Combatting human trafficking: 1st Winner of Michiel Brandt Memorial Prize Announced

The award is given in honor of the late Michiel Brandt, a former MIIS student from Japan who died of leukemia while preparing for a career in combatting human trafficking, fighting for human rights, and received her MA in International Policy Studies posthumously in December 2012. Michiel-chan aka Mimi-Chan (ミミちゃん） was one of the founders of this blog and my BFF.

Japan Lax Nuclear Security Could Make It The Land Of The Melting Sun

Japan has more than 50 gigantic nuclear “pressure cookers” ripe for exploitation by terrorists. In Japan, getting access to a nuclear power plant is very simple: fill out a job application.

Reconstructing 3/11: Survivors: Last man in the forbidden zone

Reconstructing 3/11 is a thoughtful examination by an impressive list of noted and knowledgeable authors, if I may say so as editor, of the state of Japanese society one year after the devastating natural and man-made disasters of March 11th, 2011. To mark the second anniversary of those events, and to serve as a reminder that the disastrous effects of 311 still linger, the Abiko Free Press is making Reconstructing 3/11 available to a wider audience by providing readers with both eBook and paperback editions. Reconstructing 3/11” will be available as a free Amazon.com download for a limited time until March 14th. To download your free copy click on one of the following links for either Amazon.com, .co.jp, or .co.uk. The print book will be available to order from Amazon within a week.

Reconstructing 3/11: Sometimes The Yakuza Live Up To Their Ideals　

There was a brief time after the earthquake when Japan welcomed the yakuza and they welcomed the victims with whatever aid they could provide. As time passes most of them (the yakuza) go back to doing what they really do to make a living: blackmailing, extorting, threatening and defrauding the general populace of their money and engaging in whatever crime they can get away with.

Bad News: Mysterious Smog (煙霧) Eats Tokyo ★ Good News: It’s Summer?!

According to the Meteorological Agency, Tokyo temperatures today reached 25.3 degrees Celsius making it the earliest “summer day” since readings began in 1876. At the same time, a strong wind from the North filled the air with dust, making visibility less than 10 kilometers, due to “The Smog Of Unknown Origins.”

“Saving 10,000:Winning A War On Suicide” Screened at the National Diet, Publicly Released

“A complete sense of desperation about the apparent hopelessness of the suicide situation pushed me to buy a movie camera and ask a 22 year old former student of mine to operate it. It was a completely ridiculous thing to attempt. Most documentaries on this topic like to show corpses and feed on the tears of tragedy, I call them tragedy vampires.

Japan, Mother of the World’s First Novel Hosts Its First International Literary Festival

Japan, the Mother of World’s First Novel to Hosted its First International Literary Festival, this year.

World News This Week: Reported By Someone Who Wasn’t Paying Attention

North Korea launched a missile which saved the entire human race.

Goodbye Friendly “Mild Seven” Cigarettes; Hello “Mevius”!

Mild Seven cigarettes are no more to be found in the smoker’s paradise. Japan Tobacco Inc. changed the name of its flagship cigarette brand from “Mild Seven” to “Mevius” in a bid to expand its global market share and stop selling Mild Seven cigarettes this week

Whaling is not a sustainable industry in Japan anymore, says study

Yesterday, February 5th, the International Fund for Animal Welfare released a report: The Economics Of Japanese Whaling: A Collapsing Industry Burdens Taxpayers, and held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan.