-
·
Thousands swamp immigration
Spooked by the radiation leak at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, thousands of people this week have been applying for re-entry permits in preparation for evacuation from Japan. On Wednesday, the number of applicants at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau appeared to surpass the nearly 5,000 who lined up Tuesday, according to a…
-
·
Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe
You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach. It’s not easy to have a tattoo in Japan, and things have been getting even more…
-
·
Radiation levels shoot up in Tokyo, vicinity
Radiation levels shot up in Tokyo and its vicinity Tuesday following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan that was triggered by last week’s massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, local governments said. But those levels did not pose immediate danger to human health, the Ministry of Education, Culture,…
-
·
Activist fighting for LGBT rights
Toshima Ward candidate aims to pass partnership ordinance [Taiga] Ishikawa, a 36-year-old writer and activist with inside experience in politics [and an openly gay candidate running for the Toshima Ward Assembly in Tokyo], said he is not trying to become Japan’s Harvey Milk. But what he is aiming for as a politician is to make…
-
·
High court annuls punishment for teachers over Hinomaru, ‘Kimigayo’
The Tokyo High Court on Thursday annulled the disciplinary actions taken against all but one of 168 plaintiffs that include teachers who refused to stand up at the hoisting of the Hinomaru national flag and sing the “Kimigayo” national anthem at school ceremonies in Tokyo. The three-judge high court panel presided over by Judge Hiroaki…
-
·
Japan Struck by One of Biggest Earthquakes in Recorded History, Tsunamis Threaten Pacific Basin
We go now to Japan, where we’re joined by Louis Carlet, executive president of the Tokyo General Union. Welcome to Democracy Now! Tell us what happened, what Japan experienced, in this, one of the largest—what’s being called the Great Quake, the Great Earthquake, one of the five largest in the last century.
-
·
Japan football players to form union
Japanese football players are to form a union to demand better working conditions, including bigger rewards for international duty, their association said Wednesday. The Japan Pro-Footballers Association (JPFA), currently representing some 960 players at home and abroad as a fraternal body, said it had decided to register itself as a labour union with the right…
-
·
Japan launches primary push to teach English
Compulsory foreign language lessons start next month for all 10- to 12-year-olds, raising hopes among educators and industry leaders of ending a decades-long ‘English deficit’ With just weeks to go before English becomes a compulsory subject at Japan’s primary schools, doubts surround the boldest attempt in decades to improve the country’s language skills, and its…
-
·
Record number of public school teachers on fixed-term contracts, only working part time
A record 15 percent of public elementary and junior high school teachers across the country are full-time instructors with a fixed-term employment contract, or are only working part time, a government survey has found.
-
·
Japanese Elementary Teachers Take On Teaching English
Lessons to start in grade five, but most teachers lack formal training Elementary school teachers in Japan are studying up on their English. Come April, English will become a required subject for fifth- and sixth-graders.