NHK reported on the escalating conflict between the U.S. and China in the Indo-Pacific region and the challenges faced by the Japan Coast Guard in a 60-minute “NHK Special” aired on Sunday. The program said that Chinese government ships have sailed in Japan’s contiguous zone outside the Senkaku islands for a record number of days this year, a figure now….Read more

The 60-minute documentary program reported on Sunday on the coronavirus pandemic. The program showed for the first time the inside of the office of the MHLW’s task force dealing with “cluster” infections, where experts expressed caution about the “optimism” seen in Japan regarding the outlook for the coronavirus outbreak in Japan. Tohoku University of Medicine Professor Oshitani, who leads the….Read more

In Sunday’s NHK “Nichiyo Toron” talk show, senior Upper House officials from the ruling and opposition camps exchanged views on a range of policy issues, including the results of the recent Okinawa referendum on the FRF construction, ahead of the start of the deliberation of the FY2019 budget legislation at the upper chamber. On the strong opposition to the base….Read more

NHK’s “Close-up Gendai+” reported on Monday evening on the Okinawa referendum on Henoko relocation held on the previous day. NHK noted that the number of “no” votes was unexpectedly high at 434,273 and the voter turnout of 52.48% was also surprisingly high because the LDP and Komeito had adopted a strategy of not campaigning in an effort to minimize voter turnout. Governor….Read more

NHK’s Sunday morning talk show “Nichiyo Toron” featured a live debate among policy chiefs of ruling and opposition parties on two major issues in the ongoing Diet session – a bill to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law designed to accept more foreign laborers and the planned hike in the consumption tax next October. The ruling representatives stressed….Read more

Sunday’s NHK “Nichiyo Toron” carried one-on-one interviews with several members of the new Abe cabinet, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga and Defense Minister Iwaya. Asked about the status of U.S.-Japan relations, Suga said while the two sides had “heated discussions” on trade and other issues during the recent summit in New York, Japan was pleased that a joint statement was….Read more

In NHK’s Sunday talk show “Nichiyo Toron,” Canon Institute for Global Studies Research Fellow Kunihiko Miyake, Keio University Associate Professor Atsuhito Isozaki, Ryukoku University Professor Ri Sang Chol, and Hosei University Professor Satoru Mori discussed the situation in North Korea 50 days after the Singapore summit. On North Korea’s denuclearization process, Miyake said if North Korea really intends to denuclearize, it will….Read more

NHK’s “Close-up Gendai+” reported on the recent flooding in Western Japan that took the lives of over 200 people, making it the worst flood of the Heisei era in casualties. The network examined what local governments and communities could have done to save lives based on the recognition that similar disasters may occur more frequently in the future due in….Read more

NHK’s “Close-up Gendai+” took up the issue of suicide as a result of school bullying, focusing on cases in which the parents of children who left suicide notes saying they had been bullied at school have reacted strongly to the investigation results issued by independent panels tasked by local education boards with determining what happened to the victims. Guest commentators….Read more