“Youth Conservatization” Discussed from Both Left and Right In recent years, there has been a surge of media coverage and commentary surrounding youth and politics. Among these topics, “conservatization” is by far the most popular. High support among young people for political parties such as Sanseito[1] and for the Takaichi Sanae administration is often discussed with surprise or a sense of crisis, sparking various speculations regarding the underlying reasons. Explanations range from arguments that youth have become more submissive to authority to claims that they simply do not study history. On the other hand, critics argue that raising such concerns is itself a biased perspective held by the left (or the old media). This represents one typical scene in recent political discourse. This discussion has also spilled over into the realm of education, where the influence of conservative educational reforms is sometimes cited. Recent ... ... [Read more]

What Is Conservatism in the First Place? The understandings of the concept of conservatism vary greatly from person to person. Historically, however, conservatism has represented a position that calmly asserts the impracticality of those forces that seek to sweep away an enduring society to construct a new one from a clean slate. Consequently, Edmund Burke (1729–1797), who expressed reservations on the voices praising the French Revolution, and Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992), who denied the feasibility of a socialist planned economy, are regarded as quintessential conservative thinkers. Both the French Revolution and the socialist planned economy were movements that attempted to fundamentally reconstruct society based on specific ideologies. Conservatism is what calmly pointed out the impracticality of such reforms. From a conservative perspective, while the ideologies of reformists—such as social contract theory, the concept of human rights, and historical materialism—certainly possess a degree of logic, they ... ... [Read more]

Every day, news reports of bear damage and sightings are being broadcast within the country. While bears are forest animals, they have recently been appearing in human living areas, causing not only damage to agricultural crops but also human injury and fatalities. According to announcements from the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOE), as of November 5, 2025, the number of fatal bear accidents for the fiscal year has already reached 13 (11 on Honshu and 2 in Hokkaido). In particular, incidents surged in October, with a total of seven cases in Iwate, Akita, and Miyagi Prefectures in northern Honshu. Human-bear conflicts have escalated to the scale of a natural disaster. It has reached a point where the dispatch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces is being requested. Just as we check the daily weather forecast and prepare our clothing or rain gear before ... ... [Read more]

“Surprisingly impressive” this Expo As of this writing, four months have passed since the opening of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (hereinafter Expo 2025) on April 13, 2025. Prior to the event, various criticisms and questions had been raised, including concerns about the appropriateness of the project costs and the plans for utilizing the site, which involve developing an integrated resort (IR), including a casino. Other concerns included methane gas emissions and whether there was any justification for hosting an Expo in Japan at this time. Even after the event began, there was no shortage of topics of criticism, such as the experimental toilets being difficult to use and the appearance of swarms of chironomids. Unpaid pavilion construction costs were also a cause for concern. However, public perception has steadily improved, and the number of visitors seems to be growing steadily as well.[1] Its ... ... [Read more]