Hamada Mari, Representative of Stand by Women It is only recently that “harassment in the political field” has become an issue in Japan. One of the triggers was the “Revised Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field” enacted in 2021, which mandated the central government, local governments, political parties, etc. to take measures against sexual harassment and maternity harassment (political parties are obliged to make efforts). As a result, the media reported on the issue, local assemblies made efforts to address the issue, and the reality of harassment, which had been made invisible as a cost of participating in politics, began to come to light. According to the Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office (CAO) “Research report on barriers to women’s political participation” (2021), 65.5% of women and 58.0% of men experienced harassment from voters, supporters, assembly members, etc. while considering or ... ... [Read more]

Hisamoto Kizo, Mayor of Kobe It has been thirty years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred on January 17, 1995. At the time, the Kobe City Government quickly steered the city toward revitalization, and I think we have been able to recover and rebuild at a fairly fast pace. On March 17, just two months after the disaster, the city implemented the Urban Area Redevelopment Project. There was a lot of criticism because a large-scale urban redevelopment plan was proposed while many disaster victims were still living in evacuation centers. However, Kobe’s decision paid off, and three types of housing — disaster recovery and rental accommodation, as well as units in redeveloped urban areas — were quickly provided. As a result, the need for temporary housing was eliminated in less than five years. Of course, not everything went quickly. Citizens were divided in their ... ... [Read more]

Mimaki Seiko, Associate Professor, Doshisha University On January 20, 2025, the inauguration ceremony of the 47th President, Donald Trump, kicked off the second term of the Trump administration. President Trump’s inaugural address was full of suggestions for what the future of the United States and the world will look like. At the beginning of his inaugural address, President Trump stated, “the golden age of America begins right now,” and emphasized, “we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.” The implication is this. Previous American presidents have been too good-natured, and have been led astray by other countries praising the United States with words such as “the leader of the international order.” These presidents have invested huge amounts of money and resources to protect the safety and prosperity of other countries, even at the expense of their own national interests. Such ... ... [Read more]

With the inauguration of the second Donald Trump administration, there are concerns about “vacuums,” especially those in security frameworks and economic order, which will increase the risks. How will the regional powers of the Indo-Pacific, that is, the Global South, try to change the international order with their own hands? And how can Japan cooperate with them? Ishii Masafumi (Special Adjunct Professor, Gakushuin University), Ito Toru (Professor, National Defense Academy), Oba Mie (Professor, Kanagawa University) —— The second Trump administration has shown great interest in China, Ukraine, the situation in Gaza, and other areas. But it hasn’t announced much about the Indo-Pacific. Ishii Masafumi: With the exception of India, the Trump administration has not paid much attention to the Indo-Pacific region The decline in America’s desire to engage abroad began with President Obama’s statement in 2013 that “America is not the world’s policeman,” a ... ... [Read more]

Massive support for the semiconductor industry The semiconductor industry is the target of huge government subsidies in Japan. In 2021, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) attracted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. (TSMC), a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer and the world’s largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) company, to Kumamoto Prefecture. The first and second fabs of Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. (JASM), which TSMC established as a joint venture with Sony Semiconductor Solutions and others, are scheduled to receive subsidies totaling up to 1.208 trillion yen under the framework of the Amended 5G Promotion Act, which came into effect in 2022. In 2022, Rapidus Corporation (hereinafter Rapidus), a foundry company, was established with strong support from METI and investment from eight private companies. The company introduces cutting-edge technology with a circuit line width of 2 nm (1 nm is one billionth of a ... ... [Read more]

Dr. Tsuboyama-Kasaoka Nobuyo, Head of Section of Global Disaster Nutrition at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan talks about space food and disaster food — Interviewed by the vesta editorial team. Challenges in space and disaster nutrition research I have always been interested in space and have tried to become an astronaut three times in the last 25 years. Because my parents were mountain climbers, I have been going to high altitudes since I was a child, while scuba diving has challenged me in the depths of the ocean, so I wanted to try the most extreme space. As you can see from the fact that you can get altitude sickness when you climb a mountain or submarine sickness when you dive in the ocean, you can really feel the changes in your body when you go to a special environment. ... ... [Read more]

  Key Points: Structural economic growth cannot be lifted by fiscal and monetary policies. Price controls through subsidies, etc. result in huge fiscal expenditure. Promote privatization of social security to harness the vitality of the private sector.   The public is clamoring for this or that measure to revitalize the Japanese economy. However, many of these measures are unnecessary and may even create obstacles. Fiscal and monetary policies designed to stimulate the economy do not have the effects that the public generally believes they do. A review of economic research shows that these policies have had some success in providing support during business cycle downturns. However, their effects are strictly limited to business cycles as defined by economists. Such downturns do not occur as frequently as the public perceives. Real gross domestic product (GDP) typically zigzags and rises slowly over time. The average straight ... ... [Read more]

