Nipponica

A military factory that was said to be the largest in the Orient was once in operation at a site now part of Osaka Castle Park at the center of the city of Osaka, and a researcher is calling for the remaining buildings to be preserved as a "negative legacy."

Osaka Army Arsenal, which manufactured artillery for the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, employed up to around 66,000 people, including mobilized students, across its approximately 6-million-square-meter site.

It is very easy to be critical of Japan when talking about smoothing over one's own history. Hopefully, those in charge do preserve a monument to the senseless destruction of humanity as an example to the future about the values of today.

A 2023 estimate from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research projected that Japan's foreign population would exceed 10% in the 2070s.

Speaking at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Suzuki said that the number of foreign residents would top 10 million and exceed 10% in 2045 if the number of foreigners continues to increase by over 350,000 per year, the pace recorded last year. Taking into account Japan's population decline, the 10% mark could be reached in 2040, he added.

Putting all the 'Japanese First' rhetoric from recent weeks to one side, my question is why the Justice Minister was making this statement rather than the Health Minister, the one in charge of the research institution that made this estimate. Later in the article it quotes him as saying "[Japan] needs to start preparing now" which is doubly ominous.

Tsunami advisories lifted for all areas of Japan

We did get lucky.

While the national government has viewed foreigners as "workers," local governments tend to see them as residents and community members just like Japanese citizens. The association is calling for the establishment of a central organization to oversee multicultural policies, among other measures.

The association calls for establishing a new central organization separate from the Immigration Services Agency, which oversees immigration administration, and for drafting a systematic and comprehensive basic law to underpin national and local multicultural policies. It also highlights the need for the national government to provide financial support for local multicultural coexistence measures and actively spread information on systems that foreign residents need to know.

Very bold proposals especially compared to the usual milquetoast faire from politicians at the national level. It does make sense to have a unified approach to multicultural policies instead of it depending on where you live. The only downside here is that the progressive stance that many cities take, like with LGBT residents, might be reverted if the central government has the reigns.

Perhaps it is a law of spatial gravity that when you cannot go out, you go up. What has long held true for urban architecture is now being applied to gardens, with Japanese landscape designers increasingly eager to requisition rooftops and walls to create gardens at higher elevations.

Sometimes it feels as though contemporary Japanese gardens can be read as message boards pointing to the near future. Substituting for hills and mountains, high-rise buildings are being requisitioned as borrowed scenery, while rooftop garden designers, conscious of weight issues, are resorting to hollowing out natural rocks, or replacing them with fiberglass equivalents.

This essay is full of beautiful examples of how to incorporate nature into our dense urban world by using wasted space to create beauty. Definitely worth the read.

The Japanese government is ramping up efforts to combat foreign election interference after the spread of misinformation by bots on social media became a problem in the recent upper house vote.

"Foreign interference in elections is commonplace around the world, and other countries are responding in various ways," said Masaaki Taira, minister for digital transformation, at a press conference on Tuesday. "Japan is not immune to this issue."

One thing I never really realized is that Japan lacks a CIA-like organization in the central government to collect and centrally distribute intelligence. The new National Cybersecurity Office will take on this work but relying on such a new office to take a lead on a new initiative might not lead to quick fixes to this.

The page displaying the passport holder's photo now uses plastic instead of laminated paper, and incorporates technologies such as holographic cherry blossoms and watermark cranes. Special processing has also been applied to raise the photo and date of birth above the surface.

Passports are one of my special interests and I always find it interesting on how they are produced. As the article mentions, previously they were made locally but no longer.

According to Moji Police Station, the hand grenade was American-made, measuring about 11 centimeters in length with a diameter of 5.5 cm. At the instruction of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, 25 residents in 19 households within a 30-meter radius of the grenade were temporarily evacuated.

Kyushu people always have to be special and evacuate in their own unique way.

Japan's antitrust watchdog on Tuesday announced guidelines under a new law to regulate monopolistic practices in the smartphone app market, mainly targeting U.S. tech giants Apple Inc. and Google LLC.

The core of the guidelines issued by the Japan Fair Trade Commission is a ban on discriminatory treatment of app stores not operated by the two platform companies. If more app stores compete and lower the commissions they charge developers, app prices for users could also fall, analysts said.

Somewhere in Cupertino, a rich executive is crying.

Emperor Naruhito met with Micronesian President Wesley Simina at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.

During the 30-minute talks, the emperor voiced sorrow over the loss of numerous lives in the Oceanian island country during World War II, which ended 80 years ago, according to the Imperial Household Agency.

Japan does have some level of engagement with their former Pacific colonies, but there could be a chance to strengthen their ties with the US wavering with the Compacts of Free Association with Micronesia, the Marshalls, and Palau.

