G20 Summit Addresses Plastic Pollution
Japan has the second highest plastic pollution per capita. G20 energy and environment ministers met in Karuizawa, Japan June 15-16, 2019 hoping to address this issue.
Abe: Inflation Target Never “Real Objective” of Abenomics
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the second week of June 2019.
G20 Finance Ministers Meeting Takes on Taxation of Internet Firms
Instead of the open discord over tariffs and trade that many had been bracing for, the main headline story from this weekend’s G20 finance ministers meeting in Fukuoka was the broad agreement on the need for more effective taxation of the global technology firms.
Shinzo Abe Passes Hirobumi Ito
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on June 8, 2019.
Karpeles: Cryptocurrency Security Needed to Unlock Full Potential
Mark Karpeles, former CEO of the now-bankrupt Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, expressed his belief in the potential of cryptocurrency as a viable method of payment while recognizing that there is still serious work to be done regarding security.
Lesbian Bar in Tokyo Hit By Transgender Controversy
Bar Gold Finger in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Nichome has stood as a notable hub for Japan’s LGBT community for decades, but a late April incident has subjected the bar and its owner, Chiga Ogawa, to accusations that it discriminates against transgender people.
Silent Autumns: Pesticides Push Japan’s Iconic Red Dragonfly to Extinction
The mesmerizing sight of the aki-akane, meaning ‘autumn red’ dragonfly, is a traditional symbol of autumn in Japan’s rice farming landscape. However, the species has been rapidly disappearing in recent years and has now nearly vanished over most of Japan. The reason, according to scientists, is the increased use in rice farming of a class of broad-spectrum insecticides that have been the subject of bans in the European Union and China.
Rape and Coverup at an International School in Tokyo
Nishimachi International School in the Moto-Azabu district of Tokyo is finally coming clean after a decades-long coverup of sexual misconduct, including a now well-documented allegation of the rape of a 13-year-old female student by the former vice-principal who effectively ran the school in the late 1970s.
Hodaka Maruyama’s Shameful Behavior Exposed
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on May 31, 2019.
Mahathir Mohamad on the China Trade War and More
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad visited Tokyo in late May. The SNA filmed his press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. Below are key excerpts, including both the video and transcripts.