Nipponica

Japan's parliament passed amendments to its political funds control law on Wednesday, cracking down on lawmakers who fail to appropriately report political income.

The amendments are part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's efforts to restore faith in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is facing record-low approval ratings and local election losses amid an enduring political kickback scandal.

This is a good explainer to the new law as well as the bottomless pit of disapproval that Kishida and his government are currently in.

Students at a junior high school here are now able to set their own class rules apart from school rules in an initiative intended to address issues in school life. However, while the system reflects some students' input, others find it confusing, and parents are questioning the entire project, the Mainichi Shimbun has discovered.

This entire story is worth a read simply to see how feckless the school was from preventing students from abusing each other with the regime they created. A personal favorite to demonstrate the monster that was created:

Meanwhile, there are also rules that the school is unaware of, such as, "Gym short drawstrings must be the same color as when purchased." The male student said, "There was an uproar in the class when someone changed their drawstring color." His mother wondered whether the students had adopted the mindset of binding people with rules.

The complaint filed with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office the same day alleges that Koike's persistent lies about graduating from Cairo University in Egypt constitute false disclosure, Toshiro Kojima said at a press conference in Tokyo.

She denies it as expected, but if true, how did this stay under wraps until now?

Japanticket Inc., one of the partners in the project, said it started to sell tours in which travelers will fly on HondaJets to Toyama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures. These tours are aimed at foreign tourists, with ticket prices starting at 1.5 million yen ($9,500) per person.

Definitely out of my price range and definitely not the market for the common traveler. But this could be a first step to build out a domestic aircraft manufacturer that could complete with some markets.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and her biggest rival, opposition-backed lawmaker Renho, clashed over how to tackle the declining birthrate as they finally unveiled their pledges for next month's gubernatorial election on Tuesday, just two days before official campaigning starts.

Policy aside, it is refreshing to see no old men in the election for the top job in the capital.

In Japanese summers, the most common type of web, ones that are found ALL AROUND US, are in fact, horizontal “shelf” or “funnel” type webs. Though they are usually much more densely woven than the iconic “suspended” spider-creations, they often go unnoticed, lost in the greenery of the shrubbery in which they are set – and hard to see because of their horizontal “flatness”. But in the morning, when the dew has set in, after a rare summer-rain, or when the sunshine hits them just right, you can see that these webs cover almost every inch of the hedges and shrubbery (where left alone and untrimmed) – a veritable mine-field for unsuspecting insects who want to have a rest in the bushes.

From a local blog, a reminder from home. Do not click if spiders aren't your thing.

Tanegashima, closer to Shanghai and Seoul than Tokyo, has fewer than 30,000 people and is best known as the home of Japan's answer to Cape Canaveral, the rocket launch center of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The next launch is scheduled for June 30.

But with launches few and far between, the center hasn't spawned a broader industrial base, leaving fishing and sugarcane farming by an aging workforce as the backbone of the island economy. With Japan's fertility rate at a record low, speeding population decline, success in regenerating Tanegashima's economy could serve as a blueprint for regions across the country seeking rural revival.

Communities across rural Japan are experimenting with many different models on how to pull people in and have them stay. The JAXA draw for Tanegashima could be huge but there does looks to be a lack of investment on their part to assist the island to grow.

The digital nomad angle could work but it is still quite remote for many. And then there is the marketing problem. How does such a small island promote itself out in the wider world? A difficult proposition but hoping they will find success.

Heavy rain battered wide areas of Japan on Tuesday, disrupting bullet train services between Tokyo and Osaka and prompting the weather agency to urge caution for landslides and floods.

People living in Japan will likely recognize "Hotaru no Hikari," a song based on the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne" which has become the standard tune played at shops in the country just before closing. Outside Japan, the folk song is often sung by crowds who gather on New Year's Eve to mark the turn of the year.

"When 'Hotaru no hikari' plays, Japanese people understand that it is time to close the store. However, in recent years, the number of foreigners has increased, and more people are present who do not understand its meaning. It's difficult to announce that the store is closing without spoiling the enjoyment of shopping. Therefore, we have come up with new closing music that casually announces the closing, but still allows shoppers to leave comfortably."

This is classico Japan taking an element from overseas and transforming it into something befitting local culture.

Japan's restaurant industry is deploying a two-tiered pricing system in tourist spots as eateries look to cash in on an influx of foreign visitors without alienating local customers.

Compared with the castle pricing for tourists below, I do have a problem with this if it starts to become common outside of tourist areas. For foreign residents wanting to have a meal, an identity check should not be part of the ordering process.