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Apr 12, 2021

My book has been released! Japan’s Nationalist Right in the Internet Age: Online Media and Grassroots Conservative Activism -routledge.com/Japans-Nationa Also on Amazon: amazon.com/gp/product/B08 #Japan #japanpolitics

@routledgebooks

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True story: few year ago, flying over Shizuoka en route to Hong Kong, we had a near miss with a balloon. We passed just over top of it & I could see the instruments dangling below it. I alerted the flight crew (they hadn’t seen it) & they alerted Japanese authorities - spooky!

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武力攻撃想定、海保と共同訓練　浜田防衛相「統制要領作成急ぐ」：時事ドットコム

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Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu said yesterday in the Diet that he hopes to conduct a JMSDF-JCG joint exercise anticipating an "armed attack situation" as soon as possible.

jiji.com

浜田靖一防衛相は３日午前の衆院予算委員会で、日本が外国から攻撃を受ける「武力攻撃事態」を想定した海上自衛隊と海上保安庁の共同訓練について、「早期に実施したい」と述べた。自衛隊法に基づき防衛相が海保を指揮下に置く際の手順をまとめた「統制要領」についても、作成を急ぐ方針を示した。

This woman wants to pass Japan's national nursing exam so much that she made Health Minister Katō Katsunobi her "oshi" (推し - a term commonly used by otaku to describe their enthusiastic support for a favorite member of an idol group or favorite character in an anime/manga).

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と思ったら上には上がいた。

Understanding this dumpster fire better now. The aide to the PM Kishida, Arai, is his speech writer. The aide drafted an awkward response by Kishida on marriage equality. When asked why, the speechwriter clarified he neither wants to see LGBTQ people, or even live beside them. twitter.com/Mulboyne/statu

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Feb 4

"Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday fired a close aide over discriminatory remarks about sexual minorities, as the Japanese leader hoped to put yet another scandal in his inner circle behind him." japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/0

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Melanie Brock

@melaniebrockjpn

William "Balloon Guy" Kim

Disgusting comments from PM’s aide followed by one of those pathetic ‘sorry if I offended anyone please let me retract my statement’ type of apologies.

#Japan #discrimination #LGBTQ english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/02/9

has pointed out, one of the biggest advantages of spy balloons is that they are usually hard to detect. However, the2020 Japan balloon, much like today's balloon over the USA, was very big and easily detectable.

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@TheKimulation

Jul 6, 2022

I'm not sure people realize how big of a deal this is. High-altitude balloons might not be as sexy as autonomous weapons or hypersonics but I think they have the potential to be just as revolutionary for warfare, if not more so.

1/10 twitter.com/HopeSeck/statu…

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William "Balloon Guy" Kim

Feb 4

This is a clip from June 18, 2020 in which then Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga said they had not confirmed if it came from another country, and could confirm no damages caused by the balloon. So they just observed it until it floated away.

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In this video clip of the balloon spotted over Tohoku in 2020 we can clearly see propellers on the object being carried by the balloon, possibly to help it change direction?

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@TheKimulation

Jul 6, 2022

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This NTV report from yesterday compares footage of the balloon spotted over Tohoku in 2020 (right) to the balloon floating over the USA in 2023 (left). youtube.com/watch?v=e_j4YI

A Chinese spy balloon over Japan? Back in 2020, a mysterious balloon appeared in the sky over northern Japan. This KHB news clip from the time notes that police and the self-defense forces were not sure where it came from and what it was doing. youtube.com/watch?v=jtXjBg

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Disgusting comments from PM’s aide followed by one of those pathetic ‘sorry if I offended anyone please let me retract my statement’ type of apologies. 🇯🇵#Japan #discrimination #LGBTQ

english.kyodonews.net

Aide to Japan PM says he would "hate" to see LGBT couple

A close aide to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida comes under fire over his discriminatory remarks about sexual minorities, saying he would "not want to live next door" to an LGBT couple.

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Feb 4

Marshmallow was un-suspended last night. According to this tweet, they received no explanation from Twitter about why it happened. Some, but not all, of the accounts targeted in the mass suspension have been un-suspended. twitter.com/marshmallow_qa

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"Marshmallow" is trending in Japan after the suspension of the official Twitter account of Marshmallow QA - a service that let followers ask Twitter users questions anonymously. Many users are claiming that there has been a mass suspension of accounts that used Marshmallow.

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Non-traditional ehomaki are popular these days. The supermarkets sell shrimp ones like the first one shown in the video, but many offer meat alternatives. At my local supermarket, the roast beef ehomaki sold out faster than all the other varieties available for reservation.

The German Ambassador to Japan uploaded this video of himself making ehomaki, a kind of sushi roll traditionally eaten each year on February 3rd to celebrate Setsubun. Instead of typical fish, he goes German with meat, sauerkraut, and mustard fillings.

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FNN reports that acts similar to "sushi terrorism" almost never happen in America....because a company can sue you for a gigantic amount of money if you harm their business. (Do they never view American news or social media?) youtube.com/watch?v=JpzZib

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Jan 30

Sushi restaurant chain Sushiro is considering legal action against young people shown doing rude/disgusting stuff to their conveyer belt sushi in viral TikTok videos. You can see some examples of this under the hashtag #寿司テロ ("sushi terrorism"). news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/87be0

Mass layoffs at Twitter affecting Japanese subsidiary

The Asahi article, published this afternoon, noted that there has been no official announcements from Twitter regarding this major problem. Back in November, Mainichi reported that Twitter was laying off members of its Japanese public relations team.

mainichi.jp

TOKYO -- The wave of large-scale layoffs at Twitter Inc. by new owner Elon Musk has also reached its Japanese subsidiary.

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Asahi Shimbun has an article up exploring data related to the mass suspensions. There was a huge increase Japanese tweets today mentioning suspensions, but no such trend in English tweets, suggesting that this is a Japan-centric problem.

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朝日新聞デジタル

@asahicom

Elon Musk says Twitter more 'Japan-centric' than U.S.-centric: report

ツイッターアカウント、凍結相次ぐ　日本国内だけ？分析してみると… asahi.com/articles/ASR23 アカウント凍結に関するツイートは3日AM02:00ごろから見られ、AM06:00以降に一気に増えました。海外の英文ツイートではその傾向は見られず、日本国内だけと考えられます。

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Another trending term showing up on my sidebar right now: "Twitter氷河期" (Twitter Ice Age). A friend who is active in the thriving subculture of amateur artists and comic creators says that community has been hit very hard. A lot of artists who relied solely on Twitter are gone.

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Elon Musk famously said that Twitter was more "Japan-centric" than U.S.-centric. Whoever implemented the changes that have apparently suspended so many legitimate Japanese accounts had very little understanding of Japanese Twitter usage.

asia.nikkei.com

Billionaire proposes engineering teams in Japan, India, Indonesia to decentralize

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Many Japanese Twitter users are talking about popular artists and non-bot friends whose accounts were purged today in what appears to be a mass suspension aimed at spam/bot accounts. Until today, Japanese Twitter has largely not cared about Elon Musk's takeover of the company...

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改装費1億3000万円、温泉旅館で「eスポ―ツ」寝る場所は「押し入れ」　ゲームに没頭できる空間 (23/02/01 19:20)

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Here is a news report from Nagoya TV that provides a closer look at this new kind of ryokan. Closets that are usually used in ryokan rooms as daytime storage space for futons have been turned into bunkbeds to maximize gaming space.

youtube.com

温泉といえばおなじみの「卓球」ではなく、若者たちを中心に熱い“あるもの”を楽しめる旅館が、三重県にリニューアルオープンしました。　三重県津市の「榊原温泉」にある創業50年の旅館「神湯館」。1日、リニューアルオープンしましたが、そこには旅館には珍しいものが。「旅館の2階なんですが、こちらの部屋には、『eスポーツ』の...

