Japan General Discussion: Abe Carries On

[NewYorkExpress]

In other news...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/japanese-student-sues-over-schools-order-to-dye-hair-black

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Do any local experts know if this 18 year-old girl has a case?

[NewYorkExpress]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/asia/japan-emperor-akihito-abdication-intl/index.html

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This is huge news. Japan has only had two emperors since World War Two (Hirohito and Akihito).

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-okinawa-election/son-of-u-s-marine-elected-okinawa-governor-on-anti-u-s-base-platform-idUSKCN1MA0K6?il=0

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So, how much of Sakima's defeat was due to the Okinawa base issue, and how much of it was due to other factors?

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-05-20/top-tokyo-prosecutor-set-to-resign-public-broadcaster-nhk-says-citing-source

Tokyo's top prosecutor resigned on Thursday for gambling during Japan's coronavirus state of emergency, the justice minister said, in another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose support has waned over his handling of the pandemic.

Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office chief Hiromu Kurokawa, who is seen as close to Abe, has been at the centre of a furore over the government's efforts to raise the retirement age for prosecutors after he was allowed to stay in his post beyond retirement age of 63.

Abe's government this week abandoned its push to enact a bill during the current session of parliament that would raise prosecutors' retirement age to 65 from 63, and let the cabinet defer retirement of senior prosecutors for a further three years, a step critics said threatened judicial independence.

Kurokawa admitted to playing Majohng for money on two occasions during Japan's state of emergency.

Gambling is illegal in Japan, with some exceptions.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ww2-anniversary-japan/japans-abe-on-ww2-anniversary-vows-not-to-repeat-war-sends-offering-to-shrine-idUSKCN25B06E

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking on the 75th anniversary of Japan’s World War Two surrender, pledged never to repeat the tragedy of war and Emperor Naruhito expressed “deep remorse” over the wartime past, which still haunts East Asia.

“Never to repeat the tragedy of war. We will continue to remain committed to this resolute pledge,” said Abe, wearing a face mask at an official ceremony for war dead on Saturday that was scaled back because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Abe, who did not echo Naruhito’s reference to remorse, sent a ritual offering to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine for war dead. But he avoided a personal visit that would anger China and South Korea.

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At least four Japanese cabinet ministers paid their respects in person at Yasukuni, which honours 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, as well as Japan’s war dead. The shrine is seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan’s past military aggression.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53428863

To many Japanese, racism towards black people has long been considered something that happens in the US or Europe, not at home.

But when the death of George Floyd in the US sparked a wave of protests demanding that Black Lives Matter, people in Japan joined in too.

The protests and marches in major cities pushed a debate about racism in the country, and whether enough was being done to confront and change things.


In June, public broadcaster NHK aired a segment to explain to Japanese audiences what was happening in the US, with the protests over George Floyd's death.

The report, in a news show aimed at younger audiences, featured an animated video depicting the protesters as grotesque stereotypes, deeply steeped in racist imagery: caricatures with exaggerated muscles and angry faces, and with looters in the background.

The reaction was largely negative - the US embassy called the segment "offensive and insensitive".