Speakeasy: The Coronavirus and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
The inaugural SNA Speakeasy features journalist David McNeill on the theme of “The Coronavirus and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
Osaka Forces English Teachers to Reapply for Their Own Jobs
With the Tokyo Olympics just around the corner and Japan opening its doors to foreign workers than ever before, it would seem that the nation should also be ready to show its omotenashi towards its growing foreign community. But judging by Osaka Prefecture’s grossly inept handling of changes to its Native English Teacher (NET) Program and its treatment of its foreign workers, grave doubts are warranted.
Taiwanese Concerns About the Spread of Covid-19
Efforts to combat the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic continue in Taiwan, with the Central Epidemic Command Center announcing yesterday the 26th confirmed case of the epidemic in Taiwan.
Henoko Airbase Initiative Sinking into Mayonnaise-Soft Earth
For almost two-and-a-half decades, Japan and the United States have insisted that a new US Marine airbase at Henoko—a replacement for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma—is absolutely needed as a solid foundation for the US-Japan Alliance. Last year, however, it was officially revealed that the sea floor where the base is being constructed consists of mayonnaise-soft earth, and that any airstrip built there now could sink into oblivion.
Visible Minorities: Japan’s Botched Response to the Coronavirus
The drama of cruise ship Diamond Princess, currently moored at Yokohama and quarantined by Japan’s Health Ministry due to some of the 3,700 passengers and crew testing positive for the coronavirus, is a human rights crisis.
Diamond Princess Puts Japan Under the Microscope
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the first half of February 2020.
Chairman Election Debate Reveals KMT’s Impasse
The Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman election debates, which took place on the 12th, illustrate the party’s general lack of solutions for its internal crisis as it heads towards the decisive party vote on March 7.
Document: Political Mission of the Japan Communist Party
Whereas most Japanese political parties, whether the ruling conservatives or the mainstream opposition, effectively have little in the way of fixed party policies, the Japan Communist Party, the nation’s oldest political party, is very different, taking its own platforms very seriously.
Teenagers Launch Hunger Strikes Against UK Coal Mines
In the United Kingdom, teenage climate activists have gone on hunger strikes in order to prevent the construction of the Woodhouse Colliery coal mine in West Cumbria, which would be the United Kingdom’s first deep coal mine in three decades.
Bread & Roses: Warm Meals to Tackle Poverty in Japan
When did poverty become normal? Conventional wisdom had it that poverty didn’t exist in Japan; that the miracle recovery during the country’s rapid growth period had given birth to a middle class of 100 million people.