Visible Minorities: The “Inconceivable” Racial Discrimination Law
Japan’s human rights reports to the United Nations are a case study in official dishonesty.
SEALDs: Where Are They Now?
SEALDs, short for Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy, was a student activist organization in Japan that provided an important spark to the large-scale protests against then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2015 “Legislation for Peace and Security” (i.e. the Abe War Law), deemed by the vast majority of Japan’s legal scholars in the field to be unconstitutional.
Working Timeline of the Casino Bribery Scandal
The 500 Dot Com casino bribery scandal was yet another instance of major corruption that first emerged in the Shinzo Abe era.
Hating the Homeless in Japan
SNA (Toronto) — A recent proud display of anti-homelessness online reflects how cruel some parts of society have become toward its most vulnerable members. In a livestream on August 7, popular YouTuber DaiGo declared to his audience of almost 2.5 million subscribers that “the lives
Medical Journals Demand Climate Action
Asserting that humanity “cannot wait for the pandemic to pass” before acting to rapidly reduce carbon emissions fueling the climate emergency, more than 220 health journals around the world published an unprecedented joint editorial calling for “urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5 degrees celsius, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health.”
Bread & Roses: Overcoming Transphobia in Japanese Courts
We were told that the 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Act marked the “dawn of a new age” for female workers in Japan. No more could employers blithely set up special marry-and-leave retirement systems for their female employees, a practice that had previously been considered perfectly legal.
Mothers Too Victims of Parental Child Abduction in Japan
Japan’s questionable single custody system continues to come under fire, with particular attention devoted to the recent hunger strike of Vincent Fichot, a Frenchman who had his children taken from him by his Japanese wife. Less attention, however, has been given to the fact that his campaign resonated with many mothers in Japan as well.
Clashes Over Tainan Railway Construction Evictions
Police clashed with protesters in Tainan on August 20 and 21 as authorities forcibly evicted the last household resisting plans to construct the Tainan Urban District Railway Underground Project.
Biden’s America Splinters over Cuba
Joe Biden was elected president of the United States on a platform of unifying the country through bipartisanship, but political divisions over the US policy on Cuba have revealed a major challenge to his message of national unity.
Better to Die by the Gun in Myanmar
Amidst political chaos, military violence, and a lethal pandemic, some Myanmarese are lining up in the thousands to go out of their homes, onto the streets, and to risk their lives.