How gender inequality is hindering Japan’s economic growth: Siriwat Sriphojaroen/Shutterstock Japan’s economy is under pressure from rising energy prices and defence costs and the impact of the pandemic. Plummeting birth rates and an ageing population further threaten the sustainability of its labour market. A 2023 study by independent thinktank the Recruit Works Institute points to …
Yakuza battle Chinese gangs for control of Japan’s criminal underworld: Kabukicho: Tokyo's main red-light district, where Chinese gangs have been active in recent years. Sean Pavone via Shutterstock On the afternoon of October 16 last year a brawl erupted between two groups of gangsters in a restaurant on the 58th floor of the Sunshine 60 …
Japan’s ivory market is no longer a threat to elephant populations – here’s why: Ivory poaching is threatening regional elephant populations. MPH Photos/Shutterstock Elephants feature heavily in mythology, religion and popular culture. Yet they are hunted for their ivory tusks. Ivory poaching has led to a 70% decline in African elephant numbers over the past …
Japan’s Obon festival: how family commemoration and ancestral worship shapes daily life: Each year in Japan, people celebrate ohigan, a period of seven days around both the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes, and obon, which stretches over a few days on either side of August 15. Employers grant leave to staff. Trains fill with people …
Japan’s doubling of its defence budget will make the world a more dangerous place – here’s why: PX Media via Shutterstock Japan is proposing to double its defence budget to around £86 billion, or 2% of its GDP. This move – like recent pledges by Germany to massively increase its military spending in the wake …
Japan’s love affair with the fax machine – a strange relic of technological fantasies: FabrikaSimf/Shutterstock With Japan riding the crest of its postwar economic miracle, Sony chairman Akio Morita and Japan’s Minister of Transport Shintar? Ishihara unleashed a manifesto. The document, published in 1989, contained a prophecy that propelled it to domestic bestseller status, and into …
South Africa in the news: Japan’s Matsuda and Baba stun Russia on PDC World Cup of Darts debut: Matsuda and Yoshihisa Baba stunned Russians Boris Koltsov and Evgenii Izotov in their Professional Darts Corporation World Cup of …: “South Africa” – BingNews What’s the most venomous spider in the UK?: Fortunately, if you do see …
How Japan’s Olympic success has been followed by COVID failure: From a sporting perspective, the Tokyo Olympics were a massive success for Japan. Finishing third behind the Olympic behemoths of the US and China, Japan secured a record 27 gold medals. Yet, as the closing ceremony reached a crescendo, on the Tokyo streets ambulances were …
Japan’s constitutional dilemma: only men allowed on the Chrysanthemum throne: The question of who will succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne – the Japanese monarchy – when there is a shortage of male heirs is in play again after the panel set up to look into the succession recently ruled out allowing a woman to ascend …
South Africa in the news: Olympics Latest: Nagase wins Japan’s 5th judo gold of Games: The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic: …: “South Africa” – BingNews S.Africa’s port terminals still disrupted days after cyber-attack: South Africa’s state-owned logistics firm …
Tokyo 2020: how Japan’s moment of glory has become a millstone for the economy: Aflo Co. Ltd./Alamy “Japan is back!” declared Shinzo Abe, the then Japanese prime minister, after he made a surprise appearance dressed as Super Mario at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tokyo 2020 was supposed to be a moment …
Tokyo 2020 – how Japan’s bid for soft power victory has been roundly defeated by the pandemic: Even before it begins, holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo has felt like an energy-sapping endurance event. Originally scheduled for last summer and postponed due to the pandemic, the decision to go ahead has been widely questioned. As …
Japan’s cherry blossom viewing parties – the history of chasing the fleeting beauty of sakura: Blue Sky imagery/Shutterstock As a lecturer in Japanese studies, the first questions I ask my students is: “What sort of images come to mind when you think of Japan?” The answers usually include advanced technologies, red shrine gates, anime and …
Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?: The world saw something never before caught on camera on March 12, 2011: an explosion ripping the roof off a nuclear power plant – Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi. The blast wasn’t actually nuclear, it was the result of hot hydrogen gas encountering the cool, outside …
Hikikomori artists – how Japan’s extreme recluses find creativity and self-discovery in isolation: Nito Souji, FAL The Japanese word “hikikomori” translates to “pulling inwards”. The term was coined in 1998 by Japanese psychiatrist Professor Tamaki Saito to describe a burgeoning social phenomenon among young people who, feeling the extreme pressures to succeed in their school, …
South Africa in the news: Coronavirus live news: UK records 1,295 more deaths and a further 41,346 cases; Japan’s Covid second wave linked to rise in suicides: Jedidajah Otte (now), Damien Gayle, Matilda Boseley and Michael McGowan (earlier) France today implemented a new 6pm curfew intended to help stem the spread of infections. Covid-19 has …
South Africa in the news: The Latest: Japan’s PM seeks to enforce virus measures: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he plans to submit legislation that will make coronavirus measures legally binding for businesses, punish violators and include economic compensation as his …: “South Africa” – BingNews COVID-19: South Africa tightens curbs, president bans alcohol …
South Africa in the news: The Latest: Japan’s PM seeks to enforce virus measures: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he plans to submit legislation that will make coronavirus measures legally binding for businesses, punish violators and include economic compensation as his …: “South Africa” – BingNews Tahir pulls out of Renegades stint for personal …