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From Hiroshima to Tule Lake, Films About Japan and America
New York Times

Japan 'black widow' Chisako Kakehi retracts confession
BBC

Japan hangs 2 inmates, including one seeking retrial
The Mainichi

Japanese sacred island where women are banned gets Unesco world heritage listing
Guardian

Transnational Environmental Activism and Japan?s Second Modernity
Japan Focus

Last Week's Japan News on the JapanVisitor blog

Statistics

"Over the last month or so, the international media have been full of headlines about how the Japanese have lost their libido. Some blame cultural malaise, some an aversion to real human contact in a world increasingly dominated by virtual technologies. More prosaically, others point the finger at the ardour-dampening effects of economic insecurity. But whatever cause they cite, all draw the same conclusion: Japan?s low birth rate will lead inevitably to an irreversible decline in its population, and consequently in its economy.
"According to many, the long decay has already begun. Japan?s population peaked at just over 128 million in 2010. Since then, the combination of an ageing population and one of the lowest fertility rates in the world ? on average a Japanese woman can expect to have just 1.45 babies in her life ? has meant that deaths have exceeded births. With mass immigration ruled out by politicians and public alike, the result has been a fall in Japan?s population over the last six years of almost 1.3 million."...