Japan

Unions should fight for Japan’s workers

Economic difficulties and political discontent lies behind a row over workers’ wages in Japan.

Beyond the Great Wave—British Museum’s focus is not on Hokusai’s best

The British Museum is celebrating the most famous figure in Japanese art. Katsushika Hokusai was a prolific print-maker and painter who lived from 1760-1849.

US and its allies rattle sabres in Korea row

The US and South Korea held their “largest ever” annual joint military exercise last week. The Japanese navy is sending two destroyers to rendezvous with US warship Carl Vinson.

The nuclear bomb took capitalist logic to its obscene conclusion

Seventy years after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Simon Basketter argues there was no need

Rising markets are sign of deep malaise

Faced with disaster on almost every front, David Cameron and George Osborne are desperately talking up the British economy.

Fukushima alert level raised

The growing crisis at Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan is at its most dangerous point since the reactor cores melted down in 2011.

New leak at Fukushima nuclear plant

06 August 2013
More radioactive water is leaking out of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Nuclear protests at anniversary of Fukushima

21 March 2013
Protests were held across Japan last Sunday against the restarting of nuclear power stations.

Trillions looted by the rich

24 July 2012
At least £13 trillion has been hidden in tax havens by the super rich. That’s about as much as the economies of Japan and the US put together.

News round-up

24 July 2012
Fukushima firm lies on radiation Bosses at a firm cleaning up the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan tried to cover up radiation levels beyond the legal limit.

Private firms caused Fukushima nuclear disaster, report finds

10 July 2012
Collusion between Japan’s government, regulators and private nuclear operator Tepco caused last year’s nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant. That’s the conclusion of a six-month parliamentary investigation into the disaster.

Eyewitness from Japan: No more Fukushimas, protesters demand

03 July 2012
More than 150,000 people protested against Japanese prime minister Noda Yoshihiko’s decision to restart the Ohi nuclear power plant last week.

Impact of the Fukushima disaster is still felt today

05 June 2012
It is more than 15 months since the meltdown of four nuclear reactors in Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

Arms trade: Cameron deals in death

17 April 2012
David Cameron is on tour, touting for trade for his arms dealer chums in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Burma.

Protest against nuclear plant marks Fukushima anniversay

13 March 2012
Hundreds of people protested at Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset last Saturday. The event marked the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Children of the Revolution

02 August 2011
This is the story of Ulrike Meinhof of the German Red Army Faction and Fusako Shigenobu of the Japanese Red Army, as told by their daughters.

Tokyo march to stop nuclear power

14 June 2011
Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Tokyo, Japan, last Saturday demanding that the government abandon nuclear power.

Nuclear power dealt blow by protest power

31 May 2011
The disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant in March has led to an unprecedented climb down in one of the world’s biggest economies.

Can nuclear power ever be safe?

12 April 2011
The disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has underlined the danger of nuclear power. Authorities in Japan have now officially ranked the crisis on the same level as the Chernobyl disaster.

Fukushima nuclear crisis creates a spirit of dissent in Japan

05 April 2011
As Japan tries to come to terms with the havoc and devastation wreaked by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami, much has been written about the "stoical character" of the Japanese people. It's true that, for many, the only certainty in this world is disaster—specifically "tensai" (heavenly disaster).