MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2022

we touched this same spot with our hands, our feet, our gaze and our dreams

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Remembering Akira Toriyama

Remembering Akira Toriyama

Akira Toriyama, one of Japan’s leading comics authors, helped bring anime to the rest of the world. He died this month at 68.

Toriyama was most famous for “Dragon Ball,” a manga and anime franchise that earned global success. The series, known for its comedic characters and martial arts battles, follows a young boy named Son Goku, who embarks on a journey to collect seven magical orbs that summon a wish-granting dragon.

“Goku is Toriyama’s greatest creation,” our critic Maya Phillips writes in an appraisal of his work. “He’s timeless and he’s unbeatable.”

A large statue of an anime character in an orange outfit with blue trim. He has spikey black hair and is positioned in a crouch with his arms twisted to one side.
A “Dragon Ball Z” booth at New York Comic Con in October. Charles Sykes/Invision, via Associated Press

Monday, January 01, 2024

Japan Issues Tsunami Warnings After Powerful Earthquake

 

A partially collapsed house is seen in a residential area, with a car next to it.
Yusuke Fukuhara/Yomiuri Shimbun, via, Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Japan Issues Tsunami Warnings After Powerful Earthquake

Officials ordered evacuations and said that some people were trapped under collapsed buildings after a quake struck western Japan.

Follow live updates

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Sukeban, a new women’s wrestling league

Sukeban, a new women’s wrestling league featuring Japanese performers, is the first of its kind in the U.S. It was inspired by the female gangs of the 1960s and 1970s that helped to bring feminism to the fore in Japan. Fashion plays a key role in the league, and organizers hope the flashy costumes will help the sport to appeal to an audience unfamiliar with it.

A woman wearing heavy eye makeup is laying on a wrestling mat and wincing in pain as her head is wrenched up and back by a woman who is on top of her and upside down.
A Sukeban performance in Miami earlier this month. Martina Tuaty for The New York Times

An aging population challenges Japan’s military

An aging population challenges Japan’s military

Facing security threats from China and North Korea, Japan has committed to raising military spending by about 60 percent over the next five years, which would give it the third-largest defense budget in the world. But its shrinking, aging population makes it hard to recruit soldiers.

The number of active personnel in the country’s armed forces is nearly 10 percent lower than it was in 1990. To expand the overall ranks, the chairman of Japan’s joint staff said the Self-Defense Forces should increase the proportion of women to 12 percent, from less than 8 percent, by 2030.

Continue reading the main story

Monday, December 04, 2023

Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show 2023

If you do enjoy a slight change of pace from the usual array of JDMs I present here on the channel, you'll love my yearly pilgrimage to Mooneyes' Hot Rod Custom Show. I've been covering the set up day of this event every year since 2009 for Speedhunters, a big favorite of mine as I get to see these rare customs and one off creations move around as they get positioned in their displays. Hearing them really adds a whole different vibe to the show and it's visually one of the coolest events in Japan. 
 
 

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

A ruling in Japan advances transgender rights

 

A ruling in Japan advances transgender rights

Japan’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization in order to legally change their gender identity was unconstitutional. Activists welcomed the ruling as a step forward for L.G.B.T.Q. rights in a nation that has been slow to recognize them.

Still, the court did not rule on a separate requirement that transgender people must undergo transition surgery in order to legally register as the gender with which they identify. In practice, that means many transgender people will still be unable to make the legal change. The top court said it would send the case back to the High Court for further discussion of the transition surgery clause.



Thursday, October 19, 2023

What's Life Like Inside A Japanese Prison?

 
 
We gained unprecedented filming access to two Japanese prisons to find out if accusations that the system is inhumane are true. What we witnessed was staggering. Inmates must march to their worksites attached by a cord; they are not allowed to look the guards in the eye; outside of scheduled leisure hours, they must maintain absolute silence, unless they have obtained prior permission to speak. The treatment of suspects in custody pushes many to confess to crimes which they did not commit, as was the case with one man who spent 46 years on death row. He was finally exonerated six years ago, but was left broken. We try to explain why a country which operates on strict principles of balance and order might choose such a repressive system, and see if this may explain Japan having one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Japan seeks to dissolve the Unification Church

Japan seeks to dissolve the Unification Church

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said yesterday that the government would seek to dissolve the Japan branch of the Unification Church, more than a year after the fringe group’s ties to conservative Japanese politicians were revealed in the wake of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination in July 2022.

After the killing, lawmakers scurried to contain the political fallout and began to scrutinize the church, which was found to have manipulated its members into handing over large sums of money over several decades.

What’s next: If the Tokyo district court orders the Unification Church to dissolve in Japan, the church will lose its property tax exemption and have to dispose of its assets. The church could appeal to the Supreme Court, or take its activities underground.

The headquarters of the Unification Church in Tokyo in May. Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times