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.
Artist Chiharu Shiota Explores an Inner Net-Scape
Artist Chiharu Shiota is Japanese, and deeply so, but at the same time she lives a very international life. Her installations and performances address hot issues that question exile, displacement, identity, sickness, and all their respective boundaries of fear and anxiety.
Marubeni Building Japan’s First Major Offshore Wind Farms
The trading company Marubeni Corporation will build Japan’s first large-scale commercial offshore wind farms in Akita Prefecture in an initiative that may help the nation reduce its carbon footprint.
KMT Remains Threat Despite 2020 Losses
Observing the results of 2020 elections, the international media generally reported on the defeat of the Nationalist Party (KMT) in both presidential and legislative elections as though it were an overwhelming landslide, but a closer examination tells a more nuanced story.
Coronavirus Response Likely a Massive Overreaction
With the keen media attention and the escalating response from governments around Asia and beyond, it would not be unreasonable for a large section of the public to feel quite afraid of the Wuhan Coronavirus, but what researchers are discovering is a level of threat to human health which may not be much greater than the seasonal flu.
Wuhan Coronavirus Rings Economic Alarms
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of January 2020.