Japan recorded the highest ever temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, beating the previous high of 41.1 C marked in 2018 and 2020. Authorities are strongly urging people to take precautions to avoid risks of heatstroke.

The mercury hit the above-human temperature of 41.2 C in the city of Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, at 14:39, while two cities — Fukuchiyama in Kyoto and Nishiwaki in Hyogo — also recorded extremely high temperatures of 40.6 C and 40 C, respectively.

Meanwhile, another weather disaster on the other side of the country.

A 1.3-meter-high tsunami was observed at Kuji Port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, at 1:52 p.m. on Wednesday, following a massive earthquake near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday morning.

Largest wave to hit Japan so far. Still not over yet but it looks like we got lucky today.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning and advisory for the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Okinawa in Wednesday morning. The estimate of maximum wave height is now expected to be 3 meter.

One-meter tsunami is expected to reach to Tokyo at 11:30 a.m., 3-meter tsunami to Kujukuri in Chiba at 10:30 a.m. and 1-meter tsunami to Osaka at 0 p.m.

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday upgraded its economic view on Okinawa Prefecture, reflecting robust vehicle sales and an increase in Japanese and foreign tourists.

Any good news about my old home is welcome. Okinawa during the pandemic was a quiet place so it is good that things are picking back up.

Energy company Eneos will soon launch a pilot initiative with printing group Toppan Holdings to recycle discarded paper into bioethanol, part of an effort to find a stable supply of the decarbonized fuel.

The field test is due to take place in early 2027. If successful, the companies aim to commercialize the technology as soon as fiscal 2030.

Cool tech, but the real money maker is to somehow convert all the waste plastic bags and packaging in this country into something useful.

Americans expressed mixed views on whether the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified, a survey by a U.S. research group showed Monday, signaling a possible change in the country's prevailing view that the attacks were necessary to bring a quick end to World War II.

The nationwide survey, conducted by Pew Research Center, revealed that 35 percent of American adults think using nuclear weapons in 1945 was justified, while 31 percent thought otherwise. A third said they are not sure.

The troubling thing here is that if you combine the 'pro-nuke' cohort with the 'dunno' one, it is still a clear majority that are either clueless or in support of mass civilian death.

For the January-June first half, tax-free sales totaled 285.7 billion yen, down 14.6%.

Some of the declines may have been exaggerated by a drop in tourism from Hong Kong and other mainly Chinese-speaking countries due to rumors of an imminent earthquake, which turned out to be groundless.

But industry officials caution that the slowdown may not be temporary and are redoubling their efforts to attract foreign shoppers amid global economic headwinds. Economists warn that the impact of Trump's tariffs -- on Friday the baseline 10% rate is set to go up -- will further raise consumer anxiety around the world.

Putting the Hong Kong earthquake hoax to one side, this is an example of actions having consequences. There is a slow anti-tourist movement growing in Japan and this is a natural and obvious result.

While I do understand the dislike of some tourist behavior and overcrowding, one also has to factor in the benefits of it, not just monetary but also in boosting Japan’s soft power. If the anti-tourism sentiment continues and increases, Japanese may have a quieter and less crowded country, but also a weaker and poorer one as well.

Support is growing within the Japan Innovation Party for the prospect of forming a coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.

Support for joining the coalition is largely emerging from Osaka, the party’s home turf. JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, who is also the governor of Osaka Prefecture, said Tuesday: “It’s important to establish a secondary capital, given the need to correct the ‘one-city dominance’ of Tokyo and handle national crisis management and economic growth.”

Such an arrangement with the LDP and Komeito could have a short term gain and allow the JIP to move closer to their Osaka Domination goal. But, looking longer term, if the LDP slide continues, they will be dragged down with them.

Also Wakkanai is really feeling left out of this second capital discussion.

Feral goats in the village of Higashi’s Takae district in northern Okinawa Prefecture were designated by the Okinawa Prefectural Government in 2023 as an invasive species that urgently needs to be controlled.

Wild goats are causing damage to crops in the village, as well as on Iriomote Island, and there are concerns that they could negatively impact the forest ecosystems harboring rare animals and plants.

The village and prefectural authorities are working to catch the goats and prevent the spread of the invasive species.

A tale of unchecked immigration gone wrong in the hills of northern Okinawa. A plague of west Asian goats taking precious grass from the local people. A damn shame and a disgrace.

A relatively strong earthquake struck the Hokkaido region at around 0:10 p.m. Monday. The magnitude is estimated to be 5.3, and the eastern Hidaka and southern Tokachi regions measured 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.