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"Japonesia Review," Reviewed in the Japan Times
A small publisher is struggling to expand the circulation of its biannual English-language magazine, which features hard-hitting stories on controversial issues, including the overseas deployment of the Self-Defense Forces and gender equality.
"We aim to deliver high-quality, critical stories about the political, economic and social states in Japan to the world in English," said Hikaru Kasahara, an editor of Japonesia Review. >>>read more
FOCUS
New Fukuda : a Captain with No Clue Where to Go
March 2008
by Muto Ichiyo
Japan has entered a period of chronic political instability since the devastating defeat of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) headed by rightist Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in the Upper House election in July 2007. The LDP's downfall stood in stark contrast with the meteoric rise of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) that became the largest party in the Upper House. The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komei Party lost its power to freely impose legislature. Now Abe is gone and Fukuda Yasuo, a lack-luster LDP politician, rules the country as prime minister.
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A Sharpened Confrontation with the Tokyo Government Features Okinawa in 2007
September 2007
by Yamaguchi Hibiki
The struggle against U.S. military bases is entering another intense phase as the Japanese government has launched aggressive action to build a large U.S. base in Nago City, northern Okinawa. The United States has been eager to establish a new base in Okinawa putatively as a substitute military facility to Futenma U.S. airbase, an outdated base located in the midst of Ginowan city, which anyway had to be closed for technical and political reasons.
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The July Election: A Fatal Blow to Abe and the Abe Doctrine
September 2007
by Muto Ichiyo
The shattering defeat suffered by the far-right government headed by Abe Shinzo in the Upper House elections on July 29 2007 has jolted and sent into disarray the grand strategy of the Japanese right to recraft the postwar Japanese state through a revision of the 1946 Constitution.
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Japan's Willing Military Annexation by the United States -- "Alliance for the Future" and Grassroots Resistance
October 2006
by Muto Ichiyo
It is hard to believe that it happened but it did. In an 18-month working process begun in February 2005 and completed in June 2006, Japan willingly surrendered command over its military forces to the United States, committing itself unconditionally to the American empire's global strategic imperatives.
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“Revise the Peace Constitution, Restore Glory to Empire!”--Ultra-right Takes Initiative in Changing the Postwar State
August 5, 2005
by Muto Ichiyo
The Japanese state-remaking project with the reinstatement of the Japanese empire as a major pillar faces a crisis as it is causing serious deterioration of Japan’s relations with its Asian neighbors. As regards China, the problem drastically came into the open as “anti-Japan” demonstrations exploded and spread throughout China in April.
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Bashing Gender Equality: Establishing a System that Skews the Population on All Sides
March 25, 2005
by Takenobu Mieko
Demeaning counter-movements that “bashes” gender equality are spreading quietly but rapidly in Japan. Certain media publish demagogues which undermine gender equality movements.
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The Okinawan Anti-base Movement Regains Momentum -- New U.S. Base Project Off Henoko Beach Met with Effective Non-Violent Resistance on the Sea
January 2005
by Yui Akiko
After several years of doldrums, the anti-base movement in Okinawa regained its momentum in mid-2004, winning the hearts and minds of many Okinawa people and proving its great power of resilience.
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Upper House Elections Mark the Beginning of the End of the Koizumi Era--A Major Confrontation is Impending over the Peace Constitution
by Muto Ichiyo
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ANALYSIS
Okinawa Disagrees -- A historic Turning Point in the Struggle for Peace and Dignity
September 19, 2006
by Yui Akiko
Okinawa in 2006 faces a crucial ordeal that calls for a new struggle as Japan has made a new commitment to the global U.S. strategy meting out a yet more cruel fate to Okinawans. This commitment goes not only against Japan’s Peace Constitution but even against the existing U.S.-Japan Security Treaty that geographically delimits the scope of U.S. -Japan military cooperation.
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Organizing Japan's Urban-Industrial Underclass --Homeless and Day Laborers Forge a New Anti-globalization Alliance
September 27, 2005
by Nasubi
In modern Japan, the urban-industrial underclass has always been at the mercy of state labor policies and market fluctuations, finding work when and where it benefits big industry, barely surviving the rest of the time. The lowest rung on this shaky social ladder is occupied by two groups.
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Rightist history Textbook Emerges as the Focus of Political Struggle Over Japan's Future Course
August 9, 2005
by Narusawa Muneo
It is no exaggeration to say that Japan's future path largely depends on how many public schools are going to adopt a particular history textbook this summer. This peculiar situation is due the major struggle over the future course of Japan currently being fought in the arena of education.
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The Critical Juncture of Japan's Defense Policy vis-a-vis the U.S. Strategy
August 10, 2005
by Akira Kawasaki
Japan's defense policy is presently undergoing a comprehensive review for the first time since the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent launch of the global "war on terrorism" – meaning that this policy is now at a critical juncture.
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Toyota: A Corporate Monarch Shaping Japan in its Image
July 1, 2005
by Kaneko Fumio
Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan’s best-known multinational enterprise, is striving to develop a global strategy to take the top position in the world automobile market.
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Okinawa in 2004
--Peace and Environment Movements Coming Together on the Henoko U.S. Base Issue
by Yui Akiko
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Why are the Japanese Self-Defence Forces in Iraq?
July 2004
by Douglas Lummis
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An Appeal for the Peoples’ Tribunal on the Dropping of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
by Yuki Tanaka
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North Korean Abductions: Rampancy of the Right and the Silence of the Left
July 2004
by Ota Masakuni
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The Hostage Crisis Brought the Iraq War Home--A Report from the Peace Movement in Hokkaido
by Koshida Kiyokazu
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Japan's Deteriorating Labor Market--Workers are Degraded as Dispensables
by Takenobu Mieko
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People's Plan Study Group [PPSG]
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People's Plan Japonesia (website ) and "Japonesia Review" (magazine) are looking for volunteers, particularly Japanese-English translators and English-language proofreaders and editors. If interested please send a short introduction to ppsg@jca.apc.org
PEOPLE
Interview with Nishino Rumiko: Co-representative of the Violence Against Women in War Network-Japan (VAWW-NET Japan) "Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace" --Creating a Space for Hub of Activism for Peace and Gender Justice
August 22, 2005
PPJ: The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery held in December 2000 was of great significance for post-war Japan. In many ways, we were entering a new period of the post-war era during this time. The trend towards legitimatising pre-war nationalism and glorifying the Japanese military became obvious especially after the tribunal.
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No.4 is now out!
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Interview with Nishino Rumiko: Co-representative of the Violence Against Women in War Network-Japan (VAWW-NET Japan)