The World Health Organization estimates that there will be a shortage of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030. This equates to a 20% gap in the global capacity to provide healthcare services. Japan, which is already grappling with an aging society and its attendant problems, is at the forefront of this crisis.
While Japan and South Korea are locked in an escalating and rather senseless set of retaliatory actions against one another, the rest of the world simply sits on the sidelines, afraid to either take a side or even mediate between the two nations.
The planned construction of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Akita has once again suffered a blow as independent, opposition-supported candidate Shizuka Terata won in the House of Councillors election. Terata’s victory owes to the efforts of many in the region who are strongly opposed to the deployment of the facility so close to the city center.
If progressives truly believe in our values of freedom of expression, equal opportunity, and security, we must stand in solidarity with the Okinawan people.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the first half of July 2019.
If you’ve ever shopped at a Japanese supermarket or convenience store, the sight of fruit, cookies, pastries, and other foods individually wrapped in plastic isn’t surprising. It’s part of a mountain of single-use plastic products, from bento lunch boxes to oshibori towelettes in plastic wrappers, that underpins the lives of Japanese consumers.
The Shingetsu News Agency has been keeping a running log of the major developments in Japanese politics since January 2012. The following is our contemporary account of the entire year 2012.
At his press conference at the conclusion of the G20 Summit in Osaka, US President Donald Trump declares that the terms US-Japan security treaty are going to have to change.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the second half of June 2019.
Whenever American and Japanese officials meet, they engage in a ritual. Their joint statements, invariably invoking a “free and open Indo-Pacific” and “rules-based maritime order,” always swear that their “ironclad alliance” is stronger than ever.