With the rise of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), the “tax barrier” suddenly emerged. How did the DPP’s electoral strategy come about, and who supported it? And to what extent will the expansion of tax exemptions actually reduce the burden, and on whose behalf? Let’s consider a system that can bring real voices into politics. Two reasons for this focus The issue of the “1.03-million-yen barrier[1]” suddenly became the focus of political discussion, and the media reported on it extensively day after day. This is none other than a measure to significantly raise the current income tax exemption limit from 1.03 million yen to 1.78 million yen, and is the flagship policy of the DPP, which made a breakthrough by quadrupling its number of seats in the general election on October 27, 2024. If the new limit is really 1.78 million yen, ... ... [Read more]

  On the day the Lower House election was announced, I watched the movie Civil War (Japanese title: Shibiru Uo: America Saigo no Hi). It was written and directed by Alex Garland. The title Civil War refers to the civil war that divided America. The protagonist, an American camerawoman who has covered many battlefields, reflects that her past overseas reporting aimed to warn her homeland. However, now her home has become a battlefield. Her colleague comments that she has lost sight of journalism’s purpose.Indeed,despite having lost sight of their original purpose, the women continue their grueling reporting, but for what reason? Neither the women themselves nor the audience watching can fully understand, as the movie progresses. The movie depicts the civil war as if it has already started. Little attention is paid to the circumstances of why and how it came to be.  It ... ... [Read more]

The impact of Ishiba’s “Hudson Paper” Ishiba Shigeru, who became the 102nd Prime Minister of Japan, is a self-recognized expert on defense issues, having served as Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency in the Koizumi Junichiro Cabinet and Minister of Defense in the Fukuda Yasuo Cabinet. He has described “national defense as my life’s work,” and is a heavyweight on the Liberal Democratic Party’s National Defense Division and the Security Research Commission, as well as a noted policy wonk in the political world as an expert on foreign affairs and security. He has not only participated in debates in the Diet, but has also actively published books and essays on defense issues, and is unique in having raised such issues in depth as a Diet member, particularly regarding Japan’s post-Cold War defense policy and the government’s interpretation of the defense-related Constitution. Since Ishiba retired ... ... [Read more]

  The murder of a boy attending a Japanese school in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China in September 2024 has had a great impact on Japanese society, especially on Japanese people with ties to China. Along with the school bus attack incident in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, in June of the same year, I, who have lived in Beijing and Shanghai as a correspondent for The Aasahi Shimbun (Japanese daily newspaper) and have covered China for a quarter of a century, cannot help but feel strong anger, indignation, and sadness. What is the pathology lurking in Chinese society behind this incident? Why is it directed against Japan? I would like to discuss the current state and future of Japan-China relations that the incident has highlighted. A series of random killings “Xianzhong.” This refers to Zhang Xianzhong (1606–1647), one of the leaders of the peasant rebellion at ... ... [Read more]

  Key Points: Aid based on the “request” of the recipient country needs to be reexamined. We must build trust on the ground. Dr. Nakamura Tetsu can be a role model. We should shift to identifying problems together with local people. How has Official Development Assistance (ODA) identified problems and formulated projects in the past? The answer to this question will be an important starting point for predicting the future of ODA. After WW2, Japan came up with the idea of including economic reconstruction in postwar reparations and economic cooperation. Economic cooperation eventually became ODA, and the purpose of maintaining the US-led free economic zone was added. The scope of activities also expanded beyond economic infrastructure such as roads and ports to include health, education, the environment, and peace-building. In recent years, there has been interest in the role of ODA in peace and ... ... [Read more]

  Key Points: The Development Cooperation Charter is part of the national security strategy. Offer-type cooperation is more binding than the tied aid. The Japanese people also value “honor in the international community.”   “We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society.” These words from the preamble of the Japanese Constitution seemed to the author, as a student in the 1980s, to be a natural purpose for Japanese development aid. In the late 1980s, Japan was the world’s second-largest economy in terms of gross national product and was on the verge of becoming the world’s largest donor of official development assistance (ODA). Many “Japan in the World” events were held, and there was a growing momentum that “Japanese people should not only think about Japan, but act as members of the world.” The first ODA Charter, established the following year, embodied ... ... [Read more]

  Are arts and entertainment workers freelance? The answer is yes and no. If people who work like craftsmen in a long-established industry, such as the entertainment industry, were suddenly told, “You are a freelancer,” they would probably feel uncomfortable. The same would probably be true for sole proprietors in agriculture, forestry and construction, seafarers, and people in the transportation industry, such as private taxi drivers and Akabou.[1] After all, traditional self-employment is not a new way of working. In the first place, isn’t it too broad a range of industries to define freelance in one word? It would be more natural to think of it as just one part of the diverse ways of working. In fact, it has been studied under various names, such as employee-like and employment-like work styles. In 2020, the Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA) surveyed people working in ... ... [Read more]

  2024 was an election year in which national elections were held around the world. Initially, some people thought there would be no election in Japan in 2024. However, in October, the Lower House was dissolved with one year left in its term, and a general election was held. Then, for the first time in 30 years, a minority ruling party was born, and Japanese politics is at a turning point. What does this mean? Let us delve deeper into this turning point. The last general election for the Lower House was held in October 2021, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), led by President Kishida Fumio, won a landslide victory. It also won the regular election for the Upper House in July 2022. The term of the Lower House members will expire in October 2025, and the regular election for half of the ... ... [Read more]