Japan has had almost a year to improve security since the Abe assassination and will host world leaders at a G7 summit next month. Questions will be asked about whether enough was done to prevent this man from throwing an explosive device at the PM. twitter.com/mrjeffu/status…
We now have a clear video of moment the explosive device was thrown at Kishida. It looks like security failed quite badly here. The suspect could throw it right next to Kishida, and if it had a shorter fuse it may have exploded right then and there. https://t.co/s0R7HHlU86
EDM musician/burlesque dancer DJ Tiara is running as a candidate in Tokyo's Minato ward assembly election. This is how she was campaigning today. twitter.com/nm__Masato/sta…
From the alleged Twitter account of the man arrested for Saturday's pipe bomb attack on Prime Minister Kishida: Japan's election laws prevent ordinary citizens from running for office. Only hereditary politicians and "dogs" who obey political parties can be candidates.
The 2019 footage in this Asahi TV report about a Kurdish man being brutalized while in an immigration detention center is truly horrifying: today a Japanese court ordered the government to pay ¥220,000 ($1,640) in damages to the man.
Endō Tatsuya, creator of the popular Spy × Family manga series, now has a gold checkmark on Twitter, which is supposed to cost $1,000 a month and be reserved for organizations. According to this tweet, it seems he didn't apply or pay for it. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Takashima Ryosuke, the 26 year-old newly-elected mayor of Ashiya, has an impressive CV. He left Tokyo University after one year to go to Harvard. While still a student he founded a non-profit that would help 300+ Japanese students go to university abroad. https://t.co/cI4FF8l8wz
Eri Arfiya, a Georgetown graduate who speaks 7 languages and worked at the United Nations, was elected to Japan's House of Representatives today. She will be the first-ever Diet member of Uyghur ancestry. Here is a news report about her from 2022:
A 26 year-old YouTuber was just elected to the Hiratsuka city council. Shin runs a local Pokémon card shop and has a YouTube channel that reviews local restaurants. Instead of using his real full name, he officially ran as "Shin the Hiratsuka YouTuber" and received 3,827 votes.
Newly appointed ambassadors to Japan are given the option of either a car or horse carriage for their ride to the imperial palace to present their credentials to the Emperor. Most, including the new Australian ambassador, choose the carriage (because it's utterly magnificent). twitter.com/stephendziedzi…
Orzugul Babakhodjaeva (CDP) won a seat in Tokyo's Setagaya ward assembly election yesterday. She was born in Uzbekistan and later became a Japanese citizen. This is a historically significant case of an immigrant from Uzbekistan winning elected office in Japan. twitter.com/ninja_padrino/…
The Hemp Party's pro-marijuana legalization candidate did not win a seat in the Fujisawa city assembly election. When the ballots were counted on Sunday night, it turned out he received 420 votes. I'm not joking. That's actually how many votes he got. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The Japanese government's Twitter account is promoting a contraption developed by researchers at Osaka University that can track moving "pests" and deliver death by laser beam.
A BBC television report about a Japanese food store opening in Wales that aired on this day in 1983: "What about the idea that you eat raw fish all the time?"
Tokyo Pokémon card shop bans sales to adults so kids can enjoy the hobby: Hareruya 2 in Akihabara will not sell new Snow Hazard and Clay Burst packs to anyone over junior high school age, hoping it will block adult resellers and make the new cards more accessible to children.
Update: Yamamoto Miyuki tweeted yesterday that she was the "Asahara Shoko of the Reiwa Era" and would attack Funabashi station with Sarin nerve gas. She dared the police to stop her. Police then went to her house and arrested her. twitter.com/mrjeffu/status…
Moroi Nanako (Independent) recently ran a successful one-person campaign for the Toyohashi city assembly. She had no campaign office and no campaign staff. She also did not use a loudspeaker van because they are noisy and wake up babies/small children.
A video of Golden Week holiday horror at the Shinkansen ticket gate area of Tokyo Station.
A Japanese journalist who has spent years trying to import American conservative culture war ideology to Japan goes on Fox News to denounce US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel's friendliness towards Japanese people who support LGBTQ rights.
Donald Trump has once again sent a message of praise to a Unification Church UPF event. Here is some footage filmed at a "Peace Summit" taking place this week in Korea. https://t.co/lPfCVZwqu4
A video shot yesterday from the gate of the Enoshima Shrine shows some major crowding. https://t.co/1EZemo7WfZ
Today is day two of Super Comic City 30, a doujinshi convention in Tokyo where fans of various anime and manga series buy and sell fan fiction comics. Many of the works are BL manga, which cater to a primarily female audience. This is the line for the ladies' room! twitter.com/Md0ri_/status/…
An "Orange Parade" was held in Tokyo today. Participants were calling for Japan legally recognize joint custody of children for divorced parents. A lot of the Ishin party social media accounts I follow were promoting this event.
This video shows yesterday's robbery of a Rolex watch shop in Tokyo's Ginza district. It seems carrying out a robbery in broad daylight while witnessed filmed it was not a great idea: police have already arrested 4 suspects, with one still on the run.
Video: Japanese police struggle to restrain a suspect and ultimately decide to wrap him up in a blanket like a big burrito. This is a standard procedure to deal with violent/drunk suspects without resorting to the use of weapons.