Shintokan, a struggling onsen ryokan in rural Mie prefecture, has re-opened this month after a major renovation: it is now dedicated to eSports. Additions include a 50-seat gaming "stadium" and special eSports training rooms. (there's a hot spring too) e-spaspo.jp

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Since "Chinese Spy Balloon" is trending: In 1945, the crew of USS New York spotted a sphere that they thought might be a Japanese balloon weapon. The captain ordered it shot down but none of the guns could score a hit. Finally, a navigator realized they were attacking Venus.

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If the PRC government has truly cultivated an expert understanding of the US, they'd realize that Americans will buy only one possible excuse for 'accidentally' floating a spy balloon over Montana, and that is 'Gender reveal party gone horribly wrong.'

防衛装備品の海外への移転を後押し自民新たに議員連盟設立へ | NHK

New LDP Diet Federation established to promote the transfer of defense equipment abroad. Twenty or so members attended the inaugural meeting. Group is led by ex-defense minister Onodera Itsunori.

nhk.or.jp

【NHK】防衛装備品の海外への移転を後押しするため、防衛大臣経験者をはじめとする自民党議員が、新たに議員連盟を設立することになりま…

Popular tweets about the problem speculate that the mass suspensions may be related to Marshmallow, but there are other possible reasons, such as using too many hashtags, having sub accounts that like/share your tweets, or following-back too much.

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raul（ラウル）

@raul10580422

凍結祭りについて正確な情報は分かっていないのですが、調べてみたところこのようなアカウントが対象になっているようです…！！みなさん無事に生きて…:( ;´꒳`;): #凍結祭り #全員凍結

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Quite a few Japanese artists, Vtubers, and other content creators made use of Marshmallow seem to have been suspended from Twitter. The service was a popular way for answer fans' questions and receive art requests.

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２４日にＧ７首脳会議　ウクライナ侵攻１年―政府検討：時事ドットコム

Jiji reports that the GOJ is considering hosting an online G7 Summit on Feb. 24–a year since the war in Ukraine began. The GOJ is also considering extending an invitation to President Zelenskyy.

jiji.com

Nagaoka told the media later in the day that the government has not yet decided on the issue. Such a decision is not expected until at least March. As the above video shows, the general public is divided about whether they would stop masking when masking advisories are dropped.

The 2022 academic year is coming to an end in Japan - will masks be required at school graduation ceremonies? Education Minister Nagaoka Keiko was asked about it and said families can decide whether or not to wear masks (she later retracted her statement)

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Feb 2

Sankei reporting that South Korean media says PM Kishida and President Yoon may watch the World Baseball Classic game between Japan and South Korea together. Let’s hope it doesn’t end up like the 2006 WBC… twitter.com/Sankei_news/st

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岸田総理の“慎重答弁”野党が批判　同性婚など「社会が変わってしまう」(2023年2月2日)

Feb 2

I do not know the timing of this next clip, but part of Yoshida's remarks today included a presentation about the Unification Church's lobbying efforts on these issues. The UC strongly believes that allowing separate surnames would harm society.

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Kishida said that making such changes could result in negative changes to Japanese society's values and views of family, so there needed to be more consideration before making any change. (Polls already show a majority of Japanese support both policy changes.)

This ANN report has a longer version of what happened. Yoshida wanted Prime Minister Kishida to confirm his support for the policy, and also asked if he supported same-sex marriage. Kishida did not voice support for those changes.

youtube.com

国会では2日に選択的夫婦別姓が議題に上がり、そもそも岸田総理大臣は賛成していたのではと追及がありました。　少子化対策にも関わる問題として、2日の予算委員会で取り上げられたのは選択的夫婦別姓です。　立憲民主党・吉田はるみ議員：「大きな異次元にあたること、それは選択的夫婦別姓。この実現ではないか。え？違いますか？今、...

CDPJ lawmaker Yoshida Harumi suggested that the government's policies to encourage more children should include allowing married couples the choice to choose separate surnames. As this video shows, LDP politicians jeered & heckled her:

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🇯🇵 Why is Japan building up its military? Join us this Thursday as

@RogerHilton20

talks with

@TogashiMariko

(

@IISS_org

) to unpack Japan’s new National Security Strategy and speculate on what this means for the country’s adversaries, such as China.