From Kyodo:
"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.
From The Japan Times:
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.
Hiroyuki Katano from The Mainichi:
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.
From The Guardian:
Starting this month, the large machine with enormous arms, a crude, disproportionately small Wall-E-like head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck – which can drive on rails – will be put to use for maintenance work on the company’s network.
Sometimes living in Japan feels like living back in the 1980s. In this case, and basically any time robotics in involved, this is the FUTURE I was promised. Keep being weird, JR.
James Hadfield from The Japan Times:
In the space of just a few years, the stand-up comic went from celebrated to shunned. Woman Rush Hour — his manzai comedy duo with Paradise Nakagawa — saw their annual TV appearances plummet from 250 to just one.
The reason wasn’t too hard to deduce. In 2017, Muramoto had a political awakening during a trip to an area hit by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Suddenly, his routines became consciousness-raising tirades, exploring and exploding social taboos and scandals du jour while occasionally remembering to throw in a good gag.
Really curious to see this as I am not too versed in Japanese comedy. The review paints Nakagawa as a genuine guy that is just trying to help people think about issues using comedy as a tool, much like Carlin et. al. in the western context. And doing so in good faith, unlike some.
Eugene Lang from Nikkei:
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.
From Kyodo:
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.
From The Japan Times:
On March 26 at around 2:30 p.m, the two suspects reportedly told their coworker, a 50-year-old man with an intellectual disability, "You stink! Get in the washing machine."
They allegedly proceeded to force him into the machine and turn it on, resulting in injuries that required two weeks to heal.
Besides the usual comments about harassment in Japanese working culture, I must also make note that this is also harassment of those with intellectual impairments. We all just need to love each other regardless of our differences and get along. This story is so sad.
Peter Masheter from Kyodo:
Japan's capsule toy industry has come a long way from the corner of the supermarket, as it enjoys a new boom at home that is spurring multiple market players to set their sights on overseas expansion.
The whole Gacha Industrial Complex is fun on one hand but it is a kind of warm-and-fuzzy introduction to gambling for kids and adults. You get a prize every time but rarely the one you actually wanted, which encourages you to take another chance.
The old man will now leave the room and let joy return.
Takashi Ishizuka from The Mainichi:
It had been raining since the morning, but the rain stopped occasionally during the parade. Sensing that the guests were losing energy in the heat, Baymax stopped the floats and splashed water on them. The guests cheered loudly.
Baymax for PM.