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☆ Foreign-born residents in Japan sue the government for alleged racial profiling
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jessie Yeung | Saki Toi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Tokyo CNN —Three foreign-born residents in Japan are suing the country’s government over alleged racial profiling, highlighting an ongoing debate about Japanese identity and nationality. The three plaintiffs, all residents of Tokyo, filed the lawsuit in the Tokyo National Court and held a news conference with their lawyers on Monday, according to public broadcaster NHK. One plaintiff came to Japan from India after marrying his wife, and has lived there for more than 20 years, NHK reported. Since then, he has been repeatedly stopped and questioned by police officers on the street, sometimes twice a day. The third plaintiff is an American-born man who said he hoped to raise awareness of the issue among the Japanese population, according to Reuters.

Persons: “, ”, Philip Fong, Nissin, Naomi Osaka –, Karolina Shiino Organizations: Tokyo CNN —, Tokyo National Court, NHK, Aichi, Reuters, Court, Getty, CNN, Pew Locations: Japan, Tokyo, India, Pakistani, American, AFP, Aichi, Nagoya

☆ Foreign-Born Residents File Suit in Japan Over Alleged Racial Profiling
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Chris GallagherTOKYO - Three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit on Monday against the national and local governments over alleged illegal questioning by police based on racial profiling. It also comes amid a renewed debate over what it means to be and look Japanese, after a Ukrainian-born, naturalised Japanese citizen was crowned Miss Japan last week. The plaintiffs say they have suffered distress from repeated police questioning based on their appearance and ethnicity, which they say is a violation of the constitution. They and their legal team arrived at Tokyo District Court around midday and spoke to media outside before heading in to file their case. "I never knew what social withdrawal was until recently," he said, declining to provide his surname for fear of harassment.

Persons: Chris Gallagher TOKYO, Matthew, Syed Zain, Maurice, Chris Gallagher, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Miss Japan, Court, Tokyo Metropolitan, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Aichi, Aichi Prefectural Government, National Police Agency, Ministry, Justice Locations: Japan, Ukrainian, Tokyo, Aichi, Aichi Prefectural, Pakistan, American

TOKYO (AP) — The bid-rigging trial around the Tokyo Olympics played out Tuesday in a Japanese courtroom — more than two years after the Games closed — with advertising giant Dentsu and five other companies facing criminal charges. Executives or management-level officials at each of the accused companies, and Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official Yasuo Mori, have been charged with violating anti-monopoly laws. Speaking in Tokyo district court, he said no bid process was ever decided upon or set up by the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee. Once the Olympics landed in Tokyo, Dentsu became the chief marketing arm of the Games and raised a record $3.3 billion in local sponsorship. Takahashi was a member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee and wielded powerful influence over the Olympic business.

Persons: Koji Henmi, Yasuo Mori, Cerespo, Dentsu, Sebastian Coe, Thomas Bach, Genta Yoshino, Henmi, ” Yoshino, Yoshino, Yoshiro Mori, Toshiro Muto, Tsunekazu Takeda, Haruyuki Takahashi, Takahashi Organizations: TOKYO, Tokyo Olympics, Tokyo Olympic, Tokyu Agency, Olympic Committee, IOC, Bank of Japan, Tokyo, Japanese Olympic Committee, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Olympic, Aoki Holdings, Paris Locations: Tokyo, Dentsu, Switzerland, Japan, Sapporo, French, Salt Lake City, Osaka, paris

“After China's ban on Japanese seafood, we are seeing more customers buying not only Fukushima fish but also Japanese seafood in general to support the industry." Despite the wastewater discharges, auction prices at Fukushima fish markets have remained stable — or even occasionally higher than normal. While individual consumers favor ordering fish by mail and shopping at seafood markets, prefectural government cafeterias have started serving Fukushima seafood for lunch. In Kyoto, a group of world-renowned Japanese “Kaiseki” cuisine chefs, will develop menus that primarily use Fukushima fish starting early next year. “I wish I could sell more local fish,” Haga said.

Persons: Kazuto Harada, “, ”, “ I'm, it’s, Futoshi Kinoshita, Katsuya Goto, ” Goto, Yoshinori Tanaka, ” Tanaka, Haga, ” Haga Organizations: —, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Tokyo Electric Power Company, United States Embassy, TEPCO, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japanese Culinary Academy Locations: IWAKI, Japan, Onahama, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tokyo, South Korea, Beijing, China, Kyoto, Toriyone, Asia, asia

☆ Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan sparks protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Emiko Jozuka | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Last month the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a UNESCO advisory body, issued a “heritage alert” for Jingu Gaien. Nishikawa believes that the commercial nature of the redevelopment “breaks the promise” of keeping the Jingu Gaien as a public space. Protesters gather for a demonstration at Meiji Jingu Gaien on September 15, 2023. Work commenced at the Meiji Jingu Gaien site in March. “They need to go back to the drawing board and use a much more democratic process to decide the future of Jingu Gaien.”

