Weekly Highlights from the Japanese Press No. 23

From the Mainichi Shinbun for August 19 through August 25 and the Asahi Shinbun for August 26 through September 1

Weekly Highlights from the Japanese Press No. 23

From the Mainichi Shinbun for August 19 through August 25 and the Asahi Shinbun for August 26 through September 1

From the Mainichi Shinbun

August 21

On August, 20, the Ministry of Defense began further construction on the new Henoko Base to which Futenma Airfield is to be transferred, despite consistent opposition from Prefectural Governor Tamaki Denny. Denny has been carrying out a legal battle against the construction of the new base for more than a year now. In this instance, MoD requested permission from the prefecture to improve weak ground around the proposed site, but their persistent refusal forced the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism to subrogate execution to grant MoD permission to perform the operation.

From the Asahi Shinbun

August 29

A video spread on X purporting to show an Asahi TV news report on the Kurds from December 2023 was edited to remove a crucial one minute and twelve seconds dealing with efforts by local Kurdish groups in Kawaguchi, Saitama to collaborate with the police and local authorities to clean up the city, as well as a snippet of an interview with a leader of a local Kurdish organization in which he denies allegations of connections to terrorist groups in Turkey. No audio or imagery was changed, but the portions of the video uploaded focused on Turkish allegations of involvement with the PKK and social media comments to similar effect. The video gained more than nine million views before being taken down.  

August 31

Minister of Regional Revitalization Jimi Hanako recently announced that a policy for increasing the marriage rate that had already been included in a proposed budget for the following year has been taken off the table. Local governments that hold marriage parties have been having difficulty attracting the participation of women. In order to aid their efforts, the government proposed to cover the transportation costs of women who travel from Tokyo to attend these parties and, when marriages are concluded, provide an extra monetary reward. The plan was to provide each woman with up to 600,000 yen (~4,000 USD) for participation. Critics accused the government of attempting to move women with money and failing to deal with what are presumed to be the causes of the departure of women from the provinces, namely the wage gap and the entrenched gendered division of labor.

September 1

On August 31, MoD announced that a Chinese military survey vessel had penetrated Japanese waters near Kuchinoerabu Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. This is the thirteenth time that Chinese military vessels have penetrated Japanese waters, the first since September 2023, and the tenth time that such vessels have penetrated Japanese waters near that specific island, with the first having taken place in November 2021. The Japan Maritime SDF responded by dispatching minesweepers and patrol planes to monitor the situation. MoD stated that the Chinese military has been consistently expanding its military activities around Japan, and that in response they will continue to monitor the situation.