Nipponica

The Japanese government plans to promote the use of generative artificial intelligence and other digital technologies to support the teaching of the Japanese language to children with foreign roots, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

Guidelines are expected to be drawn up to utilize generative AI for effective teaching methods for other subjects in addition to Japanese, amid a shortage of staff who can accommodate the native tongues of varying languages such as Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish.

This is bad. Everyone has been shitting on Duolingo for years for its gamification but it was a decent language learning app. But the quality plummeted when they went AI-first recently. Expand that enshittification to an entire cohort in Japanese schools and the results are catastrophic. I understand the issue with staffing shortages but this isn't the way.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will announce the initiative at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan, that runs from Wednesday to Aug. 22.

Japan will support efforts to link India, the Middle East and Africa. The aim is to capture demand in African emerging markets and pursue economic security aims, such as ensuring a stable supply of resources.

To increase maritime shipping in the western Indian Ocean, Tokyo will use official development assistance to help build ports and roads in East Africa.

More belts. More roads.

The number of foreign-born workers has more than quadrupled in seven Japanese prefectures compared with a decade ago, underscoring how prominent immigrants have become in supporting understaffed small-town economies.

Foreign workers are now essential participants at every link in the supply chain, from harvesting crops to processing and shipping goods to customer service and retail.

Foreigners are holding the country together and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Parties that are anti-immigrant are anti-Japan, plain and simple.

Hirofumi Yoshimura, the governor of Osaka and leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai, has suggested the possibility of making another bid for a so-called Osaka metropolis plan, an idea rejected twice in local referendums.

The long-discussed plan would scrap the city of Osaka and reorganize it into special administrative districts under Osaka Prefecture.

I’m curious to know the public’s thoughts on why the previous referendums were rejected. A reorganization might fall in the “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” bucket but perhaps increased autonomy in the wards would be better in the long run. Interested to see how this plays out again.

Tatsuhiko Hoshino, an international relations officer at the nonprofit Japan Association of Overseas Studies (JAOS), said the depreciation of the yen had a significant impact on Japanese students looking to study abroad.

“There has been a notable shift away from traditionally expensive destinations,” Hoshino said, noting that students who still had their hearts set on Europe were looking to more affordable countries such as Germany, Hungary or Malta.

“This trend is unlikely to change, and I believe we will see even more Japanese students opting to study in Asia or EU countries going forward,” Hoshino said.

If I was a Japanese student looking at prices of an American undergrad education, I would do the same thing. It is simply unsustainable in this economy to expect students to go into lifetime debt for an educational gamble.

Japan is set to join Estonia's housing construction project by supplying façade materials for an 18-unit apartment building in the city of Brusyliv, Ukraine, under JICA's new initiative to engage Japan's private sector in Ukraine's reconstruction. The building's façade materials will be procured from NICHIHA Corporation, one of Japan's leading producers of fiber cement material.

The joint JICA-ESTDEV project in Brusyliv will deliver a modern, eco-friendly modular timber-frame apartment building, designed with energy efficiency, Passive House principles and solar readiness at its core.

This is what international leadership looks like. Not funding violence. Not prioritizing politics. It is caring for people.

The visitor toilet accreditation system in Gunma Prefecture began in 2003, with conditions at 259 bathrooms meeting its standards as of fiscal 2024. Facilities are judged on cleanliness, safety, ease of use and other factors based on around 25 points, with certified lavatories bearing a plaque with the prefectural mascot Gunmachan.

Please don’t let the rating system be a touch screen installed by the toilet paper.

On August 12, 1985, the crash of a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 in central Japan resulted in 520 fatalities. It was Japan’s deadliest air accident, as well as the deadliest air disaster in history involving a single aircraft and no additional deaths on the ground.

A sad tale. The TV program Mayday did an episode on this crash it is worth the watch. The fact that four people managed to survive is frankly amazing.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition on Aug. 11 announced that a total of 18,095,703 tickets to the Osaka Expo had been sold as of Aug. 8, surpassing the approximately 18 million tickets set as a guideline for the break-even point for operating expenses.

However, the association has not disclosed the final outlook for profitability of the Expo, which will continue until Oct. 13, as unforeseen expenses could arise due to disasters or other factors.

Even if it doesn’t break even in the end with all expenses, it is a small miracle that it might be able to. World Expos are not money makers these days.

The app, named Bears, allows users to report bear sightings by accessing the city’s official LINE account, which is linked to the app, then tapping “Bear Information” followed by “I saw a bear! (Report).” Users then input their name, their phone number, the date, the time, the number of bears sighted (selecting adult or cub), and the location (searchable on a map) to submit the report. The process takes about one to two minutes to complete.

Serious commentary: This is actually a good idea to build upon LINE, something that basically everyone already uses to disseminate information like this. Should also be simple to spread this to other municipalities that are having the same problems.

Unserious commentary: This is a shameful example of LGBT discrimination in Japan. Leave bears alone!

Mt. Shinmoedake, located on the border between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures in the Kirishima Mountains range, erupted at 5:23 a.m. on Sunday, sending an ash plume over 3,000 meters high from the crater.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, ashfall is expected to the northeast, and there is a risk of small volcanic rocks being carried by the wind and falling within a range of approximately 14 kilometers.

Eyes to the sky. Stay safe out there.

Oshiro, 84, who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and now resides in Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture, has lived in Okinawa since the year after World War II ended. Under U.S. rule until 1972, Okinawa lagged behind the Japanese mainland in providing support for hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors. For many years, Oshiro did not speak about her experiences. What changed that was her connection with other hibakusha on the island.

Everyone should read the whole article to not only understand the life of an atomic bombing survivor but also the discrimination they faced in the decades after the war.

Twin cathedral bells rang in unison in Nagasaki for the first time in 80 years on Saturday, commemorating the moment the city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb.

The two bells rang out at Immaculate Conception cathedral, also called the Urakami cathedral, at 11.02am, the moment the bomb was dropped on 9 August 1945, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

The imposing redbrick building, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred metres away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from US churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower.

When talking about the atomic bombings of Japan, we often relegate Nagasaki to an afterthought following Hiroshima. But they both need to remembered as equally dark days for humanity. Never may we drop to this low again as a species.

The shape of the popular Japanese chocolate snack "Pocky" has been registered as a three-dimensional trademark by the Japan Patent Office, snack giant Ezaki Glico Co. announced Aug. 4.

A 3D trademark is a system that allows 3D shapes with a certain degree of uniqueness to be protected as trademarks. According to Ezaki Glico, this is one of the few cases where the product can be identified solely by the shape of the item inside the packaging, even without text or logos.

No idea '3D trademarking' was a thing. But they have a point. Pocky is Pocky and will always be Pocky.

The lawsuit filed Thursday is one of a slew by media companies worldwide against AI firms using their material and is the first by a major Japanese news organization, Yomiuri said.

The lawsuit filed in Tokyo seeks damages of ¥2.2 billion ($14.7 million), equivalent to 120,000 Yomuiri articles used "without permission" between February and June.

Tech firms think they have to break the law to 'innovate' and that they are justified to do so. Let's teach them otherwise.

The exterior of Shuri-jo Castle's main hall stands reborn once more with reconstruction complete and reporters visiting the historic space here on Aug. 6.

The castle is in the process of being rebuilt after being destroyed in a 2019 fire. The Seiden main hall's roof lined with red tiles unique to Okinawa Prefecture, vermilion pillars and vibrant ornamentations have all been restored.

It feels so good to see Shuri-Jo back again. I first visited it in 2016 during my first trip to Okinawa and was devastated to see it destroyed in 2019. When I lived and worked in Okinawa over the past few years, it was slowly being rebuilt. Ready to book a return trip to Ryukyu to see it in its full glory again.

Japan's weather agency issued a special heavy rain warning for Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Friday morning, as rain battered the southwestern island of Kyushu.

Stay safe out there.

Japan has, by some measures, the highest inheritance tax rate in the world. It's so high, and the related laws and rules so unforgiving and complicated, that a smart move to the country can years later suddenly look like an expensive mistake.

Yes, this is a very dry article but it is a good overview of the rules you have to follow when an inheritance event happens. On a related now, tax law makes me break out in hives.

J-RISE is a major pillar of the government’s broader University for International Research Excellence initiative, which supports top Japanese universities through the national ¥10 trillion University Fund. The fund, managed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency, aims to elevate the global standing of Japanese institutions by supporting world-class research environments.

This level of investment signals a clear policy shift: Japan wants to become a global scientific hub. Sadly, this important strategic pivot is taking place against a backdrop of rising nationalist sentiment and economic frustration, neither of which bode well for attracting world-class researchers.

You want scientists to come to the country but you slash the money in to train them in PhD programs while starting a generic fund to push SCIENCE. Sounds like a typical day in Nagata-cho.

Japan's opposition Sanseito party has informed news organizations that preregistration is required for attendance at regular press conferences by its leader, fueling concern that it is undermining freedom of the press and the public's right to know.

Looks like they got a copy of the fascist playbook from their meeting with AfD, but implemented with a very 21st century twist: "Admission is only possible after checking a box to indicate agreement with the party's stated terms and conditions."