Japan Probe

The following book review was submitted by Scott Urista. The author of the book is Christopher Johnson, a freelance journalist who has threatened Japan Probe because our blog posts asked questions about confusing edits and inconsistencies in some of Johnson’s articles. — Kobe Blue: Danger in the Land of Safety by Christopher Johnson Self-published (Smashwords) [...]

Japan Probe was invited to the Italian Chamber of Commerce’s “urban sustainability” seminar. Architects A and O wrote this report for us. It was a busy Friday afternoon at the Italian Institute of Culture in Chiyoda-ku. At first it was not quite clear how a chamber of commerce and urban sustainability are connected, and there [...]

A Japanese TV news report about some recent foreign currency investment scams: The video mentions two cases. The first case took place in Hokkaido, where a 73-year-old woman received a phone call from a person claiming to be from a company that helps people invest in foreign currency. He assured her that if she invested [...]

A few days ago, the New York Times printed an article by Martin Fackler that claimed that the country was “shifting further away from pacifism.” But is that really the case? Several online commentaries have taken issue with Fackler’s narrative. The most interesting response is from Corey Wallace of Japan Security Watch. He notes that [...]

Remember Christopher Johnson, the freelance reporter/photographer who became infamous in early 2012 after he threatened bloggers and journalists who were critical of his poorly-written account of being detained and expelled from Japan? Well folks, it looks like the Japanese government somehow allowed him back into the country. According to some tweets he made this morning, [...]

On February 23rd, the city of Mito held its 12th annual Natto eating contest. Speed eaters tried to finish a bowl of fermented soybeans as quickly as possible. The bowls contained no rice. Contestants were allowed to drink water. The 62-year-old woman in these videos came from Oita prefecture to visit her kids, and ended [...]

Here is the latest video clip of the ongoing clash between the radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd and Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean: According to Sea Shepherd: The Japanese whaling fleet, poaching whales from Antarctica’s Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, creates a collision as they attempt an illegal refuelling operation. Sea Shepherd Ship [...]

It has come to my attention that the Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies has published an excellent new article about the “Comfort Women” issue. Gavan Gray of Ristumeikan University explores how an inaccurate historical narrative has come to be accepted as unquestionable truth among Asian and Western countries that so harshly criticize Japan’s handling [...]

The radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd is renewing its violent attacks on Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean. The follow video shows an SS ship colliding with Japanese boats: Luckily, no Japanese were injured, but one Japanese ship did suffer slight damage. Sea Shepherd, who has a history of steering its vessels dangerously close [...]

Here is an interesting video of a recent protest in Tokyo, courtesy of ANN: It shows a group of mothers who gathered in front of the Suginami ward office in Tokyo to protest a shortage of nursery schools. In the latest round of applications for the nursery schools maintained by the ward, 1,833 children were [...]

Who doesn’t like cat posts?

Last week, the South Korean nationalists who had erected a “comfort woman” statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul (pictured above) announced plans to expand its campaign against Japan. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery claimed that it was going to erect another statue in Singapore, and was [...]

Japan has agreed to ease restrictions on American beef imports that had been in place since 2006. Under the new compromise, American exporters will be able to ship to Japan beef from cattle that are less than 30 months old. Previously, Japan would only accept U.S. beef from cattle ages 20 months and younger. Administration [...]

A group of South Korean men has been caught trying to smuggle treasured historical items that disappeared from the Japanese island of Tsushima: Three of the men are suspected of stealing a bronze standing statue of Tathagata Buddha, designated an important cultural property by the Japanese government, from Kaijinjinja shrine, and a seated statue of [...]

In a recent Yukan Fuji article, former Japan national soccer team player Ruy Ramos spoke about his commitment to his country of citizenship. Ramos was born in Brazil and first came to Japan in 1977. He naturalized in 1989. Over the years, he has developed a deep love of this nation. Here is what he [...]

A couple days after the March 11th 2011 earthquake, the French government told its citizens to flee the Tokyo region. It was a notorious overreaction to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident. It was based on fear and/or distrust, not on actual information about a credible or serious threat the people of Tokyo. At the time, [...]

Over the last year, the relationship between Japan and China has considerably worsened due to increased Chinese provocations over the Senkaku Islands. The dispute between the two states led to anti-Japanese rioting in China and the cancellation of many cultural exchange events. However, it’s not all bad news. Here is a news story about a [...]

In March 2011, the USS Ronald Reagan participated in Operation Tomodachi, an American military effort to provide aid and assistance to Japanese tsunami victims. The aircraft carrier, which was equipped with advanced radiation detection devices, kept a safe distance from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. At one point, the media reported that the ship [...]

Sea Shepherd is an organization that claims to care about protecting wildlife. Their latest “conservation” scheme involves support of the Chinese government’s claim to the Senkaku islands: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society wishes to support Chinese efforts to assert sovereignty over the islands known as the Diaoyu Islands by China and the Tiaoyu Islands by Taiwan. [...]

It has come to my attention that William Sakovich, the blogger behind the Ampontan blog, has passed away. According to a comment from a friend, he died of cancer on December 21st: Hi everyone. I don’t how much longer Bill’s preprogrammed entries will continue but I have sad news to report. Bill Sakovich, the author [...]

Since last year 2channel, Japan’s largest internet forum, has been subject to pressure from Tokyo police. According to a January 2012 post by Avery (2channel Fights Police Pressure, So-Called “Viral Marketers”), the whole police investigation began after Fuji TV aired a sensational news report about drug dealers making posts on the site. The news report [...]

The results of today’s election are coming in, and it’s terrible news for the Democratic Party of Japan. The ruling party, which failed to live up to a lot of the hype that got it elected a few years ago, has suffered miserable defeat. A lot of people were expecting the Liberal Democratic Party to [...]

When Japanese police summon reporters to give a press conference about the arrest of a criminal, they often display stolen goods on a table. In other countries, this kind of display is often associated with photo ops following major drug busts, but here it is used to show off police achievements in cracking down on [...]

Taiwan’s NMA Youtube channel has produced yet another wacky computer animated video about current events in Japan! It’s election time: Somebody must have read about Shinzo Abe’s battle with crippling diarrhea, because he is shown shooting vast amounts of liquid feces out of his rear end. Noda, who famously compared himself to a loach fish, [...]

With Shinzo Abe’s LDP set for a possible victory in this weekend’s election, Western reporters have been struggling to come up with interesting explanations for what is happening. Public discontent about the lack of impressive changes brought about by the DPJ makes for a rather boring story, so some reporters have fallen back on a [...]