An interview with Jon Heese, a naturalized Canadian-Japanese and elected Tsukuba City Councillor of twelve years. A Caucasian Visible Minority of Japan, Heese has long been advocating that other Non-Japanese Residents naturalize and run for office.
Although there have been calls for immigration reform following the death of Sri Lankan national Wishma Sandamali in a detention center, the actual prospects for improvement in Japan’s controversial refugee and immigration system are not particularly bright.
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.
Among Japanese corporate leaders there are a handful who openly and proudly espouse racist views with little or no penalty from the government or business partners.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the first half of May 2020.
In the 1980s, Brazilians of Japanese heritage immigrated to the country as an initial attempt to meet Japan’s demographic challenge, but the policy resulted in only a mixed success, creating an ethnic community that still struggles to be a full part of Japanese society.
In a case of marked progress for Japan’s LGBT community, Ibaraki has become the first prefectural government to recognize same-sex couples through its issuance of “partnership declaration certificates.”
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the second half of June 2019.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on April 6, 2019.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on January 31, 2019.
