Face Masks vs. Heat Stroke
Wearing face masks has become controversial in Japan as the nation enters the third summer since the Covid pandemic began.
Category Archives: Society
Tenuous Reproductive Rights for Japanese Women
Women’s healthcare in Japan is treated as a lower priority than men’s healthcare; in particular, women’s reproductive rights are neglected.
Japanese Right Targets Vietnamese Residents
Japanese have long tended to view foreigners as sources of crime within their communities, but in recent years Vietnamese, the nation’s fastest-growing foreign community, have begun to be singled out by rightwing commentators as posing the most serious alleged threat.
Japan Reopening Set to Be Too Little, Too Late
Calls by business groups and the academic world have increased pressure on Japan to reconsider its overly strict border policies and to reopen the country to essential travelers, but for many of the foreign students who have been desperately trying to enter in Japan for the past two years, the damage has already been done.
Cannabis is the Medicine Japan Needs
Since California first legalized medical cannabis in 1996, and Colorado and Washington followed with adult-use cannabis legalization in 2012, there has been an increasing global movement towards medical legalization, relaxing cannabis laws in general, and in some cases full legalization of adult-use cannabis. Even Japan may now be taking notice.
Voices of Japan’s Stranded
Japan’s decision to exclude most foreigners, including many foreign residents, from entering or reentering the national borders during the Covid pandemic has had a human and reputational cost which the mainstream media has tended to either ignore or to downplay.
The Inhumanity of Japan’s Travel Ban
The Japanese government is separating my children from me for no good reason, and I maintain that this is a violation of our human rights.
SNA Covid Variant Handbook (Revised Edition)
Less than two weeks after the Shingetsu News Agency issued its SNA Covid Variant Handbook, the World Health Organization finally stepped up to plate and belatedly offered its own new nomenclature.
Red Tape Still Trips Up Foreign Students’ Entry to Japan
The government announced that it widened the door to foreign nationals’ entry to Japan starting from November 8 for short-term business travelers, foreign students, and technical interns, but byzantine regulations continue to signal that the welcome mat for foreigners is not yet out, and students in particular are feeling the brunt.
Japan Travel Ban Still Putting Lives on Hold
Despite the drastic decrease of new Covid cases in recent weeks and more than two-thirds of the population having become fully vaccinated, the Japanese government has still given no explanation why it is continuing to refuse to let international students and some foreign workers back into the country.
