On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake hit north eastern Japan. It was followed 50 minutes later by a 14-metre tsunami, devastating coastal areas. Nearly 20,000 people died in the most costly natural disaster […]
2020 was a tempestuous year for Japan, as well as the rest of the world. In August, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history. However, it had been clear for […]
Seventy-five years ago, as World War Two was drawing to a close, United States forces dropped two atomic bombs above the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is still one of the most deadly […]
On Friday 13 March, the Japanese Upper House approved a bill granting Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, the power to declare a state of emergency to fight coronavirus. Unfortunately, the two major opposition parties, the […]
On 22nd August South Korea gave Japan notice that it would not be extending the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). The 2016 agreement allowed for the direct sharing of military intelligence between Japan, […]
The Upper House elections held on 21 July in Japan were a minor set-back for the Shinzō Abe government. Along with their coalition partners, the Buddhist Komeito, they lost their two thirds majority in the […]
The G20 meeting which took place in Osaka on 28th and 29th of June was another indication of the severity of the present crisis facing the capitalist class internationally. While issues of equality, women’s empowerment […]
Over the last eight months, in an attack upon a labour union unprecedented in the recent past in Japan, the prefectural police of Osaka, Shiga and Wakayama have arrested over seventy members of the Kansai […]
On 30th April, Emperor Akihito abdicated and handed over to his son Naruhito – something that has not happened for 200 years. But it will change nothing for the vast majority of the population in […]
Japan’s Heisei Era – which began on January 8th, 1989, in line with Emperor Akihito’s ascension to the throne – will end next April with his abdication. This will be a purely symbolic ‘end of […]
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