Japan is not immune to this issue."

One thing I never really realized is that Japan lacks a CIA-like organization in the central government to collect and centrally distribute intelligence. The new National Cybersecurity Office will take on this work but relying on such a new office to take a lead on a new initiative might not lead to quick fixes to this.

The page displaying the passport holder's photo now uses plastic instead of laminated paper, and incorporates technologies such as holographic cherry blossoms and watermark cranes. Special processing has also been applied to raise the photo and date of birth above the surface.

Passports are one of my special interests and I always find it interesting on how they are produced. As the article mentions, previously they were made locally but no longer.

According to Moji Police Station, the hand grenade was American-made, measuring about 11 centimeters in length with a diameter of 5.5 cm. At the instruction of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, 25 residents in 19 households within a 30-meter radius of the grenade were temporarily evacuated.

Kyushu people always have to be special and evacuate in their own unique way.

Japan's antitrust watchdog on Tuesday announced guidelines under a new law to regulate monopolistic practices in the smartphone app market, mainly targeting U.S. tech giants Apple Inc. and Google LLC.

The core of the guidelines issued by the Japan Fair Trade Commission is a ban on discriminatory treatment of app stores not operated by the two platform companies. If more app stores compete and lower the commissions they charge developers, app prices for users could also fall, analysts said.

Somewhere in Cupertino, a rich executive is crying.

Emperor Naruhito met with Micronesian President Wesley Simina at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.

During the 30-minute talks, the emperor voiced sorrow over the loss of numerous lives in the Oceanian island country during World War II, which ended 80 years ago, according to the Imperial Household Agency.

Japan does have some level of engagement with their former Pacific colonies, but there could be a chance to strengthen their ties with the US wavering with the Compacts of Free Association with Micronesia, the Marshalls, and Palau.

Japan recorded the highest ever temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, beating the previous high of 41.1 C marked in 2018 and 2020. Authorities are strongly urging people to take precautions to avoid risks of heatstroke.

The mercury hit the above-human temperature of 41.2 C in the city of Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, at 14:39, while two cities — Fukuchiyama in Kyoto and Nishiwaki in Hyogo — also recorded extremely high temperatures of 40.6 C and 40 C, respectively.

Meanwhile, another weather disaster on the other side of the country.

A 1.3-meter-high tsunami was observed at Kuji Port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, at 1:52 p.m. on Wednesday, following a massive earthquake near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday morning.

Largest wave to hit Japan so far. Still not over yet but it looks like we got lucky today.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning and advisory for the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Okinawa in Wednesday morning. The estimate of maximum wave height is now expected to be 3 meter.

One-meter tsunami is expected to reach to Tokyo at 11:30 a.m., 3-meter tsunami to Kujukuri in Chiba at 10:30 a.m. and 1-meter tsunami to Osaka at 0 p.m.

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday upgraded its economic view on Okinawa Prefecture, reflecting robust vehicle sales and an increase in Japanese and foreign tourists.

Any good news about my old home is welcome. Okinawa during the pandemic was a quiet place so it is good that things are picking back up.

Energy company Eneos will soon launch a pilot initiative with printing group Toppan Holdings to recycle discarded paper into bioethanol, part of an effort to find a stable supply of the decarbonized fuel.

The field test is due to take place in early 2027. If successful, the companies aim to commercialize the technology as soon as fiscal 2030.

Cool tech, but the real money maker is to somehow convert all the waste plastic bags and packaging in this country into something useful.