Nipponica

The British company Skytrax recently announced the winners of its 2025 World Airline Awards. Regarded as the top prizes in the aviation industry, the awards began in 1999. All Nippon Airways was fifth and Japan Airlines ninth in the World’s Best Airlines category.

Much love for my two home airlines, but the most interesting part of this article is the chart of historical places in this survey. ANA has always been consistent, but JAL was in the 20s and 30s a decade ago. An amazing turnaround for the flag carrier.

Crowds cheer as ornate 5-meter-tall floats parade through the streets of Aomori City on Saturday, when the five-day Nebuta Festival kicks off to color the summer of the Tohoku region. Dancers chanted to the sounds of fifes and drums, and 16 nebuta floats, depicting samurai and other figures, were seen on the first day. All 23 large floats will appear in the procession on Tuesday and Wednesday. “I’m so impressed with the skill of the nebuta artists who created such beautiful floats,” said a company employee from Tokyo who visited the city on a trip.

Such beautiful floats, especially seen in person. I was in Aomori recently and visited the museum where they are stored throughout the rest of the year. Such beautiful craftsmanship.

Japan will seek to establish international rules for the removal of human-made objects in space that could pose collision risks to satellites and the International Space Station if left in orbit, according to officials.

By the end of March, the Cabinet Office, in cooperation with experts, aims to identify legal and procedural issues involved in clearing space debris, such as fragments of rockets and satellites.

The government aims to use input from an expert panel to lead global discussions on rules for disposing of space debris, timed to coincide with a 2026 meeting of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, the officials said.

All power to them but if we can't agree on cleaning up the debris and pollution on the Earth's surface then there is no chance to reach some kind of consensus for the junk flying above our heads, out of sight.

The Kyoto Prefecture city of Kyotango on July 31 called for confirmation of the facts surrounding a joint Japan-U.S. military exercise that went ahead at a U.S. base in the city without prior notification to local officials.

One resident near the communications site expressed their concerns, stating, "The most serious issue is that the joint Japan-U.S. exercise was conducted on the front lines without (Japanese) defense authorities being informed. This is a grave situation. Conducting drills without defense authorities' knowledge is unacceptable under civilian control. I want the facts to be thoroughly investigated and publicly released."

While the local civilian government should have definitely been notified about such an exercise, I can't help but smile at the mainland Japanese getting a taste of what Okinawa has had to endure for almost a century of de jure and de facto US rule.

Over 70 percent of foreigners visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum feel that the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of the western Japan city and Nagasaki cannot be justified, a recent Kyodo News survey showed.

Of the 74.6 percent who said the bombings were unjustified, 6.2 percent said they had changed their view after seeing the exhibits, according to the survey of around 1,000 foreign visitors conducted this summer. Meanwhile, 7.2 percent said the bombings were justified, and 12.8 percent were unsure.

A very stat-heavy article, but I am still amazed that someone could come out of the Peace Museum in Hiroshima and still support what happened there in 1945.

Fujitsu aims to develop a superconducting quantum computer on a par with the world's most powerful machines by fiscal 2030 using advanced cooling methods, as the country looks to catch up with the U.S. and China.

Fujitsu is partnering with the government-backed Riken research institute and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology to develop a new model with around 250 logical quantum bits, or qubits -- a measure of a quantum computer's capabilities.

This would exceed the world's current most powerful planned quantum computer, under development by IBM with completion scheduled for 2029, by 25%.

[insert reference about running Doom on it here]

Ito Mayor Maki Takubo has reversed her decision to resign amid allegations she falsified her academic credentials, and will instead remain in office, she announced at a July 31 press conference here.

The 55-year-old Takubo, who had previously indicated she would step down in July and seek re-election, said she would instead focus on fulfilling her campaign pledges, including canceling a planned library construction project and scrapping a large-scale solar power initiative. "I will devote my full energy to delivering on my promises," she stated.

She clearly doesn't value education in her own life so why not extent that to her community as well.

The aid program, known as the "SPRING" (Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation) initiative, was launched in academic 2021 by the ministry's Japan Science and Technology Agency. It pays doctoral candidates up to 2.9 million yen (about $19,200) annually for living and research expenses. In the 2024 academic year, of the total 10,564 recipients, about 40%, or 4,125 individuals, were international students, with Chinese nationals making up the largest number -- 3,151. This led to criticism from ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and others in the Diet.

Another blow to foreign residents. Some might slam this subsidy as wasteful spending but how else do you entice students to come to Japan when there are better and more lucrative options elsewhere. 2.9 million isn't much but it is enough to live a simple life as a student. I would think that this long term investment in education would pay off but perhaps the short term political gain was too shiny to pass up.

“I am the last one left,” Mr. Kiyozumi said in his home, showing fading photographs of the sub and himself as a young sailor.

As the 80th anniversary of the war’s end approaches, the number of veterans still alive is rapidly dwindling. There were only 792 Japanese war veterans still collecting government pensions as of March, half the number of a year earlier.

Now in their upper 90s and 100s, they will take with them the last living memories of horrors and ordeals, but also of bravery and sacrifice — powerful accounts that hold extra meaning now, as Japan builds up its military after decades of pacifism. Here are some of their stories.

A somber article well worth a read. The last Japanese soldiers from the Second World War speak about their experiences and the inhuman brutality of the war.

The number of foreign passengers using Narita Airport, near Tokyo, rose 1% in June from a year earlier to 1,849,269, a record high for the month, the airport's operator said Thursday.

The increase was led by flights to and from China, Narita Airport said.

The total number of international passengers, including Japanese, at the airport in Chiba Prefecture, was up 2% in June, at 2,670,104.

For awhile after Haneda evolved into the primary Tokyo international airport, the future of Narita seemed dark. But it has evolved into a hub again for long haul and low cost flights, catering to its own niche markets and not in competition with its cousin across the bay.