Persons: Hiroshi Ono, Meiji Jingu Gaien, ”, Emperor Meiji, Emperor Naruhito, Babe Ruth, Daniel Campisi, Jingu Gaien, Naoko Nishikawa, Nishikawa, Shinji Isoya, Gaien, CNN Shinji, Mitsui Fudosan, Hajime Funada, Meiji Jingu, Kiyotatsu Yamamoto, Rochelle Kopp, Jingu, Mikiko Ishikawa, Ishikawa, Kopp, ” Daniel Campisi, CNN Yamamoto, ” Kopp Organizations: Japan CNN, Tokyo, CNN, Chichibunomiya Rugby, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Council, UNESCO, CNN Tokyo, Mitsui Fudosan, Japan’s, Protesters, Meiji, Liberal Democratic Party, University of Tokyo, Japan National, Co, World Cities Culture Forum, Properties, “ Locations: Tokyo, Japan, Meiji, Tokyo’s, Shinjuku, Minato, ”, New, New York, London

The mayor of Fukushima, Hiroshi Kohata, said on Saturday the city’s town hall alone had received about 200 such harassment calls in two days. Security officers in front of the Japanese embassy in Beijing, China, on August 26, 2023. In an echo of the Japanese embassy’s statement, it urged Tokyo to protect the safety of Chinese residents in Japan. Many countries, including China, release treated radioactive water from their own nuclear plants, sometimes at higher concentrations than in Fukushima. Other prefectures are considering similar programs, with the Osaka governor proposing Fukushima seafood be served at all government cafeterias.

Persons: China’s, Hiroshi Kohata, It’s, ”, Yasuhiro Matsuda, Yoon Suk Yeol, Han Duck, Yoon, Han, Yuriko Koike, Rahm Emanuel, Matsuda, Xi Jinping, Fumio Kishida Organizations: Tokyo CNN, NHK, CNN, Security, Kyodo, Chinese Foreign Ministry, University of Tokyo’s Institute, Advanced Studies, South, Osaka, US, East China, Reuters Locations: Fukushima, Japan, China, Tokyo, Fukushima prefecture, Beijing, “, Qingdao, China’s Shandong, Suzhou, China’s Jiangsu, Asia, East

☆ Government workers warned against sharing classified information with ChatGPT, Daily Telegraph reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

UK government workers were reportedly warned not to input classified information into AI chatbots. A document leaked to the Telegraph told them not to share anything "classified" or "sensitive." The guidelines also flagged the potential for bias in these AI systems, the paper reported. UK government workers have been warned not to input any classified information into AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, The Telegraph has reported. Romania has also pioneered the use of AI chatbots in government — having unveiled Ion, an AI advisor to its prime minister, in March.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, — Organizations: Telegraph, Morning, UK Civil Service, British, Tokyo Metropolitan Locations: Tokyo, Romania

☆ Why Do Cats Hold Such Mythic Power in Japan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Hanya Yanagihara | Kyoko Hamada | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Now the sun was fading, and Mihoko and I went to a coffeehouse to discuss the lack of cats. (Later, I also thought that the cats’ relative scarcity made them more precious; at one number, they were curiosities. Or maybe, even, it was possible to believe that the cats knew something we didn’t. Although Tokyo, with its 14 million residents, remains one of the largest cities in the world, other parts of Japan are emptying of humans. But although the humans hadn’t been able to replace themselves after a certain point, the cats had had no such problems.

☆ Tokyo plan likened to putting skyscrapers in Central Park
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

People protest against the Tokyo metropolitan governments redevelopment project for the Meiji Jingu Gaien district in Tokyo on February 12, 2023. "This is like building skyscrapers in the middle of Central Park in New York," Professor Mikiko Ishikawa told the Associated Press. She studied landscape architecture and Central Park's history and said the park was an inspiration for the Japanese – as were European designs – when Jingu Gaien was completed in 1926. "Jingu Gaien is a public place, and you should think of it as a commons," she said. Koike addressed Jingu Gaien several months ago at news conference.

☆ Tokyo makes solar panels mandatory for new homes built after 2025
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kantaro Komiya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital's local assembly on Thursday. The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted last week that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels. "In addition to the existing global climate crisis, we face an energy crisis with a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war," Risako Narikiyo, a member of Koike's regional party Tomin First no Kai, said at the assembly on Thursday.

☆ Japanese capital requires solar panels for new homes built from 2025 amid efforts to address climate change
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital’s local assembly Thursday. The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted last week that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels. “In addition to the existing global climate crisis, we face an energy crisis with a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war,” Risako Narikiyo, a member of Koike’s regional party Tomin First no Kai, said at the assembly Thursday.

☆ Tokyo begins same-sex partnership recognition
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

TOKYO — Tokyo began issuing certificates recognizing same-sex couples on Tuesday, becoming the largest municipality to do so in a country in which same-sex marriage is not allowed. Seven years after Tokyo’s Shibuya district first introduced same-sex partnership recognition in 2015, more than 200 smaller towns have joined the move, accounting for less than one-fifth of Japanese municipalities. Still, many sexual minority couples say the partnership recognition will improve their daily lives, allowing them to rent apartments and sign documents in medical emergencies, and in inheritance. Fumino Sugiyama, a transgender activist, said the certificates recognize the presence of sexual minorities and the need to recognize their rights. Moda said the certificate only recognizes partnerships between adults and needs to cover children of same-sex couples.

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