Nipponica

“They are distasteful. As a Japanese citizen I feel embarrassed, as I see many foreign visitors pass by those billboards and they must wonder what’s going on,” said Mayumi Noda, an office worker. “As a voter, I think it’s outrageous and disrespectful to the other candidates who are seriously competing.”

A record 56 candidates, including incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike, who seeks her third four-year term, are running in the election. Many of the candidates are fringe figures or influencers seeking even more exposure. They include a man dressed as The Joker, who supports freedom of sexual expression, including allowing polygamy to help Japan’s falling birth rate.

While the exploitation of the traditional poster advertising system was a nice way to show its flaws, there is a more nihilist element in these elections than usual. Even moreso than in the British elections on Thursday, which featured its usual cast of characters like Elmo, Count Binface, and Rishi Sunak.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is scheduled to hold a summit meeting with Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit, which is set to begin Tuesday in Washington, a U.S. government official said Friday.

NATO and the four countries are expected to discuss cyber affairs, countermeasures against false information and Ukraine aid, while keeping China and Russia in mind.

European countries are sending more air and sea forces to Asia for defense exercises with Japan, bringing them closer to what remains a distant security challenge: China.

A destroyer from Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force held an exercise with a Turkish navy corvette on Sunday. Earlier this month, a Dutch frigate participated in the Netherlands' first joint exercise with an MSDF destroyer before heading to the upcoming U.S.-led international Rim of the Pacific exercise off Hawaii.

Regardless if anyone will say it out loud, but Japan is clearly a hub for a greater Pacific alliance of western nations against China, Russia, and North Korea. The real question is if Abe's dream of expanding the SDF into a military will become reality within this framework.

Australia's Qantas Airways has joined a number of carriers forgoing scheduling flights to and from regional Japanese airports as Japan faces a ground airport staff shortage and an acute fuel shortage also looms.

Earlier this year, Qantas had been assessing recommencing seasonal flying to Sapporo for the next ski season in Hokkaido in the north. But a specific plan did not materialize due to supplier constraints at the airport, including labor shortages. Qantas had discussions with local airport stakeholders but did not enter the government filing process, and thus did not schedule any flights.

The article cites closing domestic oil refineries and trucker shortages as the reasons for these decreases in service. Once those are addressed, one would hope that these carriers return, but there is no guarantee. For Sapporo and other destinations in Hokkaido especially, it would be a huge blow to tourism and connectivity for residents.