A traditional Ainu preserved food called <i>satchep</i> (dried fish) being made at the government-run National Ainu Museum and Park, nicknamed Upopoy, in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, on Dec. 25. The Sapporo District Court ruled last month that the Raporo Ainu Nation's rights as an Indigenous people did not extend to having an inherent right to fish for commercial reasons.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024
Sapporo court ruling on Ainu fishing rights presents tough questions
A Sapporo court ruled last month that an Ainu group only has the right to engage in salmon fishing for cultural — but not commercial — reasons.
Yukio Tsunezuka holds a back issue of the Noto magazine in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on April 22.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024
Local info magazine in quake-hit Noto region set for revival
The New Year's Day quake struck just as the latest edition was about to be printed.
Jiro Suzuki, head of Kosaka Railroad Railpark in Kosaka, Akita Prefecture, stands next to a retired Akebono sleeper train that is now being used as a lodging facility, on April 22.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024
Lodging in 'blue train' to resume in Japan after five-year hiatus
Services using the retired sleeper train are set to restart Saturday after five years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Customer harassment” — in which customers harass front-line workers with aggressive behavior or unreasonable requests — has become a growing problem in the service industry.
JAPAN / Society
May 2, 2024
Japan steps up measures against 'customer harassment'
A 2022 survey found that 67.5% of respondents had experienced some kind of harassment from customers in the past three years.
The Shimane Nuclear Power Plant in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2024
Chugoku Electric delays restart of nuclear reactor at Shimane plant
The No. 2 unit will be the first boiling-water reactor to be restarted in Japan since the 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Masayuki Fukasawa (left), chief editor of Diario Brasil Nippou, and Kimiko Aso, of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, in Sao Paulo in April
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2024
Brazil's last Japanese-language newspaper innovates to stay in print
Behind the difficulties facing Diario Brasil Nippou is declining numbers of subscribers, but the daily hopes to stay afloat by stressing its cultural role.
Mitsunobu Inoike talks about the Kanakura district of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, known for its terraced rice fields, on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2024
Noto quake survivors face tough choice: leave or remain
In the disaster-hit areas, many damaged houses are being left as they are.

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Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces