Nipponica

After a string of operational incidents attributed to pilot error, the transport ministry issued a stern warning to ANA Wings Co., an ANA Group member, on Friday. The ministry has ordered the airline to submit a report on preventive measures by Sept. 19.

Genuinely don’t know how integrated the Wings pilot training is with ANA proper. If they have the same training program, shouldn’t this warning go to the parent company and have all training reviewed?

The government will begin considering whether to set a cap on the number of foreign nationals accepted into Japan, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said on Friday. A project team was established within the Immigration Services Agency that day to start full-fledged discussions on the matter.

According to a list of issues presented by Suzuki on Friday, Japan has traditionally lacked a consistent policy on accepting foreign nationals. “The time has come to begin detailed discussions on how to address the impact and challenges that foreigners will have on society in the medium to long term,” Suzuki said.

It was only a matter of time until something like this would happen but I have serious doubts that any substantial change will come of it or any reform of the immigration system. This is only to play to the base. Japan can’t survive without immigration.

The city assembly of Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Monday unanimously passed a no-confidence motion against Mayor Maki Takubo, 55, who is alleged to have falsified her academic record.

The mayor had claimed to have graduated from Toyo University, but in July, she admitted that she had, in fact, been expelled from the university.

The fact she stayed on as long as she did is kinda crazy but happy to see a legislature taking on a chief executive and winning.

The platform, to be launched in fall next year, will be developed mainly by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), which is under METI's jurisdiction. It will consolidate personal information, such as digital technology qualifications, education level and place of residence. The government aims to have 1 million registrants in the first fiscal year of operation.

The platform is also expected to provide educational courses for registered users. Material will be available for a wide range of applied skills, including programming, web design and artificial intelligence.

An interesting take on upskilling done at the national level. As long as personal information is secure and people are in charge of their data, I can see this as a great tool in education and job hunting.

Japan Post Bank will in fiscal 2026 issue to depositors a digital currency that can be used for quick trading of blockchain-based financial products.

By marrying 120 million accounts with cutting-edge technology, the bank will create an environment where money in savings accounts can be easily tapped for trading of digital assets online.

Looking forward to the 100% paper-based crypto transactions for YuchoCoin.

Scheduled to open a hotel at Koiwai Farm in Shizukuishi, Iwate Prefecture, in spring 2026, JR East plans to use flying cars for transfers to and from Morioka Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen line. The company also plans to provide aerial sightseeing tours of Koiwai Farm and Mt. Iwate, intending to establish the service as a new tourism resource.

JR East formed a capital partnership in May with SkyDrive Inc., a startup that develops flying cars. For commercial operations, the company plans to use SkyDrive’s aircraft, which can carry a pilot and two passengers for a total of three people.

Nice to see that the future sky traffic jams are coming to the Inaka too.

"The call to limit concentrations of foreign residents is discriminatory. This is typical of ethnonationalists who dog-whistle about immigration while denying that it's their intent," he says.

"What Sanseito has done is politicize immigration and push it into the public discourse, forcing other parties to clarify their stance on the issue. Now, the genie is out of the bottle. From now on, this will be up for debate, and extreme parties will try to play the anti-foreign card."

Believe it or not, views are negative.

The new direct services will shorten the current 45-minute trip to Keisei's nearest station to the tower by about 10 minutes and allow passengers to reach Tokyo Skytree without transferring to a local line, Keisei Electric Railway President Takao Amano said in the recent interview.

Keisei Electric Railway runs some train operations linking Tokyo and Narita airport, a major air transportation hub located outside the capital in neighboring Chiba Prefecture.

The more connections to Narita the better but is Skytree and eastern Tokyo a key area for additional connections?

Ultimately, the friendship between Turkiye and Japan is more than just a beautiful memory of the past; it is also a tremendous opportunity to overcome the crises of today. At a time when the international system is shaken and trust is undermined, it is imperative that we act together as two countries.

A love letter to Japan from the President of Turkey.

Certain chips shipped before 2017 are vulnerable, Sony said, acknowledging the issue after inquiries from Kyodo News. Over 1.8 billion FeliCa chips have been produced so far, powering transit cards as well as employee and student identification cards.

Cybersecurity experts warn attackers could alter transit cards, disrupt electronic payments or forge passes for sensitive facilities, with one analyst describing it as an "extremely serious" problem that undermines trust in infrastructure.

While it is good that the cards that have this flaw are almost a decade old, it is still a big vulnerability. The move to digital cards and (unfortunately) QR codes is pressing forward, but FeliCa is still the core of the Japan transit network.

Uechi, 61, who was elected mayor of the westernmost Japan town for the first time in Sunday's election, has shown understanding of the deployment of Self-Defense Forces in the town but takes a cautious stance on expanding defense capabilities further.

In 2016, the government opened the Ground SDF's Camp Yonaguni in the town to enhance the defense system for the Nansei island chain in southwestern Japan. A missile unit is planned for future deployment.

Going to both sides this one as Yonaguni is literally on the front line of a future China-Taiwan conflict and increasing national defense there is an obvious goal. But it is the same old story in Okinawa, more guns and no peace.

The mayor of this west Japan city has urged for a calm and unbiased response over numerous complaints received after his city and three other municipalities were designated as "hometowns" for African countries as part of a new initiative by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The "JICA Africa Hometown" program aims to foster talent serving as a bridge between Japan and Africa. The Japanese government-sponsored agency on Aug. 21 designated four cities, including Imabari, as 'hometowns' for African nations. This has led to the spread of false claims on social media, saying it will "increase immigration," and protest calls to these cities. In response, Imabari Mayor Shigeki Tokunaga clarified during an Aug. 26 press conference, "This is purely a project for international exchange, with no intention of promoting immigration policies."

I knew this would happen when the original stories on this conference were published. Everyone knows how sensitive the subject of immigration is in Japan and especially from the global south. All comms and stories should have been fact checked and proofread both in Japanese and in the languages where these stories are published. Total cluster.

Japan is considering allowing foreigners under its revamped trainee program to change jobs after two years at their first workplace, provided they remain in the same industry, in seven of the program's 17 sectors, a government source said Monday.

Foreign workers are, in principle, not allowed to change jobs under the current training scheme, which has been criticized for labor rights violations such as long hours and low wages, leading some to desert their workplaces.

Translation is that you come to Japan as an indentured servant for two years rather than permanently. An improvement over the current system, sure. But maybe we should treat people with dignity rather than mistrust as a start and see what happens.

Japan Post will stop accepting packages bound for the United States with a declared value of more than $100 or which contain commercial items.

The pause, which begins Wednesday, follows an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 30 and effective Aug. 29, which suspends duty-free “de minimis” treatment for packages with a declared value of less than $800.

The consequences of messing with the world order are showing themselves. Sometimes the best way to deal with a malfunctioning node in a network is to cut it off.

They allege that the service gathers and utilizes news articles without permission, and are seeking an injunction to stop the alleged copyright infringement as well as 2.2 billion yen ($14.97 million) each in damages. The filing follows a similar lawsuit by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, highlighting how legal action against AI operators, first seen at overseas news outlets, is now spreading to Japan.

The fight back continues.

Even after the full transition to My Number health insurance cards began in December last year, the usage rate has remained low, standing at 30.64% of all health insurance card and certificate uses through online eligibility confirmation as of June this year.

Many elderly individuals have been reluctant to adopt the new cards, as they are often unfamiliar with both facial recognition and the entry of personal ID numbers, one of which is required to use the system.

In addition, medical institutions have frequently reported cases in which My Number health insurance cards became unusable due to expired electronic certificates, according to the national federation of health insurance medical practitioners' associations.

I’ve said for a decade now that the problem with My Number is not with the tech, but instead with educating the public on how to use it and how it will improve their lives. The e-services themselves are quite excellent and are always improving. But if people don’t know how to access them, the whole endeavor is pointless

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday during his first visit to Japan since taking office, and the two leaders agreed to advance bilateral relations in a future-oriented manner.

Lee’s decision to visit Japan before visiting the United States, Seoul’s ally, for bilateral diplomacy is highly unusual. In fact, it has not previously happened in the 60 years since Japan and South Korea normalized diplomatic relations.

It is abundantly clear that East Asian powers should rely on each other rather than forces overseas. The fact that Japan and the RoK are meeting so close to the anniversary of the independence of Korea is symbolic and hopefully a sign of thawing relations to come

Okinawa resident Hiromasa Iha can still recall the screams of his classmates and teachers after a U.S. military jet crashed into his elementary school, killing 18 people, more than six decades ago.

As people globally commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the 72-year-old retired businessman is among many residents who oppose the American troops stationed on their island ever since.

He joins dozens of islanders in near-daily protests against the U.S. military.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, and a string of incidents over the years, including sexual assault cases, have angered residents.

"For us, these crimes and accidents are not someone else's business, and we feel a pressing unease that we can't predict when these things may happen again," he said, recalling the 1959 school incident.

"We want the bases to go."

I lived across the street from where this US jet crashed into an elementary school in the 1950s. The signs of the American occupation are everywhere and can be easy to tune out once you get used to them. But it is still something that impacts the daily lives of Okinawan people, in both big and small ways. They deserve to be able to live on their land without foreign powers in Washington and Tokyo using them as a pawn.

Travelers arriving in Japan must go through immigration, which verifies their eligibility to enter the country, as well as a customs inspection for illegal items. At each station, travelers submit their passport and declaration information. Consolidating the system will shorten the procedures for inbound tourists and Japanese residents returning from overseas.

The airports will use "joint kiosks" that let passengers submit all necessary information for entry at once. The system verifies identity by using a photo, fingerprint scanning and other information submitted in advance of arrival.

Great. Next let’s get rid of the paper re-entry permits that get stapled into my passport every time I leave the country.

Naoki Fujii, 64, a former vice-minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, took office as the president of NAA in June. Regarding the functional enhancement of Narita Airport, located in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo, by adding a new runway and extending another, he stated, "It's meaningful to do what Haneda can't. We will leverage Narita's strengths." In his comments to various media outlets, he also expressed his intention to focus on diversifying the international flight network and expanding low-cost carrier (LCC) flights.

He emphasized the advantage of Narita's dedicated terminal for LCCs, stating, "We want to increase the number of people who choose to fly from Narita because of the lower fares," showing enthusiasm for the expansion of LCCs. He also mentioned strengthening the acceptance of business jets.

It is good that Narita is slowing finding its niche after Haneda’s expansion tanked Narita as the international hub in Tokyo. But, please, install a proper ceiling in Terminal 3. It just looks so bad as it is.