News On Japan

The Most Badass Female Shogun, Hojo Masako

Nov 19 (Linfamy) - What would you do if you changed from a nobody into one of the most powerful people in the country, overnight? Hojo Masako 北条政子 was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of Japan’s first shogunate.

Yoritomo was a political genius, and his wife was no slouch in that department either, which made for epic domestic arguments After Yoritomo’s death, Hojo Masako became a nun, but instead of leaving political life, she decided to keep her clan in power and nurture the government that her husband created. They called her the Nun Shogun. Masako was born in 1157 to Hojo Tokimasa 北条時政.

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Chinese tourists are disappearing from major destinations across the Kansai region as diplomatic tensions between Japan and China continue to deepen on the heels of comments by Prime Minister Takaichi regarding a potential Taiwan contingency, prompting Beijing to urge its citizens to refrain from traveling or studying in Japan.

The Japanese government is preparing to release a new damage projection for a major earthquake striking directly beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area by the end of the year, and interviews with officials familiar with the assessment indicate that in the worst-case scenario the death toll could reach 18,000, while economic losses are estimated at 83 trillion yen.

Toyota unveiled its new GR GT supercar on December 5th at Woven City, the next-generation technology testbed located in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, marking the model’s world debut as the automaker targets a release around 2027, positioning the vehicle as the pinnacle of its GR sports-car lineup and its first true supercar since the Lexus LFA launched in 2010.

The proposal to strengthen regulations on international eel trade has been formally shelved, marking a result in line with the position pushed by Japan and several other countries.
EU member states and others had called for tighter controls on all eel transactions under the Washington Convention, citing global resource depletion and the need for stronger international oversight. However, Japan countered that the Japanese eel faces no imminent risk of extinction and opposed the measure.

Tokyo’s Tsukiji Outer Market has taken the unusual step of asking tourists not to visit in December as operators move to prevent crowd-related accidents during the busy year-end shopping season, with local officials also confirming that Shibuya’s New Year’s Eve countdown will be canceled for the sixth consecutive year.

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A civic group in Usa City, Oita Prefecture that collects and analyzes wartime film archives released 18 pieces of footage to the media on December 7th, with the materials depicting kamikaze aircraft engaging U.S. forces and the devastation from air raids across Japan, much of it being shown publicly for the first time after the group obtained and examined the reels from the U.S. National Archives.

A volcano education center at the base of Showa-Shinzan is facing an existential threat as aging facilities and deteriorating materials put decades of invaluable records at risk.

A former teacher accused of secretly filming women by placing miniature cameras in a high school changing room and restroom faced sentencing at the Utsunomiya District Court on July 12th, with prosecutors demanding 1 year and 6 months of imprisonment.

As December approaches and people prepare for handwritten New Year’s cards, opportunities to pick up a pen naturally increase at this time of year, yet the nation’s enthusiasm for beautiful handwriting shows no sign of fading as calligraphy schools continue to evolve in step with the boom.

Jomon pottery estimated to be more than 10,000 years old has been found almost perfectly preserved at the bottom of Lake Biwa, with researchers calling the discovery exceptionally rare.

Okinawa’s Board of Education has cancelled this year’s program to send high school students to China after officials received notice from the host institution that it could no longer accept the group.

Childcare workers in Saitama, a prefecture popular among families for its convenient access to central Tokyo, are increasingly leaving for jobs in the capital due to a growing wage gap, creating deep concern in communities that border Tokyo.

Hokkaido hosted a company briefing session in Sapporo aimed at students and career changers on November 19th as part of an effort to energize the region’s space-related industries.